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!

Mom's 50th Birthday Gift Favour

My mom's 50th birthday was soon approaching and I was the only sibling who had time to organize her birthday. Thankfully her birthday landed on a Saturday and my MRI was on the same day, good excuse to get her out of the house.

Upon planning the event I knew where to go to get all the linens, seat covers, napkins and other party favours. Considering all the aspects of the party I knew I needed a great party favour to tie into the mix. I called my sister so we could brief on items to give but they all seemed bland and boring. I was out of ideas, so I went shopping.

I went to IKEA and the ideas began to pour in, within minutes the idea came to life.

The vase was purchased at IKEA for $1.99 (they always have different styles of vases on sale) tea

candles in pink, pack of 20 for $1.99 =10 cents each one (3 is onl

y required for this favour)

and the pink rocks were purchased at Dollarama $1 per pack(need two per vase). In the picture on the right there I added food colouring, that it optional.

Here are the steps to assemble the gift favour:

Step 1: Take the rocks out of the package. Add the two packages of rocks into the vase. Depending on the size of package of rocks, you may only need

one package instead of two. The rocks should fill the vase 1/2 way. As shown in the picture below on the left.

Step 2: Take out the rocks, and fill the vase about 3/4 full with water. Add one drop at a time of red food

colouring and stir it thoroughly to see the colour. Keep adding drops until you are satisfied with the colour. Remember to stir the water after ever drop. The picture on the right has 3 drops of red food colouring.

Step 3: Add the rocks to the vase with the pink water, as shown in the picture to the left.

Step 4: Add the floating tea candles into the vase.

Most tea candles come with silver tin base, just remove them prior from adding to the vase. Each candle is a different pink; baby pink, light pink, and dark pink. Having different hues adds an extra touch to the look of the gift.

Step 5: Last but not least, add the pink ribbon and tie it into a bow at the neck of the vase, as shown below. Viola!!! its done!

To assemble this gift favour it should take no longer than 5 minutes, but the greatest part that's under $5!!!!

My mom was truly surprised with the party, she loved the gift favours even more. Thankfully I made 4 extra ones just in case one got damaged which they didn't so my mom ended up with 4 extra ones. As you can notice the theme was pink, so the gift went perfectly with the theme. Instead of the pink water you can add lilac to add a touch of contrast.

Another idea for this gift can be brown rocks and green water, with caramel coloured ribbon with a small branch through the bow. Great for Earth Day!

Next week, Baptism gift favours for twins (a boy and a girl). Interesting two gifts for under 5!!!!! Check it out!!!! Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of this post today!

Masquerade Ball Gift Favour

While travelling through Europe in August my friend and I decided to visit Venice (located in Italy) to see the wonderful city on the water. The scenery was truly an eye of

beauty, something I would encourage anyone to go see. We wanted to utilize the only day we had in the city and see as much as possible.

My personal favorite area was the shops that carried Venetian masks. I snapped a picture of the one store that struck me the most. (To the right) Each mask is hand crafted and stamped for authenticity that they were made in Venice. I spoke to a couple of owners in the shop and they told me that sometimes it woud take days to weeks just to complete each hand crafted mask, depending on the difficulty of design. I fell in love with the masks so much that I had to purchase 4, 2 for myself and 2 as a gift.

I thought if someone were to throw a party with the Venetian theme what party favour would they give to their guests?

I went to the Dollarama January 12, 2011 and found the perfect gift favour for under $5, for any one interested in throwing a masquerade party.

The three components to this gift favour is shown in the picture on the left: the mask (comes in green and black) the demasked box, tissue paper, and any colour ribbon.

All items were purchased at the Dollarama: Mask $2, Box $1.25, ribbon $1 for 2 meters, and the tissue paper $1 for 20 sheets (Each gift needs only 2 sheets of tissue paper). So it's UNDER $5.

This gift is simple to assemble and Under $5!!!!!

There are only 3 easy steps for assembly :

1. Take the box and measure the width of the box so you can make a pillow with the tissue paper. This makes the mask stand out and livens up the gift with colour.
   

2. Place the tissue pillow in the box and then add the mask on top.

3. Take the ribbon of your choice and tie it into a bow. Then trim the bottom of the ribbon in a V.

Assembly time for this gift favour should take no more than 5 minutes. This way you can spend more time looking for that amazing outfit than spending for gift favours.

Gift favour are always a good way for your guests to rememebr your amazing party.

More ideas to come!!! Don't miss out!!!