Bridesmaid Gifts: Leopard Print Designs on Votive Candle Holders

Here's a quick idea for themed gifts that you can literally put together in minutes, once you have the necessary components.

Are you using a leopard print wedding theme? As far as wedding reception themes go animal prints are the new, hottest thing. Leopard print and other animal prints are classic looks that have been popular for many years. You can find them on clothing, handbags, sunglasses, shoes and just about anything else your heart desires.

When considering your wedding color schemes, especially for fall weddings, a leopard print wedding allows you to use a good variety of color rather than being tied to just blue, just burgundy, etc. Earth tones, khaki, orange, rust, black, yellow, gold, pinks and reds all look great with leopard print.

Here is an easy leopard print gift for your bridesmaids or other people that you would like to thank for helping out with your wedding: leopard print votive candle holders. Make these more special and personalize them for each recipient by adding a rhinestone monogram letter. You can buy rhinestone stickers that take just seconds to peel and stick right on the candle holder.

Leopard print votive candle holder

                                                                                                                              

Crystal stick-on monogram letters

These rhinestone monogram stickers are super easy to peel & stick on to a votive candle holder or pretty much anything else . For about $6 a piece, they might be a bit pricey for wedding favors, but they're perfect for personalizing bridesmaid gifts!

Monogrammed Votive Candle Favors

Inexpensive votive candles are an easy elegant way to make meaningful wedding favors.

Easy elegance with votive favors!

Votive candles may be the easy, great-looking favor solution you've been looking for. When it comes to making your own wedding favors, sometimes simplicity is the best way to get your message of thanks across to your guests. An easy, low-cost yet beautiful wedding favor idea makes perfect use of these candles.

Votive Candles may seem fairly common as wedding favors go, but part of the simple beauty of them is the ability to dress them up or package them in so many unique ways. They come in such a wide variety of colors and scents, and can really add to the elegance and significance of your wedding theme. Clear glass holders with shimmering candles in them are a gorgeous addition to reception tables, and they do a wonderful job of creating a romantic ambience for your guests. And as an added bonus, everyone looks better by candle light.

Votive candles also have another, more spiritual significance. They are known as prayer candles and are typically used in religious ceremonies, being lit as a “votive” offering. This is a sacred ritual that dates back to ancient times and is still used today to symbolize the completion of vows. Given as a wedding favor, votive candles symbolize the vows you and your beloved have taken; and also the desire for your guests to keep you in their prayers of health and happiness. And these small, simple and elegant votive candles can hold all of this in one tiny glimmer of flame.

Make this simple yet elegant votive candle favor!

YOU'LL NEED:
- Votive Candles - clear glass votive candle holders
- printed labels or adhesive backed label paper to make your own labels
- organza drawstring bags in a color that works with your theme

STEPS:
- if making your own labels, design a label using your favorite word processor. Print the labels on adhesive-backed paper, cut to size and stick one on each votive holder.
- Place one candle in each votive holder.
- Place each votive candle favor in its own organza bag, and pull the drawstring tight to tie it closed.

Each of these items can be found very inexpensively online, and the finished look is extremely elegant!

Everyone Loves Candy Apples! A Fun Wedding Favor that's Easy and Inexpensive

Give Your Guests Candy Apples! These  Fun Wedding Favors are Simple to Make

Candy apples make great, inexpensive wedding favors

Candy apples make fun, delicious wedding favors and work well for many wedding themes from casual weddings to more formal affairs. These yummy treats can be dipped in many coatings, and wrapped in creative ways that bring a beautiful and edible wedding favor treat to each guest as your personal thank you for their attendance on your special day.

Outer Wrappings
The wrapping for your candy apples can be varied to reflect your theme and depending on which type of wrapping is chosen, candy apple favors make a nice choice for inexpensive wedding favors. For an elegant look, try purchasing gold boxes large enough to fit a candy apple inside. The outside of the box can be embellished with ribbon and a label. Plus, your guests will not immediately know what's inside and will enjoy the mystery.

