DIY Wedding Favor Ideas or Welcome Bag Gifts: Jan. 17 Table Decorations

[jtanddolly]

I love making gift boxes and holders for favors and gifts and I thought it would be fun to post things that I make on the DISBoards so you can get ideas for your wedding! I TRULY believe the right box or holder can make the simplest gifts WOW people. It also shows how much time and effort went into the easiest of gifts. If you have some time, making holders for your wedding favors can be a lot of fun! People will be shocked when they find out you made the gift holder.

I will try to periodically post new images to give you ideas for wedding favors....so make sure you check back to see my latest creations. If you have a picture of something you made, feel free to post it here as well!

Here is my first idea. This box is designed for Christmas ornaments. If you are planning on giving an ornament as a wedding favor, this box will help make your wedding favor extra special! You can purchase inexpensive Christmas balls and use paint pens and/or glue and glitter to decorate the ornament by adding the date, fun designs like a Mickey head or your monogram. If you aren't very crafty you can purchase a disney ornament like the one below or the great "mickey head" ornaments" that come in a set for a very reasonable price. Then make this box for the ornament and place a favor at each place setting for your guests to take home. Each year when they decorate their Christmas tree, they will remember your wedding.

Here are some links to disney ornaments that are good deals:

12 ornaments for $9.99
http://www.disneystore.com/ornament...key-mouse-ornaments-12-pc/mp/1275238/1000344/


7 ornaments for $12.99
http://www.disneystore.com/ornament...coupage-ornament-set-7-pc/mp/1271850/1000344/

http://www.disneystore.com/ornament...coupage-ornament-set-7-pc/mp/1271844/1000344/


8 ornaments for $22.95
http://www.disneystore.com/ornament...oliday-ornaments-8-pc-set/mp/1253962/1000344/

http://www.disneystore.com/ornament...oliday-ornaments-8-pc-set/mp/1254004/1000344/

Let me know what you think of this box by leaving a post.

 

[KristiLyn]

Wonderful idea!! Love love love it!!!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Another great idea Dolly!!
I love the ornament favour idea but for a VR in May, it doesn't seem quite right!!!

 

[jtanddolly]

Another great idea Dolly!!
I love the ornament favour idea but for a VR in May, it doesn't seem quite right!!!

I think an ornament especially for a destination wedding is a great favor any time of year. I probably wouldn't pick a Mickey Santa ornament for a summer wedding or VR, but a Mickey Head ornament or ball with the date, location and maybe even a monogram would be a lovely gift any time of year. I have seen several DISBrides that have given them as favors for non winter weddings. One gave a beautiful Lenox Disney ornament.

For other destination weddings like tropical weddings a seashell ornament or a special ornament from that location would make a great favor!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Wow that must have panned out expensive for her!!

 

[April Elizabeth]

This is a great idea! Thank you!

 

[jtanddolly]

DIY Favor #2:

I made this favor to give as an elementary classroom Christmas party gift, for a hostess gift with wine or hot cocoa, or for a Christmas party favor, but this gift could be easily used to package lots of wedding favors. It would make a great holder for seed packets, your favorite candy, or any small trinket that fits the theme or location of your wedding. For a Disney wedding you could adapt this theme and give out "Fairy or Pixie Dust". This box is similar in size to a 24 crayon box, and would look great at each place setting! You could even put the guests name on the tag and use the favor as a place card.

Another option would be to use it for a "bear necessities" kit. You could put a travel size toothpaste, emory board, breath mint, safety pin, shout wipe, pack of gum, crystal light on the go pouch, lip balm and adhesive bandage.

Hope you like this idea! I'm working on a water bottle wrapper to post next, so make sure you come back and visit the thread.

 

[jtanddolly]

DIY Favor #3:

Nothing is better to give in "Welcome Bags" than bottled water as it is so nice to have a little water that you can keep on your night stand for a late night drink, or to throw in a backpack, tote or purse for a daily outing or event. Also it is inexpensive to give and helps to fill up a welcome bag.

If you are going to give a bottle water, why not take the time to add a personalized wrapper matching your wedding colors or theme to make it extra special and to show your guests how wonderful your event is going to be through the extra added touches. I love to add a fun ingredients/nutrition list with things like love, faith, trust, commitment, dedication, etc.

Here is an example of a water bottle wrapper that I made to match the red, white and green theme that I have going with the other favors. I thought it would be fun to make each gift using the same colors so that you could get an idea of what different items would look like together.

