Today I wanted to share some party favors I made for one of my friend's bridal shower. She and I go waaayyy back- like 12 years back. There's very few people in the States I've known longer than 12 years. Since she is a long time friend, sorority sister, one of my best friends, AND she asked me to be a bridesmaid for one of the most important moments of her life; I knew we had to have something extra special for her shower. Now that the shower is over I wanted to share some details about the favors.- coffee/tea favors with Kate Spade inspired gold/white polka dot party bags. They're super easy, took only a few hours, and I had far less bloopers than the reupholstered folding chairs from my last post.
The shower favors consisted of a jar of tea and coffee, along with measuring spoons. A couple months back the maid of honor showed me a photo on her phone of some coffee and tea party favors on Etsy. they came in glass jars with labels that said "love is brewing" for the coffee or "a perfect blend" for the tea. Personally I thought the idea was cute, but the labels cheesy. Not to mention it was also roughly $8/jar including the filling which in my opinion was way over priced and impersonal so I set to make these out on my own.
1. Coffee, Tea, & Jars
Probably the biggest lessons learned for this are:
I got a wonderful Italian dark roast coffee from World Market. They have a wonderful selection of coffee beans from around the world. I figured this would be a better bet than Starbucks since some people think their coffee has a bitter aftertaste. Miscalculating my math I thought I would need closer to 40 ounces I decided to purchase their 24 ounce bags. The store was great and had their own coffee grinding machine, similar to Whole Foods.
For the tea, Teavana was quickly ruled out (again my math was way off) when I realized I would be spending close to $250 on tea! Don't hold your breath I went and scoped out Whole Foods loose leaf tea instead. I landed on a wonderful fruity blend by Jasmine Pearl called Ruby Nectar. Again they barely had enough for me to take 15 ounces home. They provided me with the distributors website.
It was a pleasant surprise to see that they were based in Portland which made shipping practically free. The best part was even though I overbought tea any order over $100 received a one pound discount which saved me about $30.
For assembly I found a funnel worked best. Make sure the spout at the end is wide enough for the flower petals or any larger leaves in your tea to pass through. Here's some photos I took of the jars once they were filled.
2. Making Jar Labels & Tags
I wasted a better half of one Saturday afternoon calling and driving to craft stores to find the perfect labels or gift tags for the jars. I didn't want to make my own sticker labels because considering the wedding colors and "old Hollywood glam" theme I felt it would be really tacky. Lessons learned #1 with gift tags- MAKE YOUR OWN!
It's slightly embarrassing the store manager at the Michaels in Bellevue knows me by name. But we have developed this wonderful crafting relationship and constantly trade tips/ideas with each other for upcoming projects. It was her idea that I make my own. At first I was dreading it until I stumbled upon this wonderful gift tag shape punch. You have no idea how fun it is going to be over the holidays making custom gift tags for every present!
I picked up some cardstock in Cartulina (a light shimmering gold) by Recollections. I was able to make about 38 tags from 1 sheet. I then used a hole puncher to make a hole for the ribbon/cord. Be sure to save the little gold polka dots for future confetti or other craft projects (Hint: These can be used during Easter).
This lead me to lesson learned #2. While it may look aesthetically pretty, ribbon is a pain in the ass to tie around a jar. It also "gets in the way" when you take the lid off if there's a big bow and you're trying to scoop at tea or coffee grounds. I opted for plastic coated cord in black. They sell them for only a few dollars and you get 27 yards at Joann Fabric. This also provided a more subtle option to make the tags and lids stand out prominently and didn't take away from any of the vibrant colors of the loose tea. Make it easy on yourself and tie the tag with a slipknot to the cord first, then tie it tightly to the jar. I cut off the loose cord for a cleaner look.
For the labels I cheated...I always cheat with labels. I have a pack of transparent Avery labels #5660 that I use for everything. I downloaded a fun font, Mathilde, from dafont.com and used webdings for the heart icon. For the front of the label I printed the romantic puns provided from the maid of honor. On the back I printed copies the contents of the jars (Italian dark roast coffee or ruby nectar herbal tea). Look for an update to this post by Friday with a PDF of the free printables for reuse.
