Fortune cookies are always one of my favorite parts of ordering chinese take-out..Who doesn’t love the fun of reading a random, fun fortune and eating a delicious crisp cookie along with it? I found a delicious well-reviewed diy fortune cookie recipe on the food network for some yummy fortune cookies that would make perfect wedding favors!
You will need…
(Makes 6 cookies..You will need to multiply the recipe depending on how many cookies you will need.)
- 2 egg whites
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 4 Tbsp melted butter, cooled
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1/2 tsp lemon extract
- 2 1/2″ x 1/2″ fortune strips (Already printed, cut and ready to go!)
- Optional: Food Coloring
- Optional: Chocolate and sprinkles/nuts/colored sugar (SugarCraft has a huge variety of colored sprinkles!)
Let’s get baking!
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a cookie sheet thoroughly.
- Whip the egg whites on low speed until light and foamy. Blend in the sugar and continue to beat until soft peaks form.
- Pour in the melted butter, flour, salt, and extracts; mix until well combined. If you want to color your cookies add a drop of food coloring to the batter and mix well!
- Drop a tablespoon of the batter onto the prepared cookie sheet. Using the back of a spoon, spread the batter evenly into very thin 3-inch rounds. Alternatively, use the lid of a jar with a 3-inch circle punched out as a template, pour the batter in the ring, and remove. Because you must work quickly to shape these cookies, bake just 3 at a time.
- Bake for about 5 to 8 minutes or until the edges are a light golden color.
- Optional Step – Once cooled you may decide you want to dip your yummy cookies in chocolate and then either roll the dipped cookies in fun sprinkles, crushed nuts or colored sugar. If this is the case melt your chocolate in a double boiler or microwave following the package instructions. Then just dip, roll and place on a piece of wax paper to cool! Sooo delicious! Plus, you can further customize the cookie favors to your wedding theme by dipping them in colored chocolate to match or rolling the dipped cookies in sprinkles or sugar to coordinate with your wedding. Maybe you’ll get a little crazy and do both! Heehee.
Once your cookies are cooled off and the chocolate has set just wrap them in a little cellophane bag or favor box, tie on a pretty ribbon and add on a cute favor tag! Your guests will love these homemade treats and they will be so impressed you made them yourself!
Some tips….
- Visit Fancy Fortune Cookies for some wedding themed fortunes for your fortune strips!
- Make sure when you drop the batter on the cookie sheet it is spread very thinly. If it is too thick you will not be able to fold them!
- When pulling the cookies out of the oven work quickly! If you allow the cookies to cool they will crack and crumble when you try to fold.
- If the cookie is too stiff or brittle when trying to fold place them back in the oven 2-3 minutes and try again!
- Place cookies in a muffin tin after folding to help them keep their shape when cooling.
- Practice makes perfect! Be prepared to have some screwy cookies at first until you get the hang of it
Lastly – If you have issues with the recipe or are tight on time you can by prepackaged fortune cookies, unwrap and just dip them in the chocolate and sprinkles to skip the whole baking process. They may not have wedding fortunes but it will obviously save you a lot of time! Then just wrap up and tag and you are set!
Recipe modified from Foodnetwork.com, photo credits: nofussfabulous
credit: rockYOface on flickr.com
Sometimes when all is said and done the bride and groom are left with a bunch of favors left behind by their guests. This won’t happen if your favor is an edible! I found this delicious recipe for diy oreo truffles on the kraft website ad thought it would be a perfect diy favor idea for all of you planning your own wedding!
They only require a few ingredients so they are extremely affordable and they don’t take very long to make! Here’s the recipe!
Oreo Truffles (Makes 42 individual truffles!)
-
1 pkg. (1 lb. 2 oz.) OREO Cookies, finely crushed, divided
-
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
-
2 pkg. (8 squares each) BAKER’S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted (Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, White Chocolate..Choose your fav!)
- Optional – Candy sprinkles for additional customization – find some in your wedding colors!
- MIX 3 cups of the cookie crumbs and the cream cheese until well blended. Shape into 42 (1-inch) balls.
- DIP balls in melted chocolate; place on waxed paper-covered baking sheet. (Any leftover melted chocolate can be stored in tightly covered container at room temperature and saved for another use.) Sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs. (Here is where you can also add some of your candy sprinkles to add some color! You could also wait till after refrigerating and further decorate your truffles with different colored chocolate by piping pretty designs or swirls on top!)
