Introducing the Original Gooder Bag–the gooder goody bag!
- Good for kids.
- Good for grownups.
- Good for the Earth.
Jennifer Chau, mother of four and native of the Pacific island of Guam, made her very first “Gooder Bag” in 2002. She’d been the giver and receiver of countless goody bags over the years, having made them for children’s birthday parties, baby showers, bridal showers, christenings, weddings, anniversaries, corporate events, family picnics, Christmas parties, and more. Nowt that’s a lot of goodie bags.
And what went in those goody bags? At first the typical child’s goody bag contained an assortment of candies, and the occasional plastic party favor from Oriental Trading. After a several years she had the wisdom to include useful items like pencils, mini erasers, stickers, all with a theme, of course. There was still a lot of plastic stuff in there, too–noise makers, party blowers, little toys and games. The thing is, they’d end up in the garbage within just a couple of days, if not hours.
And how were these party favors packaged? In themed party bags made of plastic and cellophane.
In late 2001, Jennifer was inspired to find a fun, affordable alternative to plastic party and loot bags. She had her first opportunity to make her fabric party bags the following year, for birthday parties for her children and those of her friends.
But she didn’t have a name for this nifty new idea. At the time she simply called them, “fabric goody bags”. It was months later at another birthday party that inspiration came.
The five-year-old son of a friend had received his party bag and excitedly showed the contents to his mom. Comparing his loot bag to his sister’s, he exclaimed, “Mine’s the gooder one.”
It truly was an ‘Aha!’ moment.
That was the exact moment the name “Gooder Bag” was coined.