Isn't the finished product pretty?!
The last addition to the party favors were heart measuring spoons. The maid of honor originally found Kate Aspen ones at Target online but they were $20 each. I found the exact same spoons on Favor Couture. In bulk order it came to right under $50. These already come beautifully packaged.
3. Kate Spade Inspired Gold Polka Dot Gift Bags
The last thing I had a pain finding was polka dot bags in gold. I found a few craft paper bags with gold foil, but it just wasn't the same. It's not a complete design or craft project if I don't make it challenging on myself :-).
I bought a pack of white gift bags. These are not only wedding colors, but since it was a daytime bridal shower I figured would be more appropriate than black bags. The bride loves everything Kate Spade and has some of her polka dot accessories. Polka dot bags in gold seemed like a good idea. The first craft fail came when I tried to use gold pigment ink and stamp onto the bags. Luckily I practiced on some scratch paper and it was not ideal. It looked like a poorly made firework (sorry there's no photo!). It very well may be because I was using a spouncer. A spouncer is a foam paint brush that looks like a tulip and is circular instead. My option was to try the spouncer or resort to using my ivy rubber stamp and that wasn't going to work.
I had some leftover mod podge and fine gold glitter from another project that worked very well for this. This was by far the fastest impromptu fix I've done in a while. A few tips:
Here's a photo of all the bags completed with the favors.
To top them off, I inserted black tissue paper into each bag. It definitely made the gold stand out. Can you say gorgeous?!
All of the ladies at the shower absolutely loved the bags! And who doesn't love glitter and gold at a bridal shower? I know I do!
The shower favors consisted of a jar of tea and coffee, along with measuring spoons. A couple months back the maid of honor showed me a photo on her phone of some coffee and tea party favors on Etsy. they came in glass jars with labels that said "love is brewing" for the coffee or "a perfect blend" for the tea. Personally I thought the idea was cute, but the labels cheesy. Not to mention it was also roughly $8/jar including the filling which in my opinion was way over priced and impersonal so I set to make these out on my own.
1. Coffee, Tea, & Jars
Probably the biggest lessons learned for this are:
- Always try to order in bulk. Shipping for the jars was nearly the same price as the jar themselves. Despite them being a good deal it was a tough pill to swallow.
- If you failed the one Physics class you ever took (there's a reason I bypassed Physics went on to study multivariate calculus and organic chemistry!) call your mother to understand volume conversions. I ended up purchasing twice as much coffee and an extra bag of tea. This means I'll have many Sunday morning brews after my runs :-).
 |
| Glass jars from Specialty Bottle |
I got a wonderful Italian dark roast coffee from World Market. They have a wonderful selection of coffee beans from around the world. I figured this would be a better bet than Starbucks since some people think their coffee has a bitter aftertaste. Miscalculating my math I thought I would need closer to 40 ounces I decided to purchase their 24 ounce bags. The store was great and had their own coffee grinding machine, similar to Whole Foods.
 |
| Selection of coffee from around the world |
For the tea, Teavana was quickly ruled out (again my math was way off) when I realized I would be spending close to $250 on tea! Don't hold your breath I went and scoped out Whole Foods loose leaf tea instead. I landed on a wonderful fruity blend by Jasmine Pearl called Ruby Nectar. Again they barely had enough for me to take 15 ounces home. They provided me with the distributors website.
It was a pleasant surprise to see that they were based in Portland which made shipping practically free. The best part was even though I overbought tea any order over $100 received a one pound discount which saved me about $30.
For assembly I found a funnel worked best. Make sure the spout at the end is wide enough for the flower petals or any larger leaves in your tea to pass through. Here's some photos I took of the jars once they were filled.
 |
| Jasmine Pearl Ruby Nectar Herbal Tea |
 |
| Italian Roast Dark Coffee from World Market |
2. Making Jar Labels & Tags
I wasted a better half of one Saturday afternoon calling and driving to craft stores to find the perfect labels or gift tags for the jars. I didn't want to make my own sticker labels because considering the wedding colors and "old Hollywood glam" theme I felt it would be really tacky. Lessons learned #1 with gift tags- MAKE YOUR OWN!