- REFRIGERATE 1 hour or until firm. Store any leftover truffles in tightly covered container in refrigerator.
credit: Kraft Foods
That’s it – you will only need to wrap them up for your guests! Some cute packaging ideas would be individually wrapping each truffle in cellophane (clear or colored) with a pretty bow to match your theme and a favor tag. You could also put them in pretty favor boxes!
If you make truffles for your big day using this recipe please be sure to send us the pics! We would love to see! 
credit: talekinker on flickr.com
credit: ladybugbkt on flickr.com
credit: cakewalkbu3 on flickr.com
(Here is a quick mock-up so you can see what they look like, I’m sure you can do a prettier job embellishing! 
)
I found this fantastic video on youtube by tommr1 showing how to make your own wedding favor seed envelopes very easily and affordably! You only need a few items to craft these cute little envelopes. Your guests will love these little seed favors and can think of your wedding every time they see the little plant they grew from your special favor.
You will need:
- 8 1/2″ x 11″ Paper (Standard printing paper size) – You can use parchment paper, scrapbook paper or plain colored printing paper. Choose something that would compliment your wedding theme or colors!
- Scissors
- Seeds
- Optional: Embellishments such as a rubber stamp, pens/markers, glitter, crystals etc. to adorn your envelope with after folding
Here is his informative video showing how to fold your paper into an adorable seed envelope…
Once you fold your envelope you may choose to embellish the envelope with your names and wedding date, a themed rubber stamp, your monogram, or even a little wedding poem pertaining to seeds and growth. (Click here for an excellent group of wedding seed favor poems that would work great on your handmade favors!)
The seeds you use can also reflect your wedding colors and/or theme. For example, if you are using gerbera daisies as your main flower for the day then daisy seeds may be a cute favor! Another idea may be pumpkin seeds if you are having a fall wedding.
Here are some other ideas for seeds…
Daisy Seeds
Pumpkin Seeds
Wildflower Seeds
Sunflower Seeds
Forget-me-not Seeds
Carnation Seeds
Love-in-a-mist Seeds
Evergeen tree Seeds
Herb Seeds
These handmade paper seed envelopes are not only affordable and cute they can also be considered green favors, especially if you go the extra mile to get recycled paper for your envelopes!
Make sure you send in pics if you make these seed favors for your big day, we love seeing our visitors beautiful work!
credit: mrk_photo on flickr.com
Food is the perfect wedding favor (it never goes to waste!), and what would be more perfect for an edible wedding favor in the fall than do it yourself homemade candy apple favors? These yummy chocolate caramel covered apples will leave your guests drooling when they see them at your place setting, and they are quite darling wrapped in cellophane with a colored bow to match your theme! You can even attach little tags with your names, wedding date..even your personalized monogram! They are so easy to make and can be customized in so many different ways to create a delicious favor all your own.
You’ll Need…. (This recipe creates 5 apples, multiply as needed to treat all your guests!)
- 5 large Granny Smith apples
- wooden craft/popsicle sticks
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 14 oz. package of individually wrapped caramels (unwrapped)
- 7 oz. chocolate candy bar broken into pieces (Milk chocolate, dark chocolate or even white chocolate will do! Or, you can do without it completely if you only want your apples covered in caramel!)
- tbsp Shortening (if also dipping in chocolate, ignore if only dipping in caramel)
- Goodies/topping to further decorate your treats – chopped nuts, sprinkles, coconut, chopped pieces of candy/candy bars (chopped peppermint candy or even heath bars!)
- Wax Paper
- Cooking Spray
Let’s start!
- Bring a pot of water to a boil and dip each apple in briefly to remove any wax that may be on the skin from the grocery store. Wipe dry and let cool.
- Insert craft/popsicle sticks into each apple, through their core.
- Line a baking sheet with wax paper and spray with cooking spray to prepare a place for your apples to cool.
- Melt unwrapped caramels in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave with the two tablespoons of water. Cook on high two minutes, stir (be careful it gets hot!), and continue heating and then stirring in one minute intervals until the caramel is completely melted.
- Holding each apple by the stick, gently dip each apple into the melted caramel and then carefully transfer it to the wax paper you prepared earlier. If you are going to be dipping your apples into chocolate, refrigerate for 15 minutes. If you are only dipping your apples in the caramel skip ahead to step 7 to coat your treat with nuts, chopped candies or sprinkles instead of allowing to dry and then refrigerate to set.
- Next, heat chocolate in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave with the tablespoon of shortening until melted and smooth. Dip each caramel coated apple into the melted chocolate to cover the caramel and then hold apple over the bowl allow the excess chocolate to drip off.
