Plans for My First DIY Favor Adventure

Alternate Title: How I will inevitably end up gluing my hand to something. . .True Confessions: I am the farrrrthest thing from a Do-It-Yourselfer. My arts and crafts capabilities mimic those of a five year old.

You know what? Scratch that. The two little girls I babysit (who are also our flower girls and two of the cutest girls in the entire universe) are super adept at arts and crafts, and they’re both under ten. In fact, as I told a friend this morning, they often ask me to do arts and crafts and I end up having to dissuade them (“don’t you want to play Simon Says?”).

Image from Amazon | This is about as arts and craft-y as I get, folks.

As I’ve been perusing websites, I’ve been finding more and more awesome DIY ideas.

from Hive member IrishBride2Be | how to make your own | This just isn't possible, my new last name has a 'z' and is eight letters long.

from Mrs. Brooch | how to make your own | I actually have dreams for these - so adorable.

Here’s pretty much what happens: I see it and go ‘OMG. I LOVE THAT!’ Then I go ‘oh. . .wait, I can’t buy it? I can’t make it on a computer?’ Then I scroll through the tutorial and my heart sinks. For example, no matter how hard I try, this would turn into a pile of fabric with some glue and this would turn into chocolate covered crumbs. . .and that's only if I were lucky! It's more likely that I'd end up cleaning some sort of explosion. From the ceiling. It's a curse.

Thankfully, I have a crack team of a bridal party, almost every one of which has DIY skillz (yes, with a ‘z’, ‘cause it’s a baller trait). They all bake around the holidays (something I equate to DIY skillz, mostly ‘cause I suck at that, too), they’re all super crafty when it comes to gifts and other holiday-themed items and best of all, they LIKE doing this stuff. I mean, they probably won’t when next May rolls around, but good thing I’m a super planner and I’m starting now, right?

One of my bridesmaids and I have been discussing wedding things exorbitantly via e-mail. I’m talking no less than 15 e-mails a day, the bulk of which are swapping ideas and such. So, I expressed to Bridesmaid Y (or Bridesmaid-to-be Y!) that I really, really wanted to somehow have a place card setting that could also be a favor. Why am I obsessed with this idea? I’m not really sure, but I knew from the start that it’s what I wanted.

At first, I figured we could do a very loose ‘under the sea’ theme. Since our colors are basically shades of blue, we could throw some greenish and silver accents in there and be done with it. Hey, I love The Little Mermaid! Jon loves fish! We both love Disney (obsessed with, actually) PERFECT. Pft, not. Jon’s words were – and I kid you not – “I think seeing fish everywhere will remind me that I’m not a fishing boat captain, and it’ll make me sad. I don’t want to be sad at our wedding.” Fair enough, I thought, but in my head I saw all of my visions shriveling (bye, adorable fishie place card settings; see you later, saltwater taffy in fishnet gifties) and being replaced with a giant damnnearflashing “NEW PLAN! I NEED A NEW PLAN!” thought. So, I thought okay, we can do a LOOSE fairy tale theme. Not horse-and-carriage style, but just soft, pretty, romantic, sparkly style. VOILA!

Back to Google I went. . . 

For any fellow Brides-to-Be that are ALSO Brides on a Budget: how are you going about your favors? Are any of you putting your stellar entourage to work, like I am? ;) And for those BTB's who are purchasing favors or have other ideas - I'm super jelly. There are so many cute things I love, but are simply unobtainable.