It's slightly embarrassing the store manager at the Michaels in Bellevue knows me by name. But we have developed this wonderful crafting relationship and constantly trade tips/ideas with each other for upcoming projects. It was her idea that I make my own. At first I was dreading it until I stumbled upon this wonderful gift tag shape punch. You have no idea how fun it is going to be over the holidays making custom gift tags for every present!
 |
| I got the punch on the left |
I picked up some cardstock in Cartulina (a light shimmering gold) by Recollections. I was able to make about 38 tags from 1 sheet. I then used a hole puncher to make a hole for the ribbon/cord. Be sure to save the little gold polka dots for future confetti or other craft projects (Hint: These can be used during Easter).
 |
| Gift tags in gold cardstock |
This lead me to lesson learned #2. While it may look aesthetically pretty, ribbon is a pain in the ass to tie around a jar. It also "gets in the way" when you take the lid off if there's a big bow and you're trying to scoop at tea or coffee grounds. I opted for plastic coated cord in black. They sell them for only a few dollars and you get 27 yards at Joann Fabric. This also provided a more subtle option to make the tags and lids stand out prominently and didn't take away from any of the vibrant colors of the loose tea. Make it easy on yourself and tie the tag with a slipknot to the cord first, then tie it tightly to the jar. I cut off the loose cord for a cleaner look.
For the labels I cheated...I always cheat with labels. I have a pack of transparent Avery labels #5660 that I use for everything. I downloaded a fun font, Mathilde, from dafont.com and used webdings for the heart icon. For the front of the label I printed the romantic puns provided from the maid of honor. On the back I printed copies the contents of the jars (Italian dark roast coffee or ruby nectar herbal tea). Look for an update to this post by Friday with a PDF of the free printables for reuse.
Isn't the finished product pretty?!
 |
| Completed DIY gift tags and labels |
The last addition to the party favors were heart measuring spoons. The maid of honor originally found Kate Aspen ones at Target online but they were $20 each. I found the exact same spoons on Favor Couture. In bulk order it came to right under $50. These already come beautifully packaged.
 |
| Kate Aspen heart-shaped measuring spoons |
3. Kate Spade Inspired Gold Polka Dot Gift Bags
The last thing I had a pain finding was polka dot bags in gold. I found a few craft paper bags with gold foil, but it just wasn't the same. It's not a complete design or craft project if I don't make it challenging on myself :-).
I bought a pack of white gift bags. These are not only wedding colors, but since it was a daytime bridal shower I figured would be more appropriate than black bags. The bride loves everything Kate Spade and has some of her polka dot accessories. Polka dot bags in gold seemed like a good idea. The first craft fail came when I tried to use gold pigment ink and stamp onto the bags. Luckily I practiced on some scratch paper and it was not ideal. It looked like a poorly made firework (sorry there's no photo!). It very well may be because I was using a spouncer. A spouncer is a foam paint brush that looks like a tulip and is circular instead. My option was to try the spouncer or resort to using my ivy rubber stamp and that wasn't going to work.
I had some leftover mod podge and fine gold glitter from another project that worked very well for this. This was by far the fastest impromptu fix I've done in a while. A few tips:
- If you want your bags to look professional space them out exactly the same on every bag. I alternated rows of four then three polka dots staggering them apart. Then I went bag and filled in the end of each row if there was too much white space with extra dots.
- A little goes a long way, make sure your round spouncer is saturated but not dripping with the adhesive. Don't press down too hard otherwise no glue will exist in the center of your dot and you'll have to do touch-ups.
- Use wax paper instead of craft paper. If you're glittering smaller objects paper plates or craft paper makes sense. I found the clean up for this virtually non-existent with the wax paper. I was able to shake it to transfer glitter to bags placed on one sheet, and when I wasn't shaking or tapping no glitter was going astray.
Here's a photo of all the bags completed with the favors.
To top them off, I inserted black tissue paper into each bag. It definitely made the gold stand out. Can you say gorgeous?!
All of the ladies at the shower absolutely loved the bags! And who doesn't love glitter and gold at a bridal shower? I know I do!
