Parties, Favors and Work, Oh My!

Whew! It has been a crazy few weeks. My daughter turned 11 and I was insanely busy with work. Now, after two weeks I am finally beginning to get caught up (although my house would say otherwise).

This year, in a departure from tradition, we held my daughter's birthday party at a local trampoline venue. While my daughter and all the girls had a blast, I missed having the party at home. Not that I would have had time to prepare anyway. I did, however, manage to make the favors. I must admit, trying to find favors fitting the trampoline theme for a bunch of 11 year old girls was quite a challenge however, in the end I was happy with the result.

I thought I would share with you the cute favors I made. The favors consisted of water bottles (complete with stickers for decorating), lip balm and hand made elastic hair ties. Of course, I could have bought the hair ties but where is the fun in that? Here is how they turned out.

First I bought the elastic fabric. I chose a black, white and pink theme.

I downloaded this free "Pony Up" printable from Crafting Chicks which can be found here.

I measured the fabric out 10", cut it to length and burned the edges with a stick lighter to prevent fraying.

I then tied the end into a knot and pulled tightly to secure it.

Once they were all tied I slid them onto the card for a finished look.

After that I placed the stickers inside the water bottle and got the favors ready for bagging.

In keeping with the zebra theme, I put the favors in a zebra favor bag tied with a blue polka dot ribbon.

I think they turned out great. Not to mention they are all things the girls will actually use rather than throw away.

Hope I have inspired you to get crafty!