How to do party favors for a bridal or baby shower

Turn a few washcloths into a keepsake bouquet.

Make edible or keepsake party favors in colors that coordinate with the event's color scheme for a gift that also doubles as a great party decoration. Make small cookie bouquets in shapes that represent the theme of the special event, such as diaper shirts and baby bottles for a baby shower or wedding dresses and wedding cakes for a bridal shower. For a keepsake party favor, make a bouquet of baby washcloths for the baby shower or the same type of bouquet from regular washcloths for a bridal shower.

Things You'll Need

• Store-bought cookie dough
• Mixing bowl
• Plastic wrap
• Flour
• Rolling pin
• Cookie cutters (diaper shirts and bottles or wedding cakes and dresses)
• Heat-resistant wooden dowels
• Baking sheet
• Pastry bag
• Round icing tip
• Royal icing
• Plastic cling wrap
• ¼-inch-wide ribbon
• Baby or regular washcloths
• Elastic bands
• Floral wire
• Green floral tape
• Silk leaves

Instructions

Cookie Bouquet

1. Prepare store-bought sugar cookie dough in a mixing bowl according to the package instructions. Cover the dough with plastic wrap, and let it firm in the refrigerator for about 1 hour.

2. Cover your working surface with a sprinkling of flour, and roll out the dough to about quarter-inch thickness.

3. Cut out the cookie shapes from the dough. Insert a heat-resistant wooden dowel into the bottom side of each cookie. Transfer the cookies onto a baking sheet, and bake according to package instructions.

4. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, and let the cookies cool completely.

5. Fill a pastry bag with royal icing. With a round icing tip on the pastry bag, decorate each cookie, outlining the shape or filling it in completely with the icing.

6. Wrap a piece of cling wrap around each cookie, and tie a ribbon bow to keep the cling wrap in place.

7. Gather two or three cookies together, and wrap another ribbon around the bunch. Tie the ribbon in a bow.

Washcloth Bouquet

1. Lay your washcloth on your working surface, and fold over about 1 inch at one side. (When using a regular-size washcloth, fold over about 1 1/2 inches instead.)

2. Fold over another inch (or 1 1/2 inches) of the same side, and continue folding all the way across the washcloth. You should now have a long, thin and flattened log. Roll up the log like a jellyroll. Wrap an elastic band around one end.

3. Cut a piece of floral wire to a length of about 7 or 8 inches. Insert one end of the wire into the center of the rolled washcloth. Wrap a piece of green floral tape over the top of the elastic band and down about 2 inches of the wire. Hold the stem of a silk leaf against the exposed wire, and continue wrapping the floral tape over the stem and down the length of the wire.

4. Repeat the above steps to make two or three more washcloth roses.

5. Gather three or four of the washcloth roses, wrap a ribbon around the stems and tie the ribbon ends in a bow.

References

• Today's Parent: Video: Sweet Cookie Bouquets
• Creative Baby Shower Ideas: How To Make A Bouquet Of Washcloth Roses