Yummy Sensations in a Jar

Did you know that Betty Crocker makes scented candles? Well they do! I went to a Dollar store that is not a Dollarama franchise, in the area of Vaughan and was strolling through the aisles looking for a little gift favour for a pot luck dinner my friends and I were putting on this weekend. I thought it would be nice to give a little gift to each friend to remember the good times of laughter and food. At first we were thinking of baking some cupcakes, and placing it in a single box to give as the gift favour, but after seeing this beautiful candle I knew it would out beat the cupcake idea. In Canadian dollars the candles goes for $4, but when doing some research I found that it only costs $3 in the States.

The candle comes in variety of scents: strawberry shortcake, pumpkin pie, cranberry cupcake, cinnamon sitcks, orange and ginger, cookies and cream, creamy vanilla, apple pie, blueberry pie,cinnamon bun, white chocolate just to name a few of the scents that they provide.

To decorate the the candle to make it look more as a gift. I decided to spice it up with lilac and pink ribbon. The candle is only $4, so the gift favour is under $5.

You can have fun with the idea of choosing a flavour from the scented candles and have each person make the scent of choice. Or have a dessert party with the dessert prepared and have the candle lit up in front of the dessert.

Have fun with the candle! you can use it for absolutely any gift favour for any party.

Make sure to check out our facebook page at www.facebook/giftfavoursunder5.com and make sure to follow us on twitter at: https://twitter.com/#!/Under5_giftFav

Check out next week with Picture frames shaped in baby bottle. Great for Baptism, or Baby Shower

Personalize Your Favours with M&M's

I was searching the internet for great ideas for gift favour under $5 when I Stumble upon on the M&M's website. I was just scrolling through the site to look what they had till one piece caught my eye. It was personalizing your own M&M's to whatever picture, clip art or personal message you wanted for any occasion and you were able to pick up three colours. The website was www.mymms.com. I spent 2 hours on it personalizing any occasion i could think of. On the left is a picture of the home page.

At the top of the page, it gives you different types of ideas for your party, or if you prefer you own idea you can create it through clip art, up load your own picture or write a personalized message. I went through the steps to create my own little MnM for "Gift favours under $5". I clicked on the orange box as shown in the picture on the right.

The site was so easy to navigate. You could not get lost in any of the steps. The first thing you want to do is choose your colours. The maximum amount of colours you can choose is 3, so choose wisely. For my M n M's choose light pink, dark pink and yellow. The site indicates that there are certain colours that you cannot choose to print on because they are too dark. There are 19 colours to choose from and only 5 that are added as accent pieces. If and when you are choosing a theme remember to make sure they flow properly. If you decide to choose to pick 2 colours that is fine you still get the same amount of M n M's.

The next step is to add images, clip-art and messages. I say have fun with it and utilize the tools that are given. Here on the M n M's I decided to put a my face, a graduation cap, my title of the blog "Gift Fav Under 5"(They only allow 18 characteristics) and my twitter account--@under5_giftfav. When you upload your 4 different designs it shows up on the left side on how it will look like on the M n M's itself. The picture on the left here is the example given. You might want to spend the most time here, this is the most critical part of the process.

Then you would want to pick the packaging to store the M n M's in for your guests. Remember the focus here is to create a gift favour that is under $5.

I was looking for the best price but at the same time I was looking for something that was sleek and stylish. I then found the metal tins that were $4.19 each, and you need to purchase a minimum of 20. So this idea is best for bigger parties where there are at least 20 families coming attending.
The total amount was $83.80 for 20 gift favours equalling under $5!!!!

The prep work for this is 5 minutes of clicking from page to page. The shipping and handling is much at $55 but the more you order the cheaper the gift will be. This is best for weddings and or large fundraisers.

Please leave a comment below. Check us out on our Facebook at giftfavoursunder5 and add us on twitter at @under5_giftfav

Come back next week to see what we have brewing with ideas with our gift favours under $5

Check out this video promoting personalizing your own M n M's at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lASPmmv9cY0

Travellers Blues Party

I must say, i have the travelers blues! So I cant go away just yet because of school, but the other best way to get over the blues would be---- throw a party and create fun gift givers that remind you of your wonderful cities you've visited in the past.

This past August i had the great pleasure of taking not one but two wonderful vacations-- the first was a Europe trip with a friend. We visited 3 countries and 5 cities in two week (London, Paris, Venice, Florence, and Rome) then when I got back I left to Cuba for a week.