- Once you have allowed the extra chocolate to drip off, gently roll in the chopped nuts, sprinkles or chopped candies you chose to decorate your apple treats.
- Set on wax paper and allow to set (If you skipped chocolate, it’s best to set your apple in the refrigerator)…and you’re done!
That’s all you need to do to create these delicious autumn themed favors! Once the apples have set wrap them in cellophane (clear or colored to match your theme!) and tie with your favorite colored ribbon. Place one at each guests place setting or gently arrange in a big basket for your guests to grab on their way out. It’s so easy to make, and they are so delicious! Your guests won’t leave these treats behind and their tastebuds will thank you
credit: erica8431 on flickr.com
credit: eric_kilby on flickr.com
credit: talkoftomatoes on flickr.com
Chocolate covered stirring spoons are a delicious idea for a diy wedding favor or coffee bar treat! Also, with the large variety of colored spoons at party stores and the variety of colors you can find of the candy making chocolate wafers..they can be made to fit your wedding theme to a tee! Guests will love dipping these hand dipped chocolate spoons in their favorite hot drink..from coffee to hot chocolate! Yum!
You will need:
- plastic spoons
- chocolate (the chocolate wafers found in most grocery stores and craft stores are perfect! They are small discs of chocolate that come in a ton of different colors, and are created specifically to be melted down for projects like this! Otherwise, any chocolate should do if you aren’t looking for any specific colors.)
- baking paper
- cellophane bags or wrap
- ribbon
- optional: parchment cone (disposable pastry bag)
- optional: candy sprinkles
Now let’s make some yummy spoons!
- Start by melting down your chocolate. This can be done however you feel most comfortable! Some like to use a microwave or double boiler. Personally, I like to take one of my medium size pyrex glass bowls and set it on top of a medium sized sauce pan that is boiling a small amount of water. Either method you use, make sure you stir often and do not allow the chocolate to burn! Once melted, allow the chocolate to cool just slightly so it will adhere to the spoon without being too runny.
- Next, dip each plastic spoon one by one into the melted chocolate (fully submerging the head) and lay them on a sheet of baking paper. If you are going to add candy sprinkles, sprinkle them on spoons before chocolate hardens! Allow the chocolate to cool and set.
- Optional – If you want to add more color to the spoon, feel free to melt another color chocolate in the same way as above, fill a parchment cone with the chocolate and pipe swirls, designs or zig zags across the head of each spoon.
- Once the chocolate on the spoons have completely set, wrap each spoon with cellophane and tie with a pretty ribbon.
That’s it! Once completed you can either set one spoon at each place setting for a yummy favor (maybe include a small bag of hot chocolate or coffee too!), or group in large mugs or vases near the coffee bar. Your guests will love this thoughtful treat..and you’ll love how affordable and easy they are to create! So delicious!
credit: talkwithtomatoes on flickr.com
credit: Miss Cherry Pie on WeddingBee
If you are looking for a really cheap and affordable way to customize your favors, hand-stamped favor tags are the perfect solution! The tags can be tied to a multitude of favors, such as bags of cookies or candies, filled favor boxes and more.
You can buy the tags at your local Officemax or Staples office supply store for only $4.99 per 100 tags! Then you can customize the tags with your choice of stamps. There are millions of different stamp designs available if you scour the web and your local craft stores. You can even order custom stamps online that may include your wedding date and/or the names of you and your fiance.
Some stamp design ideas…
- Simple “Thanks” Stamp
- Starfish
- Butterfly
- Snowflake
- Moon or Stars
- Variety of Flowers
- Monogram or Letters
The project is so easy there really isn’t any need for step by step instructions! All you’ll need are…
- Paper Shipping Tags
- Stamp(s)
- Ink Pad (Choose colors that compliment your wedding theme or favors!)
Just lay the tags out, dip your pretty little stamp in the ink pad and stamp away. It’s so easy, but the results are simply stunning. Chic and classy..and you hardly spent a thing! You may choose to further customize your tags by attaching ribbons or string that further compliment your theme and favors. If you’re feeling really ambitious, adding some color to the stamped designs with colored pencils can turn out really nice!
Note: If you like your handwriting and/or drawing skills you can skip the stamp and decorate each tag by hand. Just buy a pretty pen at your local craft store (the scrapbooking section would have a huge variety of pretty pen options!) and let the creative juices flow!
