Do Me A Favor: Creative Party Favors for Any Theme
13 March 2009
Author: Karen Bulmahn
Planning a party can be so much fun, especially if you make everything yourself. Creative party favors are a great way to tie a theme together and will be the piece that your guests take home to remember the party by.
There are several steps to consider when it comes to planning a party. The first obvious question to ask yourself is, what is the theme of the party or who will the party be honoring? Based on the answer, the party can be “built” from there. Brainstorm a theme and write down all the ideas you can think of which relate to the theme. Then, make a list of all the preparations needed, for example: invitations, food, cake, table decorations, tableware, games and activities, general decorations and party favors.
Think of ways your theme could be carried out with each component. For example, “trains” would be a good theme for a party for a little boy. The cake could be a train; a game could be “musical seats on the train (setting chairs up in rows of two all facing in one direction); and a hand-crafted “railroad crossing” sign could be used for a decoration. The plates could be black and silver to resemble train wheels, and a train track could be created to go around the perimeter of the table cloth. For the party favors, each child could receive a conductor’s hat full of goodies, from whistles to candy or even a small train car replica.
For the example shown of the “Camp Out Under the Stars” invitation, the party could revolve around s’mores. Divide the people around the campfire into three equal groups, and put each in charge of an ingredient for making s’mores. This activity would promote mingling among the guests, and rotating the positions at different intervals during the evening would give everyone a chance to enjoy the s’mores. A fun favor for everyone to take home at the end of the evening could be a small canning jar filled with graham crackers, marshmallows and mini chocolate bars. Cut squares from flannel fabric and place them over the open jars, then tightly screw on the lids. The favor would then coordinate with the flannel shirts mentioned on the invitation.
A great, all-purpose party favor is a decorated goodie bag, like the one shown in the second example. Bright scrapbook papers were used to create the bag, and balloon stickers were added to the sides for fun and interest. Fillings for the bags could include candy, small prizes, or even inexpensive gift cards for a fast food restaurant. These favors can also be decorated to complement any party theme. Fill them with contents that support the theme, such as peanuts and popcorn for a circus theme. 
Hopefully, the creative party favors discussed in this article will be useful the next time party planning is on your list of things to do. When the extra effort is put into the details, surely the guests will leave with smiles on their faces and will reminisce about what a hit the party was long afterward.