Packaging/Presentation • Favors for Adults • Favors for Children

Once upon a time, small gifts were given or exchanged as a token of esteem, affection, gratitude or friendship. These tokens or remembrances were often referred to as "favors." In the first part of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring, we learn that it was customary among Hobbits having a celebration (like a birthday) to give gifts to their guests. During the "Golden Age" of Halloween (around the turn of the 20th century), favors were just part of the package. Today, guests at weddings and parties occasionally receive small gifts as a thank you for sharing the day. Often, favor bags are distributed at children's parties, sometimes as a bribe for younger children not used to having someone else receive presents. I love the idea of favors! I used to create small pins to share with friends when I went to Renaissance faires, and still have quite a collection. At my first party in a long, long time, I created fun favor bags for everyone to take home. Only budget and time prevented them from being more elaborate. I'm already planning favor bags for upcoming gatherings and thought I'd share the possibilities.

This is not meant to be a comprehensive listing, but instead an idea-generator - a place to get started. Most of these sites are listed as resources on my Halloween Links page as well.

Packaging/Presentation: The possibilities for favor packaging might not be endless, but there are several ways you can go.

• New for Halloween '06: I made cool applique trick-or-treat bags for the niece, nephews and honorary nieces and nephews (9 total). Pics & details can be found here.
• Patterned or plain cellophane treat bags, sold with cookie and cake decorating supplies. Just fill and tie shut with ribbon.
• Sew gift bags made from patterned cotton, available at the fabric store and tie shut with matching ribbon. How-to here.
• Simple felt bags. Select a version, make the bags, then use a squeeze bottle of paint (scribblers) to decorate or write the guest's name. (Shown, below right in Children's Favors.)
  • Version 1: fold a sheet of craft felt (about 25¢) in half and sew 2 sides (bottom and side). Tie shut with ribbon.
  • Version 2 - with drawstring: See these directions.
• Regular paper lunch bags, decorated and closed with hole punches, ribbon, twisting shut, etc. Some of the Martha Stewart periodicals show examples of orange bags filled, then twisted shut and closed with brown or green paper ribbon/tape, to look like pumpkins.
• Miniature shopping bags, 5 or 6" high are sold in craft stores like Michaels and Hobby Lobby in packages (they sell bigger bags too, if you're feeling generous, or are creating a special prize bag)
• Also in craft stores, look for canvas bags, with handles or drawstrings, drawstring bags made of fancy material, plain boxes of all styles, including unfinished wood boxes.
• Simple tubes (recycle toilet tissue tubes), stuffed with small prizes and wrapped with tissue paper = fun, faux "crackers."
• Small to medium plastic pumpkins, intended for trick or treating make wonderful prize package containers. Look for miniature versions to package your favors in.
• Chinese food containers: either buy clean, new ones from a restaurant (some will sell them), then decorate them, or purchase fancy ones.
• Hit the hardware store - they sell empty paint cans and buckets that you can decorate. I've seen simple decoupaged quart paint buckets selling for over $20!
• Coffin-shaped boxes make for an elaborate and thematic favor package! I know of two sites that offer boxes:
  • Pushin Daisies' 12-pack of cardboard coffins is the only one I've seen in person. It makes a great gift box, as well as a sturdy mailer. It easily holds a VHS tape, so you can get an idea of the size. They also offer a fancy black gift box version.
  • 4HalloweenCoffins offers a smaller craft coffin. I can't speak to the size or quality.

Favors for Adults (some can be interchanged w/ the kid's favors)

The favors for my 2004 party ended up being done in two stages. First, I created favor bags for each guest containing retro candy (wax lips and taffy lipstick) and toys (kazoo, crayons, plastic skeleton, tiny bag of spider webbing, etc) and tied them with printed "Trick or Treat" ribbon I purchased at a craft store (Michaels). I had planned/hoped to include a more long-lasting remembrance, either a pin or a magnet, but ran out of time. After the party (which was a "bad movie night"), I realized that one of the quotes in the movie begged to be made into a pin. So all my guests received a custom pin - designed by me, created by Mushycat - that was exclusive to party goers. I don't recommend everything sold on Cafepress (quality issues), but the 1" pins and stickers are excellent. Do a search for "Halloween" to get started.

