Goody bag finds:

Drews Variety and Craft

You’ve played all the party games, opened the birthday presents and stuffed them silly with cake and ice cream and you’ve still got 45 minutes to entertain 12 manic 6-year-olds before their parents come to pick them up! It’s time to get out the goody bags and let them work off the sugar buzz.

Drews, 7505 Harwood Ave.,Wauwatosa, has a treasure trove of goody bag stuffers for any type of children’s party. According to Kathleen Folz, crafts buyer, Silly Putty, the Slinky, jacks, marbles and paddleballs are among the perennial favorites as party favors.

“It’s the tried and true, time-tested traditional toys” that are the best-sellers, she says.

Legos, coloring books, bubbles, chalk, yo-yos, Matchbox cars and small plastic animals and army men are kid-pleasers, too.

“Parents come in and remember the things they had fun with as a kid,” Folz says, or the kids come home from a party with a classic toy they think is new.

Drews also is the place to come for ideas for a craft project for the party, Folz says. “We carry every manner of craft thing to put together for a party.” Craft kits from foam magnets and picture frames to needlepoint and leather kits to friendship bracelets and worry dolls should keep all ages of kiddies occupied.

Tip to the uninitiated: Don’t hand out the cap guns or squirt pistols until the partygoers are on their way out the door.