Dinner party favors are a tradition that goes back hundreds of years. In the 16th and 17th centuries, guests at a formal dinner party were often given small gifts made of lace and ribbon.
Today, the lace and ribbon may be replaced with candy or a miniature liqueur bottle, but a host giving small favors at a dinner party is still a nice gesture. Even better when the favor goes along with the theme of the dinner party.
Personalized Party Favors
Personalizing your dinner party favors allows them to do double duty: as place cards to let guests know where they’re sitting at the dinner table, and as take-home gifts. DIY Network has some suggestions for personalizing wine glasses or napkins to use for the dinner party and then let your guests take them home. Use a glass pen to personalize each wine glass or a fabric pen to personalize each napkin. Either can act as a placeholder at the table and guests have a favor to take home.
Favor Boxes
Favor boxes aren’t just for showers and weddings anymore. Favor boxes in all styles can be filled with gourmet chocolates, nuts, gift certificates, coffee, sample perfumes or soaps. Everyday Celebrations has lots of trendy ideas for using favor boxes. For easy instructions on how to make a party favor using Chinese take-out boxes, see LesTout's Chinese Party Favors.
Pay it Forward
Give your dinner party guests something they can use at their next dinner party. A set of coasters, cocktail napkins or a pretty salt and pepper shaker set will make your guests eager to have their own dinner party – and invite you, of course.
Theme Dinner Party Favors
If your dinner party has a theme, keep your favors to follow the theme. Throwing a Western BBQ? Wrap a dime store harmonica in a bandana, fold it like a cloth napkin and place one on each plate. (For folding patterns and ideas, see Les Tout’s Easy Napkin Folding for a Fabulous Table.) For Christmas dinner, an elegant tree ornament is a nice take-home favor. Wine charms, a corkscrew or other wine accessories are the perfect favors for a wine tasting party.
Feminine Favors
Soaps, colognes and other beauty products are fine dinner party favors, as long as there are no male guests that will be left out. If the scent is too strong, leave these favors off the table and pass them out to guests after dinner is over. Strong smelling soaps, candles and colognes could interfere with the ambience of the dinner. BlueBamboo.com has a nice selection of “lucky” soaps in horseshoe and shamrock shapes.
Business Dinners and Corporate Entertaining
When entertaining business associates, it’s best to keep party favors from being too personal. An item with the company logo, as long as it’s not too inexpensive and insignificant, is a nice dinner party favor. (If your guests think you grabbed a box of pens on your way out of the supply closet at work, it’s not truly a gift, now, is it?)
The Most Unique Dinner Party Favors
- A mix CD of the music you chose for the evening, decorated with tied ribbons, and with a CD-safe marker, labeled (“The Fitzpatricks’ Dinner Party, August 2008”).
- A scratch-off lottery ticket at each place setting. May the luckiest guest win!
- A recipe for your signature dish rolled into a scroll and tied with a ribbon.
- A miniature gumball machine filled with after-dinner mints.
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