Instead of giving your guests the same old chocolate hearts as favors, why not go for something a little more personal and homemade?  My crafty coworker has the perfect DIY project for some tasty treats-homemade kettle corn wrapped in small plastic bags and tied together with ribbon and stickers.

What you’ll need:

Homemade Kettle Corn (without a Kettle Corn Machine!) – recipe below

Small Plastic Bags

Personalized Gift Tag Stickers from Wedding paper Divas

Ribbon or Twine

Instructions:

To start, you’ll have to prepare the kettle corn.  You won’t need a kettle corn maker; This easy recipe makes it east to bring the same salty sweet flavor to popcorn right on your stovetop!

Ingredients:

3 Tablespoons Oil
1/2cup kernels
1 ½ tsp sugar
Salt to taste

Makes 3 cups

1)    Heat Up 3 TBS of oil and put one kernel in the oil to test when it is hot enough. Once the kernel pops, you will know it is ready for the rest.

2)    Turn the heat down to med-low and pour ½ cup of kernels followed by 1 ½ tsp of sugar

3)    Saturate the kernels in the sugar otherwise the sugar will caramelize in the pan. Make sure you keep the lid on.

4)    Let the kernels pop and kind of shake it around to get even coverage.

5)    Once the popping has stopped, pour the popcorn into a large bowl and add salt to taste. Toss and mix a bit and you’re done!

6) Package the popcorn into the small plastic bags.  Fold the top of the bag over and wrap a ribbon around it.  Complete your package with a personalized gift tag sticker from Wedding Paper Divas.

When it comes to wedding favors, you have a million different options, from chocolates to candles, picture frames to mint tins.  Even though you can usually buy any of these items in bulk for a discounted price, it can still be a pricey commitment.  Because of that, we’ve come up with a few clever and creative ideas for DIY favors that guests are sure to love.

-Give your guests a gift that might really pay off!  For my wedding (260 guests!), I bought 260 $1 scratch-off lottery tickets.  I also purchased small envelopes in bulk that fit the tickets perfectly.  Using my home printer, I printed each person’s name on an envelope, and then stuck one lottery ticket and a shiny new penny in each.  When complete, these favors doubled as place cards, and they gave everyone something to talk about.  Hoots and hollers could be heard around the room as people won anywhere from $2 to $200!

-Share a piece of your personality with your guests.  Blank CDs are easy to come by these days.  Make a list of you and your honey’s favorite songs and burn them on to blank CDs.  Give each guest (or couple) a CD with a custom-made sleeve describing the meaning behind each song.

-Go to a bulk candy store and get a large quantity of your favorite sweet.  Next, head to the fabric store and buy some tulle and ribbon in your wedding colors.  Simply wrap the candy up in the little tulle “bags” and tie them with a ribbon.  You can even make small tags on your home printer with your wedding date, initials, or wedding location on it.

Whatever you choose to do, remember that any small token of appreciation will impress and please your guests.  What do you think? Do you have any other creative DIY ideas for wedding favors?