DIY Frugal Party Favors

I think making favors is one of my favorite parts of throwing a party. I'm so happy that our guests chose to spend their Friday night with us last week to celebrate my birthday. Giving a little gift in return is my favorite way to show that appreciation!

There is a quick, 3 pronged approach to designing/making party favors:

1. Pick a gift
2. Pick a package
3. Make a tag

Boom. You're done.

This model can be used for any budget, really, but those three elements are the basics regardless of how much you choose to spend per guest.

The favors from my birthday party came to about $3 per guest, which I could live with for a small friends and family gathering. I only ended up making 10 party favors total and even still had some left over.

Here's how I made my favors...

 My gift of choice was a pack of wildflower seeds. I thought it would be inexpensive and very season-appropriate. Wildflower seeds are easy to grow too. I know some people who just throw them into a field and watch them grow!

I went to Micheal's and bought the above supplies: envelopes, tags, twine, stamps, an ink pad, and a craft pen (that I actually didn't end up using) in addition to my seed packs. If you already have some supplies (like the ink pad or stamps, for example) your cost per favor will be lower. My cost included buying everything.

I sealed the seed packs all up in the envelopes and measured out my twine. Then I cut all ten pieces of twine the same length so they were all ready to tie.

I chose to tie the twine like a present ribbon, placing the knot in the upper left hand corner of the envelope so that the tag had room to hang...

Once I had double knots on all of my envelopes, I moved on to stamping my tags...

I found these adorable stamps of circus animals wearing hats in the bargain bins and bought three different ones for variety... I also had three colors of labels, which added to the selection.

Getting the stamp straight was tricky, but I got better at it as I went along.

And there you have it! My circus animal (party animals, perhaps?) gift tags.

Small set-back: I didn't realize the tags were a gloss finish until I opened them up at home, meaning the ink was very prone to smearing. Oh well :-(

For the last step, all I did was tie a simple bow to attach the tags:

The array of different color/animal combinations really made me happy. When picking your materials, I definitely suggest picking varieties so your favors aren't all the same!

Everyone smiled when they got to pick which party animal to take home with them!

In the end, I think my favors turned out well and I was very pleased to put them on display by the door to pass out as my guests left...

So; with the simple 3 pronged approach of gift, package, tag; it's easy to put together adorable favors.

What's your favorite inexpensive party favor?

Cheers!