Handmade Party Favors

Add some pop to white boxes with gold-medallion stickers, for party favors that sparkle.

Rewrapped chocolate bars make fetching favors. Remove wrapper from bar. Add a band of plain colored paper, and then one printed with our number clip art.

From sack to sensational: Transform an ordinary paper bag with glitter and a stencil to hold goodies for guests.

Send guests home with sweet memories: a candy-filled box with a letter fashioned from metallic tape.

Wrap candy with colored tissue and white paper rubber-stamped with a number or dots.

Give a style upgrade to a classic toy by stenciling a letter onto it with metallic ink.

Wrap favors in brightly colored tissue paper and top them off with a paper flower -- a low-cost alternative to the real thing.

Fill these paper cones with the candy of your choice. Cut a 2-inch-thick Styrofoam sheet to fit a tray; affix with floral clay. Insert two wooden skewers for each cone in the foam. To make the paper cone, cut a sheet of card stock into a 6 1/2-inch square and roll it into a funnel shape, leaving a small hole in the bottom. Adhere with craft glue, holding until the glue sets. Adorn each cone with an 8 1/2-inch paper ribbon held by a sticker, and fill with candy. Slide cones onto skewers. Cover the foam with various shades of candy, and place a banner on the tray instructing guests to take a favor.

You can customize bubble containers for the party favors; their paper bands are affixed with double-sided tape.

Tea is twice as nice coupled with cookies flavored the same way. These Earl Grey tea cookies were made by mixing tea leaves into shortbread batter. Customize a box with corrugated paper to form sections for cookies and tea bags, and wrap with damask paper and ribbon.

Miniature lunch boxes make great cubbies for treasures, like beads and ribbons or nail polish and jewelry. Or, tuck a pretty snack of cookies or candies for guests to take home.

The classic ensemble of a striped button-down shirt and French-knot cuff links inspired these favors in summery hues, which we filled with saltwater taffy.

Favorite snapshots of birthday or anniversary celebrants can easily be transformed into favor adornments.

Japanese green tea leaves surrounded by French tilleul leaves are nestled in small wooden boxes and make beautiful party favors. They are wrapped in pale-pink vellum paper and ribbon, and then decorated with antique waxed leaves.

Package meringues in clear plastic boxes lined with patterned paper and tied with ribbon in a matching color for a sweet treat to send home with shower guests.

Homemade cookies seem all the more authentic when packaged in quaint town house gift boxes.

Lush floral centerpiece blooms double as favors when you provide guests with waterproof bags to take flowers home in. Have cellophane ones custom-printed with a message asking guests to pick a few flowers (foryourparty.com made ours). Set them out with twist ties to cinch bags closed, and at party's end your guests can carry on (and carry off) a bit of the celebration.

A baby shower or kids' birthday with polka dots as the theme guarantees plenty of fun to go around. Guests can leave with goody bags made of shimmery bubble wrap and packed with more dot-themed surprises.

Planning an initials-themed kids' party? Use your guests' initials on the favor boxes.

For a favor that brings out the kid in guests, turn baking cups into darling dishes brimming with old-fashioned hard candies (these have hazelnut chocolate filling). The cups are normally used for baking single servings of brioche, so they're made of stiff paper that can hold lots of little treats. To package each favor, add candy to the cup, then wrap in cellophane. Tie closed with a ribbon threaded with a printed paper tag.

Each of these pretty sacks holds a handful of juicy red cherries, the perfect snack to send home with guests after a garden party or picnic shower. Buy a bunch of glassine bags, and snip the tops with scalloped scissors. Fill each bag with enough cherries, or any small fruit, so they peek out over the top. Turn in the corners underneath the bags to help them stand up. Display the finished bags on wooden crates set on a table near the exit.