Clear cellophane bags are another way to wrap candied or caramel apples. The benefit is that the apple itself will show through, which is especially important for apples that have been coated in chocolate, nuts, or other candies. Add a ribbon that color-coordinates with your theme and put a tag or label on the favor to finish it.

Many candied apples or caramel apples, since they are quite sticky, are rolled in some other kind of candy or nuts so a variety of wrappings can work with them. Caramel and some candy coatings are too sticky for clear plastic or saran wrap. For these apples, the best wrapper is waxed paper. Since this will not look as attractive as some other options, you would want to have an outer wrap or box for these as well.

Let's Talk Themes
Here are a few theme ideas to get your creative juices flowing:

• Monogram themed wedding favor – dip apples in dark chocolate, then use white frosting and a frosting bag to pipe monogram letters on in a thin line. Wrap in clear cello bags, add elegant ribbon and a small favor tag that does not take away from the monogram.
• Garden themed wedding favor – use a red candy apple coating, coat the bottom half of the apple in crushed nuts or candies (use red candies if you don't want them to stand out) to keep it from sticking. Wrap in a clear cello bag, and use green ribbon tied in a bow, right where the stick meets the apple, as the apple's leaves. Add a few to the table centerpiece to continue the theme.
• Beach themed wedding favor – this could really be any kind of candy apple favor. Candy apples remind people of the little shops and vendors at tourist beach areas that offer these sweet treats during the summer.
• Bride and Groom or Black & White themed wedding favor – dip some apples in white chocolate, and the others in dark chocolate. For the "bride" use piped white frosting to add detail to the apple. For the "groom", either use white frosting to make a white "shirt" or dip the apple in white chocolate first, then dip each side, overlapping, in dark chocolate. Finish off with dark chocolate dots for buttons. There are many examples on the web of this design.

Variations
There are many other ways to decorate candy apples to make them beautiful, delicious and unique wedding favors. Here is another idea – using different-sized apples. Picture miniature caramel apples at each place setting, along with one or more jumbo-sized candy apples making up a gorgeous centerpiece with a few flowers mixed in.

Give Guests a DIY Favor
For a favor that requires no cooking, and costs less than having candy apples made for you, consider giving each guest a candy apple "kit". In a decorative favor box or bag, put one apple, one stick, enough caramels to cover the apple (once they are melted, of course), and a card with the directions printed on it. The directions can usually be found on the bag of caramels.

Why Candy Apples?
Aside from being healthier than other candy wedding favors, one of the good things about caramel or candied apples is they are very easy to make. Consider making them yourself, or recruit friends or family to do the honors. If you decide to buy them, ask for a bulk discount. Another good thing is candy apples are not a common wedding favor, which means they will not have the "wedding" markup like so many other items have, the minute they become "wedding" items. Some vendors even sell candied apples online, such as Daffy Apple (www.daffyapple.com) for a very reasonable price.

Jordan almonds make a great traditional favor in a hip flower ribbon shape that's super easy to do.

Jordan almonds have been a traditional wedding favor for many years. The thinking is that this favor originated in Italy, although they have also been given at Greek weddings throughout history as well.

There are sayings that go with Jordan almonds, and they can be printed on tags or labels and attached to a favor. For example, a popular saying for a favor with five Jordan almonds reads:

"Five sugared almonds for each guest to eat
To remind us that life is both bitter and sweet.

Five wishes for the new husband and wife -- Health, wealth,
happiness, children, and a long life!"

Not many people have been using Jordan almonds these days, which makes them a perfect retro favor. Every one knows what they are, but no one has seen them in a while, so they seem new again. Besides, many people actually like to eat Jordan almonds!

An updated way to make these sugared treats into a cute wedding favor is by using a special type of organza ribbon to create flowers. Some call this pull-bow ribbon for almond flowers; organza flower ribbon or Cometa ribbon, although I do not know the origins of that name...sounds Italian?? Check it out in the video below.