What designs do you think would look fantastic stamped on these tags? What are you tying them to? We’d love to hear!
credit: deeljea on flickr.com
credit: deeljea on flickr.com
credit: everything.in.blue on flickr.com
Whether you are having a wedding on the coast..or simply a summery beach themed wedding, these do-it-yourself beach gel candles would be a great favor or addition to your room decor! The completed product is a beautiful, professional look..and the project is so easy!
Materials you’ll need…
Pretty Glass Jar or Candle Holder
Candlewick
Scissors
Clear Candle Gel (Found in Craft stores, AC Moore Carries “Gelly Wax” pretty reasonably!)
Aquarium Gravel to match your wedding colors, or a neutral color such as white or a pale brown
Seashells, Beach Glass, Rocks and/or marbles (NOTHING flammable!)
Optional – Liquid Candle Dye to tint gel to desired color, Gel Candle Fragrance
- Pour 1/2″-1″ of aquarium gravel into the bottom of your container.
- Bury the candle wick base in the gravel. (Note: You can use sand instead of gravel, however if you do this it is important to use a wick safety sleeve or “Flame Stopper” so the flame stops before reaching the sand. This can be any small metal tube that can be slid down the wick and crimped with pliers where the flame needs to stop.)
- Arrange your small seashells, beach glass or other decorative goodies on the gravel.
- Heat the gel on the stove top or microwave following directions that came with the candle gel you purchased.
- Once your gel has been heated to the appropriate temperature, you may add optional candle color tint and/or fragrance. Remember, a little color goes a long way, and if you make it too dark you will not be able to see the scene you created! The best way to add color to the clear gel is with a toothpick, dipping it slightly into the color tint and then into your gel. Discard the toothpick and stir. Repeat with a new toothpick as needed if the color is not how you want it. Do the same with fragrance, but adding it by the drop. It is always better to add a little at a time than to add to much in the beginning! Don’t waste a batch of the gel wax on being hasty!
- Once your wax is the right temperature, and it is the color and fragrance of your liking, gently pour it into your container(s), being careful not to disturb the scene(s) you have created.
- Adjust the wick so it stands straight.
- Set the candle(s) where it will not be disturbed for 12 hours while the gel sets and the trapped bubbles rise to the top and pop.
- Use scissors to trim wick 1 inch above the gel..and you’re done! You can either set one at each place setting or use it as decor! You could even tie the containers with a small bit of jute string and attach a personalized card with details of your day..or a little thank you!
Tips and Important Notes:
- Seashells that contain air might also rise to the top! To prevent this, put a small amount of candle gel into the shell before placing it on the gravel.
- Non-flammable Fish-shaped glass beads can be pushed halfway down into the gel so that they appear to be swimming.
- Disturbing the gel to rearrange shells or add objects will introduce more bubbles, but they will settle out of the gel if you leave it undisturbed again!
It is a beautiful favor your guests will adore..and they can bring it home to burn and be reminded of your wonderful day!
As always if you use this entry to create your own candles, we’d love to see! I know your creative minds will have some fabulous ideas for these candles!
Paper cones are easy to make and can be used for multiple things for your wedding! They can be filled with petals for your guests to toss after your ceremony, or they can be filled with goodies as a favor! You only need a few materials, so it’s a really easy way to further customize your day.
Materials:
Paper Cone Template – Download (PDF)
1 sheet of 8.5″ x 11″ paper per cone
Double-sided tape
1 8″ – 10″ length of ribbon for each cone handle
2 eyelets per cone + hole-punch and eyelet setting tools
Optional Embellishments – paper lace, stickers, ribbon, paper flowers, tags
Petal fillings – rose petals, lavender, candy-covered almonds
- Trace template onto sheet, and cut out along heavy blue lines.
- Apply tape to right-side, along shaded area.
- Roll the cone. Hold the cone by the left edge, and roll the right side toward the left edge. Press to adhere. Be sure to make the bottom somewhat pointy. This takes a little practice, so try it a few times with scrap paper before you begin using your project paper.
- If you prefer a flat, closed bottom instead of a point, just fold about 1/4″-inch of the end upon itself. Use double-sided tape to secure.
- Trim the top of the cone to make it even. I like to use pinking shears for a decorative edge.
- Punch holes at the top of the cone for the ribbon handle, and set eyelets.
- Thread ribbon through one hole, and knot. Thread through other, and knot. Knots should be inside cone.
- Embellish to fit your wedding theme!
- Fill cone with your choice of rose petals, lavender, candy-covered almonds or some other goodie ( be creative!).
- Hang the cones on the back of each guest’s chair, put them all in a basket for guests to grab, or place them at their table settings. So cute!
