| photo by Monica Navarro |
I recently made these cute and inexpensive engagement party favors and thought I'd share them with you.
Last week, my friends Monica and Chris hosted a party to celebrate their new house and recent engagement. The evening was going to be a casual one with a potluck dinner and lots of dancing in the as-yet unfurnished living room, but we still wanted the guests to leave with a little something special to mark the occasion. With a chilly night theme of "Baby, It's Cold Outside," I decided to make personalized s'mores pops for the guests to enjoy either right on the stick or nuked for a few seconds to make them oooey and gooey.
These favors look impressive, but they are super easy to make. The key thing is that you have to use jumbo-sized marshmallows. Produced by Kraft and a couple other companies, this huge marshmallows are each equivalent to five regular-sized marshmallows (and about 50 mini ones!) and they are awesome! I speared them on white and blue striped paper straws that I cut on the bias (for easier spearing). Once I had all my marshmallows on sticks, I dunked them in melted semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Nestle chips thinned with 2 teaspoons of shortening) and rolled them around in crushed graham crackers. Once cooled, the marshmallow and graham crackers created a sweet and crunchy crust on the soft marshmallows.
I designed a little label with Monica & Chris's names on it for each favor in Illustrator and then printed them out on regular paper (next time I'll use sticker paper, but I didn't have any when I made these). I chose a pretty icy blue and a few snowflakes to reflect the "Baby, It's Cold Outside," theme. I used spray adhesive to attach each label to small clear cellophane bags (50 for $3 at the craft store). Since the marshmallows are huge, one per bag is enough. I sealed the bags tightly with twist-ties to keep them fresh.
The marshmallow pops were a hit, with some guests grabbing two and three to take home! Fortunately I prepared several extra so there were plenty to go around. Total cost for 60 favors came to just under $15, or less than 25 cents each.
You should also feel free to improvise, using different kinds of chocolate or toppings. I made some with white chocolate dipped in coconut, and some with milk chocolate. Have fun with them! Also just from experience, I figured out that the best way to set the pops completely is to put them in the fridge for five minutes after you roll them in the graham crackers.
| photo by Monica Navarro |
Planning an event and want some help with favors, decor, dessert tables, or invitations? I'm now taking on a few event design clients and would love to help! E-mail me for more details!
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