Choosing and buying a party favor

If there is anything that would make a Christmas party stand out from the other Christmas parties held all over the world, it would be the party favors being given away on that event. From plastic toys and puzzles in birthday parties, party favors have rapidly evolved. Now, party favors have become a loot bag full of nice and expensive stuff. This is especially true with parties and events for adults. This however brought an image of expensiveness to an otherwise simple gesture of giving souvenirs for a party. And with the high prices of organizing a party, creating a costly swag bag is just not the priority. In fact, many do not give any at all.

But you dont have to put expensive stuff in your swag bag if you dont want to. For simple parties, you can give simple gifts that will just help make your guests remember the occasion. For instance, a party favor that consists of freshly picked flowers from your own garden will definitely be a hit in a Sweet Sixteen party. A mask made from paper plates and cans can be part of a childrens party swag bag. A fish in a small bowl can be a nice take away present for guests and entourage in a wedding reception. There are many things that you can give without adding significantly to your costs.

The key is in the budgeting. First, you need to consider what the party is for and what it celebrates. That will give you an idea on what appropriate gifts to buy as your party favor. If you can, you can choose stuff that will either remind the guests of the person who is celebrating an occasion or remind them of the occasion itself. A gift that will symbolize the occasion is also another way to think when looking for ideas for party favors. For instance, with a wedding reception, newlyweds can either give a compilation of their favorite songs together in a cd or potpourri wrapped in white cloth and veil. They can also give a pair of lovebirds or doves as party favors as these animals symbolize togetherness and love.

Another important thing to consider is the function of the piece. Gone are the days when party favors consist of tiny glass sculptures and porcelain figures that will only rot in a box with the rest of the figurines that you got from other parties and reception. Because these are remembrances of occasions, few people will want to throw them however useless they are. Thus, they only serve to clutter houses. If you are going to give a party favor, make sure that it is something that the guest will be able to use in his or her daily life or in the immediate future. That way, your gift has a use besides serving as a souvenir.

Fortunately for those who have one too many figurines with names and dates on them, the trend towards giving these kinds of party favors is slowly fading. Now, people are more practical. Probably because they need to.

What to consider when giving party favors

Party favors are the least of peoples priorities when they are organizing a party these days. After all, one usually will only have a budget for the food and the entertainment and nothing left for other expenses. But those who do find a small piece of the pie chart and dedicate it to party favors muck up the whole process of giving party favors that it would have been better if they didnt give any. For me, it is better to give nothing than to give the wrong thing.

One of the most basic things that you should remember when choosing and buying a party favor kit is the purpose of giving it. It is a souvenir that will hopefully make the person remember your party and your event. Remember this when thinking of party favor ideas. Most people think that it is enough to just give a small token of a useless thing just as long as it has their names, the date and indicates what the occasion is. They dont realize that for their guests to actually remember them through the party favor that they gave, it should be something that they can use, preferably every day. The party favor should not only be beautiful, it should also be functional.

Another mistake that people do when giving party favors is to just give it with no information on it about the party or the celebration or to give it with the information engraved on it. The latter is actually done often and has actually been a practice in most cultures. Doing both is wrong because not giving any information about you or what your party is about defeats the purpose of giving the swag bag in the first place and giving too much information and actually putting them on the souvenir item is in bad taste.

What you should do is to put information on a separate small piece of paper and attach them on the gift. That way, they will have a reminder of where they got it, who gave it to them and what the event was. The gift itself should not have any trace of identification whatsoever. If they want to display the gift with the tag and keep it along with the rest of their souvenirs, they can choose to. The key here is the freedom to choose what they can do with the gift. If your guests want to use their gifts without having to explain every time about the inscriptions on it, it is their decision.

It is also much better to give one big gift than to fill the swag bag with small useless items that seem cheap and tawdry. This is not only very time-consuming to prepare but also costly when you really add up the total. Why not buy something that will cost around the same amount when you combined your small gifts? Giving one big gift will also make your party favor more expensive than it really is.