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The ribbon costs about 30 cents per favor, and the Jordan almonds can be had for about the same amount per five pieces, if you buy in 5 lb or larger quantities. So far, this favor costs less than $1.00 per piece! There are also chocolate-covered candied Jordan almonds that cost a few more cents per piece.This is a super quick favor to make. Placing five almonds in the pockets of the ribbon, and pulling a string tight to form the flower is something even the craft-challenged can do brilliantly. The hardest part, then, becomes what to use in the middle of the flower.

I personally like using something that looks kind of like the middle of a real flower, like a mini-pom pom, or you could even use some kind of round seed pod or berries from a tree, with some hot glue to keep them in the middle of the flower. Then, attach either a real, dried leave or an artificial leaf. These can have an earthy look for a garden or eco wedding, or can be dressed up with satin ribbon for a more formal affair.

Add a favor tag with your names and date, and print the Jordan almond poem (above) on the reverse of the tag....and, done!

Make Simple, Yet Elegant Tags for Your Wedding Favors

Every now and then, I ask around to see who has unique, interesting ideas for making easy, inexpensive wedding favors, and then I like to share them with other brides-to-be for inspiration. The idea below, for favor tags, is a great way to keep it simple, yet elegant!

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Fast, Easy and Elegant Favor Tags

by April
(in Georgia)

For our wedding favors, we allowed guests to fill small gift bags with candy from a candy buffet. We tied our favor tags on the handle of the gift bag with ribbon.

Our tags were very easy to make. We used pre-cut round card stock from the craft store. On one side we stamped a calligraphy font "W" monogram for our last name in metallic gold ink. On the other side we stamped a decorative "thank you" in black ink with a stamp from the craft store. 

We punched holes in the top of the tag for the ribbon. They were easy and simple to make, but they looked great!

Beautiful Wedding Favors, with a New Twist on Ballotin Boxes!

These elegant wedding favors are great to fill with edible yummies or something usable (like one of my favorites, soap). These boxes are typically used by candy makers for truffles. But since I like to use things in non-traditional ways, I colored outside the lines on this one and put the soaps in it.

These can make a really cheap favor, and in fact you can get these ballotin boxes online in several colors, monogrammed even, for less than $1.00 per box! That sounds like the beginning of a nice, inexpensive favor idea to me! The trick is, of course, to look for them on candy or baking sites, NOT on wedding supply sites.

Just about any ribbon will look great tied on these boxes. Make your own crisp black & white labels on your laser printer, and bake delish cookies, buy truffles in bulk or buy a loaf of soap online and slice it into little guest-sized bars to fill your boxes.
In this example, I cut my soap into chunks, wrapped it in translucent deli paper, then put labels on the soaps and the box lid (see picture of the open box, below).

STEPS:
1) Purchase ballotin boxes. Try websites like www.bakingboxes.com that sell candy supplies.

2) Purchase your ribbon

3) Make your labeling decision - to buy pre-made or DIY. You can find pre-printed labels on the internet pretty easily. If you want to do your own, buy full-sheet adhesive backed paper and use a word-processing program to create a border and add your text. Cut and paste your text-box label multiple times on one document page, then print. Then, after printing them, use a rotary-type paper cutter to cleanly trim your labels.

4) Choose what you want to put in your elegant wedding favors. Cookies? Fudge? (mmm...) If you put edibles in, cut pieces of tissue, deli or waxed paper to put underneath and lay over the top of the treats. This is another opportunity to add color to the favor as well.

5) Assemble your gorgeous favors. See below this next picture for some seasonal variations...


TIPS:

Make it seasonal! For a spring wedding theme you can put small flower bulbs with a bit of moss, tulips for example, in your elegant wedding favors box. For summer, fill with swedish fish, and on the outside, stick a nice seashell on with hot glue, with your ribbon and label.

