How to Make or Find Fun Birthday Party Favors Without Spending a Lot of Money

Toddlers, tweens, teens, adults, seniors … everyone has birthdays and throwing a birthday party can be great fun for everyone! So why not give out birthday party favors that are just as much fun and memorable as the party was!

I’ve given and received the following birthday party favors and thought I would share in case you’re giving someone a birthday party and need some fun, unique, and inexpensive birthday party favor ideas. Remember … cheap party favors don’t have to look cheap!

Starting now, begin to save all of the freebie items you get in the mail and at seminars, malls, etc. You know what I’m talking about … the free makeup samples, perfume samples, lotion samples, “gimme” t-shirts, caps, pens, that have advertising for some random company. These freebie items make great grab bag birthday party favors!

Birthday Party Favors for all genders and ages (except very young children)
Everyone treasures photos! Have all of the birthday party attendees bring some of their favorite photos of themselves with the birthday “boy or girl. You can also take some snapshots with a Polaroid camera during the party, or digital camera and makes prints if you want to spend the time and money to do so. Then, as a party activity, you can give everyone a small 2-3 page scrapbook and they can make a photo collage to take home with them as a party favor! You can keep the scrapbooks simple with just paper and glue, or go all out with stencils, glitter, yarn, or whatever your imagination can think of and your pocketbook can handle.

Birthday Party Favors for Toddlers and Young Children
Young children are the easiest to please when it comes to birthday party favors! They’re happy with a lollipop, a jar of bubbles, packet of crayons, or a bouncing ball. Little boys especially seem to like the bouncing balls! All of these things can be purchased at a very reasonable price, so your pocketbook isn’t hurting and the kids are happy with their party favor.

Birthday Party Favors for Tween & Teenage Girls
Girls love makeup and fixing their hair! You can use some of the makeup and perfume samples you’ve been gathering to create a cute grab bag of goodies. You can buy some fun funky material at the fabric store to make the cloth bags out of, or just use some cello paper and ribbon or yarn.

A lot of the craft stores carry plain hairclips that you can decorate with ribbons, bows, sequins, etc. Or let the girls decorate their own as a party activity. You will need to supervise closely if you’re letting them use a hot glue gun, but other than that it’s a fun creative activity and the end result is a great birthday party favor!

Fun flavored lip balm and sparkly brightly colored nail polish also make great inexpensive birthday party favors for tween and teenage girls.

Birthday Party Favors for Tween & Teenage Boys
Music is always a great gift, so why not make some inexpensive music mix CD’s to hand out as birthday party favors. Just be sure to ask boys who are the same age as the party attendees what their favorite songs or bands are so be certain you’re putting music on the CD that the recipient will actually enjoy.

Birthday Party Favors for Adult and Senior Women
Create some small grab bags full of makeup, lotion, and perfume samples. You can either sort them out and put the goodies in cute bags with handles, or just put them in a basket and let everyone have fun digging through them and take what they want. If you can crochet or knit, and have the time, you can whip up some cute little bags to put the goodies in.

Candles are always a great birthday party favor, either handmade or store bought. You can buy great smelling inexpensive votive candles and wrap them in cello paper and decorate the cello with glitter or sequins and tie with colored ribbon or yarn.

Handmade soap is another great inexpensive birthday party favor.

Loose tea and coffee beans tied up in a handmade cloth bag is one of my favorite birthday party favors to receive. The aroma is wonderful and the recipient can enjoy their party favor at a later time and remember the fun time they had at the birthday party!

Packets of flower seeds or flower bulbs are another favorite birthday party favor to give and receive.

If you have a green thumb, you can start some herbs growing in small pots and give those as birthday party favors.

Cookie cutters tied to a laminated card with your favorite cookie recipe is a very creative, fun, and lasting birthday party favor that can be enjoyed for years.

Birthday Party Favors for Adult and Senior Men
Fishing Lures! You don’t have to buy expensive lures, just get some run of the mill lures and dress them up with some fluffy feathers and you’re done. You can stick the lures onto one of those “gimme” caps I talked about earlier. Or you can just stick a piece of cork on the pointy end and hand them out.

Packets of bird seed that you make at home using cracked corn or sunflower seeds are a great inexpensive homemade birthday party favor. You can use cello paper and twine to hold the birdseed, or folded paper decorated with stencils and sealed with glue or tape.

So there you have it – fun, unique, cheap birthday party favors! From saying “blow out the candles and make a wish” all the way to “thanks for coming to the party and don’t forget to take a birthday party favor when you leave” … your guests will be talking about your memorable birthday bash for quite some time!