DIY Party Favors (or Gifts)!

Hey Folks! Welcome to crazy-town week… we’ve got our annual Youth Dinner and Auction coming up this Friday (stay tuned for a fun post about that!), so things are in high gear in ministry world. Fear not though; we have plenty of great posts all lined up for you, so if all goes as planned- Oh, the Fun of It won’t miss a beat.

ALSO in the mix… Mother’s Day is coming up! I figured it might be fun to throw in a bit of celebratory flair for the big day. The cool part about this project is that it’s super versatile and doesn’t necessarily need to be restricted to Mother’s Day. As promised way back when (as in, the very first blog post), HERE is the how-to on our simple (I mean this literally- there are only 3 steps), but cute party favors:

Yep, these little babies can be given as gifts, used as party favors, or left in a guest room to welcome overnight visitors. A big sorry goes out to the males for harping on nail polish all post long, but mark my words: if you throw one of these together for your wife, mother, sister, girlfriend, what have you…. major brownie points. And with that- onward:

What You’ll Need: Nail Polish, emery board (aka nail file), ribbon, scissors, scotch tape (Tip: The key to success here is color! A quick way to infuse it into this project (besides the hue of the nail polish) is by selecting an emery board with bright, cheery patterns and colors. If you use a standard brownish-red nail file, it will not look nearly as appealing! These emery boards came from Michaels, but you can find them anywhere. Color, color, color!)

Step 1: Center your nail polish onto the emery board. If you want, you can use a loop of scotch tape to secure it to the board so it’s not rolling all over the place as you try to tie it.

Step 2: Cut a length of ribbon that will fit around the bundle and be long enough for a bow. Secure the nail polish and boards together with the ribbon and top it off with a bow or knot!

Step 3: If you want to add a tag (if you’re using them as gifts OR place settings), grab some extra ribbon (or change it up with a bit of twine) and paper. Cut the paper into a small enough square or tag shape, punch a hole in it, and use the string to secure it to the bundle. Tip: The tag should stay in place if you tie it right under the lip of the nail polish handle. In the end, I chose to nix this idea, as we didn’t use them to assign seats and I wanted people to be able to trade and swap as they wanted. 
Voila! You’re done! How’s that for easiest craft/gift/place setting ever? Again, the beauty of these is that you can use ’em however you want. Originally, I used them as party favors for our Youth Group girls Valentine’s Day brunch and (oh happy day!) they also doubled as decoration:

However, I’m thinking they could also be a sweet and thoughtful gift for the mommy figure in your life. Either way, if you’re looking for a quick gift or party favor idea, this should take you… oh, under 60 seconds to whip up. 🙂 

Happy Crafting! And Happy Mother’s Day week!

-Leslie

This project has been featured at:

http://www.clairejustineoxox.com/