For a fall wedding, glue an acorn on top or collect pretty autumn leaves that have turned color, and slide one of these under a ribbon band. For the inside, make maple candy or sugar cookies with a maple-leaf shaped cookie cutter.

For a winter wedding, try unwrapped peppermint patties, junior mints or peppermint bark inside with a sprig of red berries and white ribbon on the out side.

Bright and pretty bath salts!

Bath salt favors for your bridal party getaway or bachelorette spa weekend

These pretty bath salt favors are easy to make and have a great visual impact for a small amount of time and money! Your guests will love them, they're perfect for a spa theme, and the colors of the bath salts can be changed according to the season or your wedding colors.

They're super easy to dress up with a piece of wired ribbon around the tops of the jars. Add a message to your guests on the label, or your names and event date along with the scent name of the bath salts.

YOU'LL NEED:
1) Bath salts mixture - epsom salts, large-crystal sea salt, baking soda (you can mix these roughly equally but lean more towards the sea salt)

2) Food coloring

3) Glass spice jars with lids or any other small jars that would make cute bath salt favors

4) Wired or other ribbon - this particular ribbon was bought at Shinoda in Orange County, one of my favorite haunts. (I highly recommend them, if you know someone with a resale license 'cause unfortunately they're wholesale only.) If you live in Los Angeles, I have found great ribbon at rock bottom prices at the Moskatel's in the downtown flower mart.

5) Essential oils, or if you must, synthetic fragrance oils, for scents

6) Grapefruit seed extract/Citricidal (optional and only needed if you're using the essential oils)

7) Adhesive backed paper for labels. There are a lot of places on the internet that sell customized labels, but if you really want the freedom to put anything you want on yours they can be pretty easily done on your computer in Microsoft word. If you do your own they're cheaper, of course, but I really also like the clean crispness of black and white labels. (I typically use a text box with a double-line border, then copperplate gothic and edwardian script fonts.)


STEPS:
1) Wash the glass jars for your bath salt favors and set aside to dry.

2) Mix the bath salts recipe.

3) Separate bath salts into different plastic ziploc bags, depending on how much you want to have of each color.

4) Use your food coloring to add desired colors to different bags of salts; shake vigorously to distribute color. Go easy at first – 3-4 drops of color goes a surprisingly long way.

5) Once salts are colored, add your desired scents, and shake again. You may want to add 2-3 drops of grapefruit seed extract. This acts as a preservative if you are using plant-based essential oils and guarantees the scent will still be intact if the salts are not used for several months.

6) Using a measuring cup or large funnel, pour salts into each jar, then cap jars.

7) Measure one piece of ribbon to tie around the neck of one bath salt favors jar. You don't have to do a full bow- I'm always looking for ways to save a little money...just use wired ribbon, tie in a knot leaving a little extra ribbon at each end, and turn the edges under. Et voila! Faux bow. Now that you've done one ribbon, use your first measured ribbon piece as a pattern and cut the rest of the pieces of ribbon.

8)Tie all of the ribbons on. Primp the ribbon a little to give it some good shape, then bend those ends of the wired edges under.

9) If cutting your labels from full-sheet adhesive backed paper (which I recommend-MUCH easier than trying to align text with borders on pre-cut labels) try to use a rotary cutter to get cleanly cut, straight label edges.

10) Once your labels are printed and cut, just peel and stick.

*TIPS
Use ribbon colors that are different than the salts color for some interesting contrast. Try naming your bath salt favors scents after flowers and attach a silk version of the flower to the lid of the jar with a glue gun.

When you pour your bath salts in the jars, do alternating layers of two different colors to spice things up a bit.

For bridal shower favors, use a dollop of sealing wax or colored hot glue on the lid, then impress a seal with the initial of the guest of honor. Or try adding dried baby roses or lavender buds to your bath salts mix for a beautiful floral bath that looks great in the jar.

I know your guests will enjoy these, and let me know how it goes!