Homemade Bridal Shower Favors

For thoughtful, unique bridal shower favors, why not adopt a DIY approach?

Homemade bridal shower favors afford you many benefits that party favors ordered from a store just cannot. For example:

• You have complete creative freedom. No need to compromise your vision for the favors.
• You can seamlessly incorporate the bridal shower theme into the crafts you choose to make.
• You might veer away from traditional favors by putting your own spin on old favorites or surprising guests with imaginative new ideas.
• Your favors bear a distinctive personal touch, everything from the finished product to how it's wrapped. A lot of heart goes into creating homemade bridal shower favors, and this often shines through to your guests.
• Many favors are surprisingly simple to make, although your guests will certainly appreciate the extra time and energy that you spent on them.
• Bridal shower favor crafts are designed to be practical. No worrying about whether guests will even get use out of your gifts to them.

This page deals with favor crafts, but these are not the only homemade bridal shower favors to consider. Scrumptious candies, cookies, and other treats will surely leave a good taste in your guest's mouth!

Whether you're expecting one hundred guests or one dozen, you will find a homemade favor idea to perfectly suit your wedding shower. Choose based upon the time and resources available to you.

I won't even pretend to understand all the nuances of certain crafty techniques, so please forgive the lack of detailed instruction for some of the following homemade bridal shower favors. If you discover an idea that you'd like to run with, you'll be able to find a wealth of free tutorials related to that topic throughout the web. Thanks for bearing with my inadequacies!

Necklace Pendants.
Beautiful pendants make perfectly unexpected, modern, homemade bridal shower favors! Oh, and they're super easy to make.

Materials:

How to:
1. Collect a wood or plastic base piece for each guest.
2. Cut paper to fit the shape of your pendant, only making it slightly smaller than the base piece it will sit on. That is, when you place the image over the pendant base, a thin border should appear around it.
3. Dab a bit of sealer on the back of the paper cutout and adhere it to the base.
4. Paint a thin coat of the glossy sealer over the image and the border behind it - the whole top surface. Paint the sides of the pendant if you want, but the back is best left untouched. Let dry. Add another coat if you wish.
5. Use your strong glue to adhere the bail to the back of your pendant base. Let the glue cure, following the package instructions. It should take about two days. Note: please avoid touching the glue, and apply it in a well-ventilated location since it's vapors are pretty intense.
6. Bundle each of your cool, homemade bridal shower favors in a small mesh bag. Or display them all so your guests can choose which one she wants!

Side notes:

Lip Balm.
Present your guests with lip-soothing goodness made from scratch! Beeswax, jojoba, and natural oils are only the beginning.

A quick online search will turn up dozens of lip balm recipes with fantastic scents and pure ingredients on par with the finest store-bought varieties. Pour your lip balm into small, clear plastic containers. Then print your own labels for homemade bridal shower favors that are personalized, too!

Stenciled Tote Bags.
Transform plain canvas totes into sweetly sophisticated gifts for your guests! You might want to borrow a central image from your bridal shower theme, or personalize each tote with a guest's initial.

Materials:

Optional:

How to:
1. Wash your tote bags to remove the fresh-from-a-craft-store scent! They may require a quick ironing, too.
2. Create your stencil. First, browse books or the internet for the image you want. Several websites offer free stencils that you can print right at home. Trace the picture onto a blank stencil sheet or piece of clear vellum (medium weight or heavier). Use a scissors or Exacto knife to cut out your stencil. If working with a scissors, begin by bending the sheet slightly and making a snip inside your picture.
3. Position the stencil over the tote, and tape it down.
4. Begin painting! Dip your brush into the fabric paint, and dab any excess onto the paper towel. Now fill in your stencil; dab the paint on by moving your brush in a rapid up-and-down motion. To achieve the look of the bird in the photograph, I painted primarily around the edges, then gradually worked inward, softening the appearance by using less paint.
5. After you've finished the application, remove the stencil and let the tote dry.
6. If you have some extra time, you may want to add a ribbon around the top seam of each tote bag. Squeeze some fabric glue onto the ribbon, and spread it evenly using the popsicle stick. Place the ribbon on the tote, ensuring that it's straight. Allow the glue to dry according to the time denoted on the package instructions.
7. Ta da! You have gorgeous, homemade bridal shower favors - be sure to make one for yourself! This favor craft also works well with plain tea towels.

Bookmarks.
Simple and elegant, bookmarks easily adapt to suit a variety of bridal shower themes. And incredibly, you can create ten regular-sized bookmarks (about 1 1/2" wide by 5 1/2" long) with only one standard sheet of cardstock (8 1/2" by 11")! Or purchase plain, pre-cut bookmarks from your favorite stationery store. Try one of these neat design ideas:

1. Upload an image to your word processor. Position it, along with any text, according to how you will print and cut out the bookmarks. Adding columns on the page can help you determine the best size for the graphic. Columns also make it easy to ensure that each bookmark is uniform in size. What sort of designs might you use? An illustration of a castle makes a statement both grand and whimsical for a fairy tale bridal shower. An intricate seashell printed onto light blue or sand-colored cardstock is a perfect homemade bridal shower favor for a beach theme party.

