Beaded Bonanza!

So you are almost done with all of the party details, when you get to the favors. One way to go, is to use a coordinating bag for all of the typical favor schwag...bubbles, stickers, and the like. Or you could do something a bit different.  Planning and putting together personalized, thoughtful favors really is the way to go when doing a party. In the past, when we focused the favor on the little party guest's interests, it seemed to go over much better (and less likely that the favor would end up in some junk drawer somewhere!). We stayed true to that when we whipped up these favors for a 4yo boy's birthday celebration, by putting together these adorable beading kits for the li'l girl guests.

We started by assembling some terrific ethically sourced beads (from women's artisan communities of course!). Coordinated by color, we creating a very fun collection of several sorts of beads that included wood, ceramic, glass, paper, bone and metal components. They were placed in a matching wood box with a very cheery pointillist patterned lid complete with elastic, findings and instructions.

The li'l girls loved what they got! The boy party guests received a collection of their favorite things (Legos for those blocks lovers, and car books for the automobile obsessed). Later, when I happened upon some of the party guests and saw them making use of these favors I knew our little gift hit just the right note.  Junk drawer beware.. you may not have many new friends to join you!