I threw a party with friends and the theme way dress up like your favorite city. Its was a blast, people came in traditional costumes while others just wore their clothing with a prop. I on the other hand was so indecisive because I've been to Cuba, Bahamas, Miami, Italy, Croatia (10 times), England, France, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Dominican Republic and the States in the last 6 years. So I just wore a shirt that said "I've been to all these places, I couldn't decide" with a map indicating all countries and cities.

I went to Dollarama and was looking for an idea to give away to my guests. I knew i didnt want to spend too much money on the favours. I say this picture holder that said "Good Times" and I knew that was the best way to describe all the trips "Good Times".

I went to Wal-Mart and printed off a couple of my pictures to put in the holders. The picture holder was $1.13 each and each picture was 24 cents. Each picture holder took about 5 pictures so that was $1.20. In total each favour cost only $2.33 including tax.

PLEASE POST ANY COMMENTS ABOUT YOUR TRAVELING EXPERIENCES!

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Angel Themed Party

About a week back I was look around the city to find new ideas for the people that asked me to come up with ideas for their parties (Future blog posts). As I was in the Dollarama near Vaughan Mills, I was giving up hope till I took notice of these two figurines.

Some people would walk by the figurine section without taking a glimpse of the product. I was memorized with these two angels black angels, and I needed to pick them up. There was two styles and I had to pick up both. When I got the register, it rang up a $1 each. This would be a great giver under $5 idea.

So have you ever been invited to a themed party? Well I have and one was a angel party. We all had to dress up in white angel outfit and the hostess would wear a black angel costume. She lobed to stand out from the crowd.

I do remember her giving out favours but they were these candle stick holder that were purple. Didnt understand how it went with the theme. So for these angels I thought it would have been a great gift for her themed party.

They are purchased separate but they are only $1.13 including tax and clear wrap and ribbon. Each favour should cost no more than $3. If you want to cut the cost down further than just take the ribbon and wrap it around both angels and don't wrap it with the clear wrapping paper.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE HAD AN ANGEL THEMED PARTY!! COMMENT BELOW!

New post out on Monday! Traveller's blues? Check out on Monday how to over come it with a party and a gift favour to remember the GOOD OL' TIMES

Baby Shower -Sweetest Treasures

Its been awhile since I've posted, but I've been soo busy helping my friend and family planning their parties and organizing some events... For the long wait I will be posting more often.

Having a baby is the most exciting thing that anyone can experience with in their life, it is a new addition to the family. Woman tend to make baby showers for their first child, where loved ones come together to shower the new mommy to be with gifts for their new born.

I had a friend who is currently pregnant and we threw her a surprise baby shower. We though what would be better as a gift favour than giving something the guests can eat and reuse. So i thought of Hersey kisses in a jar.

So here is what you will need: 6 small spice jars ($1.13 each at Dollarama =$6.78), 1 pack of ribbon(1.13 at Dollarama), 1 roll of clear wrapping paper (1.13 Dollarama) and about 2.5 poinds of Hersey kisses ($20 at Bulk Barn)
The greatest part of this gift is its under $5!!!

So here are the steps to compile this wonderful gift favour:

Step 1: Take the jar and wipe it down with a cloth.

Step 2: Take the Hersey bags of the 3 different kinds and place its into 3 different section.

Step 3: There are regular Hersey kisses, Cookies & cream kisses and white chocolate with a chocolate middle kisses. Each jar is about 230ml jars--- you can fit about33 kisses in each jar.

Step4: Start with one style of kisses and place it in the jar. You may count 11 kisses and place them in. Close the lid shut.

Step 5: Take the clear wrap and wrap the jar!

Step 6: Take some ribbon and tie it into a bow.

Now your Gift Favour is complete, this should take no more than 5 minutes to assemble each Favour.

I hope you enjoyed the post, please leave a comment below. I would love to hear what you have to say.

Also check out the Facebook page---- it has more photos and different ideas.. PLEASE LIKE THE PAGE TOO! https://www.facebook.com/GiftFavoursUnder5
ENJOY!