2. A rubber stamp can make a big impression! And because ink pads are available in soft colors, you are not limited to creating bookmarks with only light, subtly-colored paper. Chalk ink pads provide the best results for dark bookmarks. Choose a rubber stamp that speaks to the theme of your shower, if you have one. Flowers, teacups, cranes and bamboo stalks, refrigerators. Even a simple umbrella is an appropriately quirky image for a bridal shower! Add text, too, either on your computer or with another rubber stamp.

3. Bring natural beauty to your bookmarks with pressed flowers. After you adhere the dried flowers, laminate each bookmark to preserve their delicate adornments.

4. Combine cardstock and patterned scrapbook paper for bright, fun, homemade bridal shower favors. Cut a strip of scrapbook paper to fit the cardstock base and adhere well. Laminate for extra protection if you so desire!

Potpourri.
A bit of creativity can turn this traditional craft into an inspired homemade bridal shower favor! Evoke thoughts of the particular time of year with the season's distinct scents. Or stretch your imagination and use potpourri to reflect your bridal shower theme! Fragrance oils come in such yummy scents, everything from cinnamon bun (think kitchen shower) to green tea (tea party shower) to vintage grapes (wine tasting bridal shower).

Potpourri is often a feast for they eyes as much as the nose! If you plan to present this homemade bridal shower favor in clear containers, choose eye-catching ingredients such as dried fruit, flower petals, herbs, seed pods, pine cones, and so on. Perhaps the most important part of your potpourri is the fixative, such as orris root.

If you'd like to put the potpourri mix in sachets, you have several creative options.

1. These adorable pouches get their personality from the color and design of the fabric you choose! Select a fabric that complements the color scheme or theme of the bridal shower. Cut out two squares of fabric for each sachet, leaving a seam allowance. Place one square on top of the other, right sides together. Sew up three sides and then turn the "pocket" right-side out. Add your potpourri mix and stitch up the last side.

2. Potpourri bundles are sweet tied with ribbon, but they're irresistible stenciled or embroidered. Begin with small linen bags, and decide how you would like to personalize them. With a tiny stencil and some fabric paint, you can depict the inspiration for the scent within. Using the examples above, you might paint a cinnamon bun, a cup of tea, or a wine bottle. Or, if you have the time, you could embroider the first initial of each guest onto the front of your sachets. After you personalize the bags, pour the mixture inside and tie a ribbon around each one.

3. Heart-shaped sachets keep love at the center of the party. Balance the silhouette with light-colored fabric in a floral, gingham, or tiny dotted pattern. Make a simple half-heart stencil to facilitate cutting. Fold the first few inches of the fabric onto itself so that the right sides are together. Trace the shape against the fold and cut it out. Stitch two heart cutouts together for a charming, homemade bridal shower favor.

Natural Soaps.
Like most bridal shower favor crafts, homemade soap requires you to choose the initial direction you will pursue.

The variety in soap, however, has more to do with basic construction rather than design preference. There are several methods for making soap and different central ingredients: glycerin, lye, or melt-and-pour base. Glycerin and melt-and-pour soaps are easier to work with, not to mention the fact that lye is corrosive and, for homemade bridal shower favors, may be more trouble than it's worth!

The internet contains loads of easy homemade soap recipes, including those with names so tempting you'll wish they were edible!

Frosted Glasses or Votive Holders
Forget what I said about avoiding caustic substances! Although etching cream requires gloves and a workspace with plenty of airflow, it produces beautiful frosty effects that your guests will love. Personalize these homemade bridal shower favors, too!

Because of the one-on-one time you spend working with each glass, you may want to reserve this craft for small bridal showers (about fifteen or fewer guests).

Materials:

How To:
1. Wash the glasses to ensure that you'll be working with a clean surface.
2. Use tape to section off areas of the glass that will not appear frosty, if you want any at all. On drinking glasses, you should always tape off the rim. Create stripes with tape, too!
3. Adhere stickers to the glass as desired, smoothing out any bumps.
4. Put on your gloves, and generously apply a coat of etching cream to the untaped areas. Too little cream can produce streaky effects. Allow it to dry.
5. Rinse the product off completely, following the package instructions.
6. Remove tape and stickers. Some may need coaxing off beneath running water.
7. Wash the glasses again, and behold their frosted beauty!

Want more ideas for fun, homemade bridal shower favors? Check out the kits at your local craft store. They walk you through the process of making lots of different goodies: lotion, fizzing bath bombs, candles, as well as some of the favor crafts mentioned here, like soap and lip balm.

Add an extra dash of personality to your homemade bridal shower favors with customized tags and labels that you can easily create on your computer. Follow the link to discover the best way to package and tag your favors.


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