You don't have to go the extreme of creating an exclusive favor (although it's fun), but you can create favors for each guest to take away, or several to use as prizes for contests. Either have individual items (from the list below or anything that strikes your fancy) or bag up several items for a fun favor bag.

• Shop at dollar stores, toy stores, craft stores, gift shops, etc. for party favor packages, after Halloween or year-round. I often buy non-food items right after Halloween and put everything in a big plastic cauldron until it's time to start working on my bags.
• Create small favor bags with a mixture of toys and candy. Make it even more fun by seeking out retro candy that your guests remember from childhood. I found wax lips and cinnamon toothpicks at Groovy Candies, and taffy lipstick at an old-fashioned dime store.
• Create magnets by printing mini versions of Victorian Halloween cards (or something else related to your theme) and adhere them to business-card-sized magnets.
• If you have access to a good color printer, check out the "haunted" paper toys at Raven's Blight. Artist Ray O'Bannen has shared these free images for folks to print and assemble. I used one of the tiny coffins as a pre-invitation. There is a fortune-telling game and mini-books (that you can adapt by adding text -- follow the directions here).
• Create mini trick or treat bags by purchasing (& decorating if you're so inclined) tiny brown paper shopping bags, the kind that are generally sold in packages at craft stores. Fill the bags with an assortment of candy.
• Consider a unique/exclusive favor for your guests. Either something you've made yourself, or commissioned. In the past, I have created themed phrase pins and favor pins, but Ken at Mushycat made a 1" pin or sticker from my artwork that was perfect for my 20004 party guests.
• "rweso," a member of an online community I once belonged to, gave out scary shot glasses (the plastic ones). Each one had an alternate name for the guest on it, for example Boney=Tony, Skelly=Kelly, Skieve=Steve, Blob=Bob, Colloween=Colleen...
• If your budget allows, consider quirky gifts like the following:
  • A dark pampering package, including a black toothbrush (if you can find them (email me)) and black tooth gel from Lush, along with some yummy candy or soaps from Pushin' Daisies (below).
  • Tombstone soap from Pushin' Daisies. Surf the rest of the site for lots of fun death-related gifts like Pirate bandages and solid chocolate coffins.
  • Uniquely (or creepy) named scented votive candles from Dark Candles (they also offer an assortment of votives).
  • Gorey Details offers fun items like postcards, rubber stamps, jewelry, etc., based on the works of Victorian artist Edward Gorey. They also offer quirky items from other artists. I ordered rubber stamps featuring a raven (Lenore) and "Nevermore" for my 2004 invitations.

Favors for Children (some can be interchanged with the adult favors)

Every Halloween, I put together about several special gift bags for the kids in my life (niece & nephew), or my friends' kids. One year, I purchased small printed shopping bags and made very fancy tags with each kid's name, another year, I sewed together felt bags (1 "square" of felt per bag, cut in half) and wrote each kid's name on a bag with black scribbler paint (right).

• I actually collect the contents for these bags almost year-round. I start right around Halloween for the next year, watch for sales at party supply stores, etc., and add everything to a big plastic cauldron until I'm ready to assemble the bags. Closer to the actual event, I buy fun candy (skull suckers, gummi fangs, Sponge Bob Krabby Pattys) and mix them all up. It would be great if I could stock up on half-price candy right after Halloween for the next year, but I'd rather it be fresh.
• Gummi candy is all the rage. Consider seeking out specialty gummies, like gummi eyeballs, lizards, snakes, fangs, etc. I found an online store that has an excellent selection, although I'm not sure of their prices. Click here to see gummi eyeballs at The Online Candy Store.
• A great resource for Halloween toys and some candy (great price on wax fangs) at Oriental Trading.
• Glowsticks, bracelets or necklaces from Illuminationz will be a hoot if you have a large gathering (otherwise, buy them individually at a party or dollar store).
• Toothbrushes - black if you can find them - ONLY as a fun addition to a bag full of candy (giving kids toothbrushes as party favors on their own is NOT recommended!). I liked the black ones at Martha by mail, but keep hoping I'll find them cheaper locally. (Update: Martha by Mail is no longer in existence, so it won't matter if I couldn't swing that price anyway).
• Plum Party has several fun items that I haven't seen elsewhere. Some, I'll admit to using as bouncing-off points, but would buy others if the budget allowed.
• Feeling extra creative? Make a Surprise Ball for someone special. Makes an excellent prize.

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