Fun and Unique Birthday Party Favors

Birthday Parties are about memories. They're not about giving your guests cheap plastic thingies that they put straight in the trashcan when they get home. So it makes sense to give party favors that give your guests fond memories of the occasion. The party favors I suggest here shouldn't cost the earth to make. Some may take a little time to put together, using nothing more than your computer, the internet and a good colour printer. But they are worth the effort.They are as much fun to make as they are to give!

Here's a few novel ideas for inspiring party favours that your guests will treasure.

1.

A mini personalised scrapbook of the birthday party. These work wonderfully for small intimate birthday parties, for example family birthdays, or for reunions or anniversaries. A great idea for a major birthday such as a 40th is to do a moments in time scrapbook with pictures of the host at different stages and ages of their lives, with a few witty comments thrown in. Memorable and fun!

2.

An on this day in history scroll- if you're celebrating a birthday or anniversary, why not do some research on the net about other noteworthy things that have happened on the same day in history. By searching on the net you will easily find many interesting events that happened the same day. Using your word processor publishing media, create a document, and use an old fashioned font such as Vivaldi, Blackadder or French Script. Print your document. Then age it! You do this by dabbing used teabags along its edges. Don't let the teabag touch your print or the ink will run. Let it dry. Then roll up the document into a scroll and tie it together with coloured ribbon. If you don't feel confident about aging your scroll using teabags you could just print your scroll on pale yellow or cream paper.

Another idea is to make a scroll of the key events in someone's life as a memento of the occasion. Or for kids a summary of naughty things that they, or their friends have done in the past. They love these!

3.

A little framed photo of the party host and each guest. Buy several cheap but nice photo frames. You may have some photos in stock already, or you may be able to take some digitalsnaps during the birthday party. Download these, print them out and frame them to give your guests an instant reminder of the occasion.

4.

A downloaded music disc. If music is your thing why not burn a disc of all the music that is played at your birthday party. This can be done well in advance of the party if you know the music that is to be used. Label your CD with the date, occasion and the tracks played.

5.

Personalised miniature cocktails. Send your adult guests home with their own personalised cocktail mix!. This can be done well in advance. Use tried and trusted recipes out of a cocktail book and do label your ingredients. Use your creativity to make personalised labels on individual bottles e.g. Mother's Ruin, Grandma's 'grape juice', 'The Morning After the Night Before' etc.

6.

A personalised hangover cure! Make up small miniatures of your favourite hangover cure. Label all your ingredients and give detailed instructions for use.

Many years ago I was given a bottle of hangover cure as a party favor. The beautifully labelled bottle contained nothing more than ginger beer (non alcoholic) and orange juice). It was very useful. But strangely I couldn't remember very much about the party at all!!!