DIY Birthday Favors

Fill mini gift bags with treats for a perfect party favor.

When you are throwing a birthday party, making gift bags and favors is part of the fun. Tailor your favors to the gender and age of the guests, the party theme, and the location of the celebration. Let the birthday child help pick out items to fill the bags. If you are having a party for older children, make the favors a little more grown-up. One of the best parts of a great party is the favor bags at the end, so put some thought and fun into your favor bags.

Things You'll Need

• Bags to fill, such as miniature gift bags or cellophane bags
• Items to fill the bags such as stickers, bubbles, candy or cookies, jewelry, little cars, keychains, lip gloss
• Ribbons
• Tissue paper

Instructions

1. Choose a type of bag and purchase them from a party store. Miniature gift bags come in many colors and designs, or you can buy see-through cellophane bags in any color of the rainbow. Match the favor bags to your party theme or cake to tie the decorations together. Another idea would be to purchase plain gift bags and have the birthday child decorate one for each guest with crayons, markers and stickers. Guests would love getting their own personalized bag.

2. Fill the bags with items that are relevant to the age of the guests and the party theme. For instance, for a young girl's princess party, place costume jewelry, nail polish, princess stickers and a small tiara in the treat bags. For a boy's party, miniature cars (purchased in bulk), stickers, plastic dinosaurs or little flashlights would be fun. If kids are older, tailor the bags to the party or location. For a slumber party, sleep masks or face cream would be apt. Make a mix CD of songs and burn a copy for each guest, or tuck a gift card for a frozen coffee drink or a favorite fast-food place in the bag. A few chocolates for older kids or suckers for younger kids will be a hit. Favors can also be personalized; you can purchase candy bar wrappers with your child's name on them or other favors such as bookmarks or CD cases. These are good for older children.

3. Tie the cellophane bags with a ribbon. For miniature gift bags, you can include tissue paper to cover the goodies until the guests are ready to leave. You could tie the favor bags to a helium balloon for extra fun, or use the ribbons to tie miniature candy bars to the handles of the gift bags. Use your imagination.

References

• HGTV: Party Favor Bags