Party Favors That Won’t Break the Bank

You probably don’t have room in your budget for $150,000.00 for party favors and you’re probably going to limit the guest list to a lot fewer than 150 guests so you’re luck. There are lots of really cute, easy to make party favors that you can make yourself for just a few dollars.

I was recently asked to make party favors for a baby shower. There were 20 guests and the theme was Winnie the Pooh. We all know that bears like honey so we thought the guests would too. We gathered together individual packets of Stash vanilla honeybush tea, honey dips, some honey candies (the wrappers had cute little bees on them) and Bit-O-Honey candy bars.

We could have just put all these honey flavored treats into a bag but I had another idea that would make them prettier to look at and simply more fun. Most of the things we used for the packaging can be found in one of the many dollar or party supply stores. We used clear cello bags, the kind florists use known as corsage bags. You can find bags printed with various themes at party stores too.

We cut white poster board to fit inside the bag and glued the items to the poster board. We used glue dots but a glue stick will also work. The Bit-O-Honey bar colors did not match our color scheme so we wrapped the bars in paper. We personalized the bars with the date and name of the Mom and baby. If you have a good graphics program on your computer you can personalize the wrappers like we did. You can find a FREE template by Google searching “candy wrapper template” and there are YouTube videos explaining how to wrap the bars. If your party has a popular theme, you can use themed wrapping paper instead of white paper to wrap your candy bars.

We tied the bag closed with pink, blue and yellow curling ribbon to match our color scheme. The total cost, including the treats was $2.75 each.

The idea we decided on for the baby shower was not the only idea I had. Since tea and honey were the main items we thought of placing all of them in a mug. The mug would have made a cute party favor take away but we still would have had to use the cello bag and ribbon and since a mug would have added another dollar to the total cost we decided against it.

Planning a birthday party for a child? Why not include them in helping create personalized party favors? All you need are paper lunch bags, either kraft or white, a hole punch, colored markers and some ribbon. You can add stickers if you like.

Fold the top of the bag over about two or three inches. Using the hole punch, punch a hole about an inch on either side of the center. The goody bag is now ready to be decorated. Your child can write each guest’s name on the bag in colored marker and add an original drawing or stickers if he or she wants.

Once the bags are decorated, fill them with the treats you have chosen. Instead of choosing all candy treats, include some healthier choices like granola bars and peanut butter crackers. Fold the top of the bag down and lace your ribbon through the holes and tie a bow. For a more colorful bag, choose a couple of different colors of curling ribbon and instead of a bow, curl each strand, giving your gift bags a very festive look.

Fill small canning jars with cocoa and mini marshmallows and tie on a recipe card with your favorite cookie or bread mix for a wedding shower favor. A plastic beer mug with some beef jerky and a package of popcorn would be fun for a Jack and Jill and a small baby bottle filled with jelly beans or other candies makes a cute party favor for a baby shower. Check out the local farmers markets for soap makers who will wrap goats milk or other hand made soap in a personalized wrapper. The possibilities are endless.