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Dolly
Do you have any templates for the boxes at all?
Thank you so much

 

[jtanddolly]

DIY Favor #4:

Since I had the water bottle wrapper, I just had to post a wine/water bottle tag. These are great for destination weddings as you can make them in advance and they don't take up a lot of space in your luggage! When you get to your wedding location, you can pick up a case of water, wine or even champagne, place the tag over the top of the bottle and voila...a quick and thoughtful welcome gift for hotel rooms. If you have space and/or don't mind shipping things in advance, go to your local party store and buy plastic wine/champagne glasses to include with the bottle of wine or champagne. They are super light as they are plastic so they wouldn't cost a lot to ship.

I have seen other DISBrides mention that you can purchase cases of bottled water online from Costco and have it shipped to your hotel so that it is waiting on you when you arrive.

I thought I would post a few examples of others that I have made for DISBrides:

 

[jtanddolly]

Dolly
Do you have any templates for the boxes at all?
Thank you so much

There are lots of great free templates online if you do a google search. There are also templates that you can purchase like the ornament box that I made above. If you find one you like, you can use colored cardstock or cardstock and stamps to match your wedding colors and theme to make different styles of boxes and items.

I make party printables for others to match their wedding, parties or events, but I can't post my blog. If you want a link send me a pm. It is a lot of fun to make your own DIY items from scratch or with a little bit of help by finding someone to make a PDF favor template using your wedding colors and/or theme so that you can print, cut and assemble. It's still a DIY favor even if someone gives you a little help in the beginning by setting up a printable template for you.

 

[jtanddolly]

HELPFULL HINTS FOR MAKING THESE TYPES OF DIY FAVORS:

You really should invest in a few items to make the finished product look professional. Here are a few things you should own:

1. scissors - buy a pair of scissors for scrapbooking with a good sharp edge...they should be medium in size. You do not want to cut with a big bulky pair of scissors.

2. paper trimmer

3. scoring board - This will help you to get a professional crease for folding paper

4. bone folder - This also helps with getting a good crease for folding paper

5. double sided tape (I use scotch brand double sided tape from walmart) or tape for scrapbooking

6. paper punches - these are not required but they are great for punching round circles like the circle in the wine tag above as circles are difficult to cut perfectly! I also like tag punches, scallop circle punches, etc.

7. I love using clear adhesive shelf paper to cover a lot of the things that I make like candy bar wrappers and water bottle wrappers. It helps to protect the wrapper if it gets wet and it gives it a professional look and feel. It is also called "peel and stick laminate" and I use the duck brand at Walmart. One roll will cover TONS of things.

 

[DisneyLeah]

Hi Dolly - Thank you so much for posting these ideas! Your designs are beautiful and are great inspirations!!

I was wondering if you could tell me what type (weight) of paper you recommend for the water bottle tags? And, do you just attach them with glue dots? Do you have any recommendations for materials that work particularly well?

Thanks for any information you can share!

Leah

 

[jtanddolly]

Hi Dolly - Thank you so much for posting these ideas! Your designs are beautiful and are great inspirations!!

I was wondering if you could tell me what type (weight) of paper you recommend for the water bottle tags? And, do you just attach them with glue dots? Do you have any recommendations for materials that work particularly well?

Thanks for any information you can share!

Leah

Thanks so much! I'm working on lots more but I ran out of printer ink so I have to go spend another $50 so I can get back to printing. I wish printer ink was not so darn expensive! I'm sure that I spend at least $200 a year on printer ink.

Water Bottle Wrappers

What you will need:
• White cardstock - I use regular white cardstock from Walmart that is 110 lb weight. Cardstock tends to hold the ink color better than regular paper.
• Clear adhesive shelf paper – It is also called peel and stick laminate and you can find it at Walmart with the shelf paper. It is around $5.00 and it comes in a roll that you will be able to use on a TON of projects. The one I use is Duck brand. I love using clear adhesive laminate! I use it on a lot of projects as it helps to protect the ink from smearing/bleeding and it gives the project a more professional look and feel.
• Paper Trimmer and/or a good pair of scissors
• Double sided tape – I use the scotch brand from Walmart. It is in the office supply section and has a yellow cover.

How to make:
• Print your water bottle wrapper onto the cardstock paper and trim out with scissors or your paper trimmer.
• Next cut a strip of the laminate making sure that you have more than you will need to cover a single bottle wrapper. At least an inch around all sides.
• Then remove the backing from the laminate (but do not throw away) and lay your bottle wrapper (color side) on the sticky side of laminate. Then put the backing over the wrapper back onto the laminate. This will help make cutting more easy, and will help your scissors to not end up with a sticky residue on them.
• Cut using your scissors, making sure to cut about 1/8 of an inch extra of laminate on top and bottom of the wrapper and ½ to 1 inch on the ends. So if your bottle wrapper is 8 x 2 inches you will want the laminate to be 10 by 2 ¼ inches so that there is extra laminate on all sides.
• Even though laminate will stick well to your bottle wrapper it will just stick okay to the bottle. So place a strip of double sided tape on both ends of the bottle wrapper so that it sticks well to the bottle.
• Then wrap the bottle wrapper around the water bottle label making sure it is even/level so that the ends will match up.
• The extra laminate on all four sides will help it to stick to the bottle along with the double sided tape, and will help protect your label so that if you stick it in ice or it gets wet, the image will not run/bleed.



