Get Creative With Your Party Favors!
As I mentioned in Part 1 and Part 2 of The Mint Chip Mama’s Party Planning Series, planning an event is a big deal! A party of any size is a lot to plan.
Party Favors
In my opinion, party favors are one of the most fun aspects of any party. Whether it be for a small birthday party or a large-scale event, I’ve always loved picking out party favors.
In my opinion, a good party is all about the little details – and party favors are just that. The extra special touches are what your guests will remember more than anything else. So have some fun with your party favors and get creative. As an easy place to start let your theme dictate what to get. This makes the hunt for your party favors more focused for you and more fun and memorable for your guests.
Let’s Get To Party Planning!
Parties are very overwhelming to plan. But like all overwhelming things in life, you need to take a step back, exhale, and start somewhere to move forward. With that said, sometimes this is the hardest part.
Party Planning Series: Party Favors!
Welcome to the third part of my five-part series on party planning. These posts cover everything needed to plan an awesome party – big or small – and within any budget. You can find each part here:
Party Planning Part 1: Where To Begin
Party Planning Part 2: Party Vendors
Party Planning Part 3: Party Favors
Party Planning Part 4: DIY Party Décor (coming Thursday)
Party Planning Part 5: Party Dresses, Suits, Hair & Makeup (coming Friday)
If you want to jump ahead to party planning finds, click on my Amazon store. This page is filled with party décor ideas, party favors, and even party dresses and party shoes for different themes and sizes.
Party Favors For The Kids
The type of event you’re having will often determine the appropriate favor. Where we live, many kids give out sweatshirts with the party’s logo on it as the main favor. These can get costly, but it means a lot for the guest of honor to see their friends wearing it in school. My daughter is artistic and designed her logo herself. We then worked with a great company to print it on a sweatshirt.
After ordering your party favors you also need a way to present them to your guests at the end of the night. For us, this meant party favor bags and name labels*.
As an avid recycler, I wanted to find favor bags and favor tags that could be useful and reused after the event. This was a place I felt ok spending a little money since it could be reused. To be honest, after researching disposable party bags and party tags they weren’t much cheaper.
Again, continuing with our theme to bring everything together, we found beautiful iridescent bags that the kids can use as tote bags going forward. For the favor bag tags, we had each child’s name printed on a reusable label they could later use for camp or school.
Party Favors For The Adults
I didn’t plan to give out proper favors to the adults until my friend mentioned flip-flops. When she mentioned this, I suddenly remembered attending a wedding years ago where they gave out flips flops. I recalled it not only being very appreciated but also a creative and useful party favor.
Fast forward twenty years and now you can buy bulk flip-flop party favors in a variety of sizes! This was a last-minute party addition and since I was buying in bulk – and only for the women – it was not cost prohibitive at all. The company also printed my daughter’s logo on the sleeve, so they were super cute.
Back in the olden days, people would give out socks. However, now that so many kids wear sneakers, they don’t take off their shoes. With that said, the “painful shoe” problem only affects the ladies in the house (like me) so I was happy to have them. Plus, they were such a hit! I can’t wait to see them again on the beach this summer.
Party Surprises For All Guests
Since parties can get loud, we had individually wrapped blue and purple tie dye (on theme) earplugs for our guests at the bar and on the tables.
Additionally, one of my favorite things at the end of a party is the “to-go” treat. Not all parties have this so it’s very exciting when it’s there. Along the same lines, a DIY candy bar is a really fun, easy, and inexpensive way to send your guests off with something sweet.
Since our party’s theme was space I wanted to give out a space-themed treat. For me, this meant only one thing would do – astronaut ice cream. Not only was this vintage candy one of my favorites as a child, but I thought it would be fun for both the kids and the adults. Happily, everyone loved it. My daughter’s friend also suggested giving out Moon Pies and once I heard that I had to do that too.
Party Swag
Where we live, party hosts often give out a lot of “swag”. Some of it the DJs provides – like sunglasses or light up items, but most of the time it means items printed with the party’s logo. This can include t-shirts, pants, etc. and gets very expensive. Since we were working with a modest budget, we decided against doing a ton of extra giveaways. My daughter felt that since everyone does it we had to do it as well. Consequently, I explained that just because lots of people do something, we don’t have to do it too (is this not the mantra of parenting?).
With that said, she felt very strongly about giving out flannel pants and would not waiver on this item. Since she had few party requests, we debated this frequently. Ultimately, we negotiated a small quantity within a budget making us both happy. We found inexpensive pants and put her logo on ourselves with the help of a very good (and crafty) friend.
In conclusion, your party favors will help guests remember a great event so have fun with them. Remember – much like an invitation is the first touchpoint of your event, a party favor is the last. Additionally, since parties go so fast it’s nice to keep a memory from it.
*Indicates a discount below
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Our Party Favors
WeSpoke Designs
As mentioned above, my daughter only had eyes for hooded sweatshirts. WeSpoke Designs took our logo and made the perfect sweatshirt. They stayed within our budget, offered lots of creative insight, and went above and beyond with everything they did. I cannot recommend them enough. Additionally, they can print all types of party swag, clothing, or anything else you could think of to personalize.
Nush Nush Bags
I quickly fell in love with Nush Nush bags. These high-quality, reusable bags were not only gorgeous but well made so the kids (or their moms!) can use them repeatedly. Plus, they have so many beautiful colors, finishes, and sizes. They make great party favor bags and gift bags for any occasion.
Mabels Labels*
Is there anything this company can’t do when it comes to labels? We’ve been fans of Mabel’s Labels for a decade. Anything for camp, school, or simply just leaving our house for any reason has a custom printed Mabel’s Label on it. They have all kinds of different logos and designs making it easy to stay on theme for any event. I was so happy they could accommodate my request for an affordable reusable bag tag for each child, they were a party favor themselves!
*Use code “MINTCHIP” for 10% off
Luvy Duvy – Astronaut Ice Cream
I was thrilled that Luvy Duvy made my dream of giving out astronaut ice cream come true. Kids, adults, or anyone who has ever been to a science center or children’s museum knows this nostalgic treat is something special and unique. The packaging is so pretty and was perfectly on theme. To be honest, it made me so happy. I don’t who was more excited for this fun party favor – the kids, the adults, or me, so let’s call it a tie.
Moldex Spark Plugs
What? Can you hear me? IT’S LOUD. The number one complaint at every party (if you’re a certain age) is the volume of the music. We anticipated this and offered our guests beautiful spark plugs from Moldex. These moldable earplugs not only protected our guest’s ears but kept them in style and on theme because they were so pretty. Funny enough, they looked like part of the décor.
Reception Flip Flops
I loved the look and feel of the shoes from Reception Flip-Flops. They had a rainbow of flip-flop color options and the ability to upload our logo right onto the site to create a custom sleeve. As an avid flip-flop wearer, I can tell the difference between inexpensive flip-flops and high-quality flip-flops and can say these are some of the best I’ve ever tried on. We passed them out as the party was pumping and we heard the collective “ahhhhs” of our friend’s feet. They offer additional bulk party favors like pashminas and blankets and have beautiful personalized party favor options as well.
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