Baptism Candle Holders

My sister called me up last week and told me that her friend was throwing a party for her twin's Baptism (boy and girl). The reason for the call wasn't to inform me on the party but to come up with a gift favour idea. My sister told her about my blog so she checked it out and loved the ideas so much that she challenged me to find the perfect gift for the party. Challenge? you ask, she had some restrictions:

1. Under $5
2. Two pieces representing each child
3. Stylish
4. Classy
5. "Not cheesy"
   
6. Easy to assemble -- due to the babies
7. Incorporate pink and blue colours
8. Quality made
9. No gold colours

I thought to myself "Ok she knows what she wants" now lets go shopping for this gift. At first it felt like a scavenger hunt, to find that perfect gift under her guidelines. It took me 3 days but i finally found the gift:

I found a candle holder for $2 at Dollarama and a pack of 100 tea candles for $4.51-- .045 cents per each candle(including tax) at IKEA, and ribbon (blue and pink) for $1 each at Dollarama. For each ribbon you can cover 4 candle holders = .25 cents per gift. TOTAL= $4.815 (Taxes including)

The only thing you need to do to assemble this gift is to place the tea candle in the holder and tie the preferred ribbon around the candle holder. It should take no more than 30 seconds per each gift.

I asked if she wanted me to wrap the two candle holder in clear wrapping paper and she said it was her style, but I think that is a way to cut cost.

The boys holder I placed a white candle with the blue ribbon but you could place a blue candle if preferred.

The girl holder I placed a pink candle with a pink bow. All and all, she was very happy with the gift and said that she has told many other friends about the blog. I followed her restrictions and still managed to come under $5 per gift.

Once again Amazing
Gift Favours Under $5!!!!!

Check out next week for another great gift favour that will be under $5!!!!

M & M Caramel Apples--Sweet Treats, Toddlers Birthday

My friend called me up one night and was asking help for some ideas for her toddlers birthday party. One was turning 3 and the other 2, she said didn't want to do loot bags because its always the same mundane stuff. The theme was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for the daughter and Cars theme for the boy. After several minutes on the phone we decided to do caramel apples. The mission now was to make these caramel apples under $5 including the decorations.So now we had to go to the store and figure out how much they actually cost in store in compared to what it would cost to actually make them. We had wishful thinking that the M & M covered caramel apples would be close to $5, unfortunately that wasn't the case. They started from $10 and up. Next stop was Bulk Barn, Costco, Dollarama and No Frills.

So we decided that we were going to make M&M, caramel apples. We needed the following:1.1. 1.Caramel cubes (30oz) Bulk Barn $7 $
2. Apples--- 9 apples for $3 No Frills $3
3. M&M party pack 1kg for $12.99 $13
4. Skewers 12 from $1 Dollarama $1
5. Ribbon $2 from Dollarama $2
6. Clear wrapping paper $1 from Dollarama $1


=============$ 27 X 1.13 tax = $30.51/9 kids = $3.39 per kid = UNDER $5

So here are the steps to make these:
Step 1: Unwrap 100 caramels and place it in a bowl. Add 2 tbsp of milk to the bowl of caramels. Then place the bowl in the microwave for about one minute and 30 seconds.


Step 2: Wash the apples, peel off the stickers and pull out the stem. Take the Skewer and stick it into the apple.

Step 3: Place parchment paper on a tray.

Step 4: At this time the caramel should be ready, take it out of the microwave carefully because it will be extremely hot. Stir the caramel so that you can see that all the caramel was melted down. If caramel has not been fully melted place it back in for another 30 seconds. Be careful the caramel may be hot!!!!


Step 5: Take the apples with skewers and dip each in the caramel. Twirl the apple around till the excess caramel drips off. Take the caramel apple right away and dip it in the bowl of m&m's. Mold the m&m's onto the apple.


Step 6: Continue Step 5 for the rest of the apples, and then let it set in the fridge for about an hour and then you can wrap it up with the clear wrapping paper and finish it off with a pretty bow.


So we made M&M caramel apples for $3.39 including taxes. I do warn that you have to be patient because working with caramel can be a little bit difficult at first.

THE MOST DELICIOUS GIFT FAVOUR FOR UNDER $5 I'VE CREATED THUS FAR!
PLEASE POST A COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.

IF YOU HAVE ANY PARTIES AND NEED AN IDEA FOR A GIFT FAVOUR UNDER $5 PLEASE LET ME KNOW AND I'LL DO MY TO COME UP WITH SOMETHING AMAZING!