One other option, but it is a good deal more expensive, is to go online and order specialty paper that is a sticker paper and the ink is not supposed to bleed when the paper gets wet. It is nice as you don't have to worry about covering the paper or how you will stick it to the water bottle, but it is a good bit more expensive depending on how many water bottles you are wanting to cover.

Hope that helps!

 

[Sccrmnky2005]

Dolly,

Your so amazing to everyone!! Thanks for these tips! I can't wait to print out all the things you've made me. I've printed the samples but nothing on the nice paper yet.

 

[jtanddolly]

Leah, I just realized that you said tag not wrapper. Maybe the original tutorial will help someone else.

Wine/Water Bottle Tags

What you need:
• Cardstock - You will definitely want to print on 110 lb weight cardstock or heavier. I print mine on white cardstock from Walmart that is 110 lb weight. The heavier the paper, the better it will sit on a bottle.
• 1.5 inch circle punch for the hole as it is hard to cut a circle. Or you could measure the neck of your bottle to determine what size you will need, but I have found that 1.5 inch works for most bottles
• Scoring Board and Bone Folder – I prefer to use these so that I get a good edge. If you fold by hand the edge is not as good and clean as what you get with a scoring board and bone folder. You can also use the groove on your paper trimmer and buy a hand tool to score the paper.
• Clear Adhesive Shelf Paper – also called peel and stick laminate. I purchase the Duck brand found out Walmart with the shelf paper. This is optional!

How to make:
• Print on cardstock and trim out around all four sides.
• Use your hole punch to cut out the hole.
• Then use the scoring board and bone folder to get a good sharp edge and fold.
• Next place over the bottle…no adhesive is necessary for this project!
• This is an extra step and is not necessary, but it will help protect the tag against getting wet and will help so that it doesn't bend or tear. If you want cover the printed side or both sides with laminate, make sure that you trim right against the tag as you don't want any extra laminate hanging off the sides. If your tag measures 6.5 x 3 inches, you will want the laminate to measure 6.5 x 3 inches.
• Lay the tag on the sticky side of laminate then lay another piece of laminate on top and trim around the sides. You can laminate one side only first and then use your scoring board and bone folder to get a good crease. Try it on the bottle and then decide if you want to laminate the other side. If you are concerned about the tag getting wet or if you are going to do a lot of traveling with the tag, you will probably want to laminate both sides.

Final hint, do not laminate the tag with an actual laminating machine as you can't trim right against the edge and regular laminating paper is thicker and hard to fold.

 

[jtanddolly]

Dolly,

Your so amazing to everyone!! Thanks for these tips! I can't wait to print out all the things you've made me. I've printed the samples but nothing on the nice paper yet.

Thanks Amanda! I can't wait to see how they all turn out. I check in on your thread from time to time. Once you get that second shoe completed, you will be able to start on all kinds of new projects.

 

[Sccrmnky2005]

Thanks Amanda! I can't wait to see how they all turn out. I check in on your thread from time to time. Once you get that second shoe completed, you will be able to start on all kinds of new projects.

Yes, well I've been guilty and doing a few projects here and there until I can get another order of crystals!

 

[geek+nerd]

Dolly, while I am a hopeless DIY-wannabe (everything I make looks like a second grader's art project), I love reading your posts!

And, after looking at your Christmas ornament ideas, DF and I chose a personalized Mickey ornament to give each family that comes to our wedding as our favor.

Thanks for all your inspiration and the hard work you do for all the DISbrides!

 

[jtanddolly]

DIY Favor #5 - Crystal Light On the Go Drink Mix Pouch:

I just had to make one more item to go along with the "bottle theme" that I have had in the last two DIY Favor posts. This is a "Crystal Light On the Go Drink Mix Pouch." You can make it to match the water bottle wrapper and is a perfect gift for a "welcome basket" for guests staying at a hotel. Crystal Light On the Go Drink Mixes come in lots of flavors, so you can pick one that matches your theme and it will help liven up the flavor of water.

Now I need to go purchase more ink so I can get back to printing, assembling and taking more pictures of some fun things like door hangers, candy bar wrappers, etc.