Book / Bible Party Favors

We have a party coming up and I needed to figure out a personal but inexpensive idea. I went in search on the ever-popular craft site and came upon something cute but couldn't find directions or an indication regarding price...even so, my back was up against the wall because of time and I just decided to take the plunge and documented along the way - figuring someone else might benefit from the experience.

What you'll need: (For 50 Favors)

3 Classic Sized Bags of Hershey's Nuggets (I used the plain milk chocolate.)
3 Avery 8253 Shipping Labels (They are the 2" x 4" ones.)
Standard Tape
Double Sided Tape
Ruler
Scissors
Pencil
1/8" wide ribbon (7 yards; however, I had 1/4" wide and cut it in half down the middle of each strip.)
Cardstock
Hole Punch (optional)

I found that making the parts first was easiest, rather than doing one favor at a time. More like an assembly line...

Create your "pages" using Word and the label function.
As you can see, I got two sets of "pages" per label.
I suggest that the pages (the middle where a normal book would be bound) be separated by at least a 1/4" to afford room for the "book marker."
You’ll need to cut the labels in half so that the finished "pages" are 1" x 4."

Cut your "book marks" into 5" lengths. I had thicker ribbon on hand so just cut it down the middle to create the correct 1/8" thickness. It was an extra step but saved me from spending more.

You’ll need to cut your “cover” out of the cardstock into 2 ¼” x 1 ½” pieces.  I then added the half hole-punch to the bottom and top so when assembled it appears the book has a binding.

Begin assembling the individual favors by taking two nuggets and wrapping them side by side with a label.  Don’t worry that the label (looking from the back) is not evenly wrapped.  

Your main focus of this step is to get the “pages” centered on each nugget.

Take a “book mark” and hold it to the back of the book.

Wrap the “book mark” around the center of the book and ensure that approximately 1/2” hangs from the bottom of the book like a tail.  Secure the “book mark” with standard tape.  [TIP: I did not perfectly overlap the “book mark” with itself, it was slightly askew so that the tape would contact both surfaces and would be less likely to slip later.]

 

Then take a piece of double-sided tape that is about 1 1/2” long and place it on the back of the book and sandwich the cover to the “book.”

Finished product should look like this:

 

All in all, I estimate the final cost of each favor as less than 50¢.  Not too shabby!
Also, the personalization is endless…I’ve even considered this for use at my next hosting of a book club!!!

Rearin' Kids and Otherwise Important Tips for Their/Your Survival

Not sure if this is really a smart idea or that I'm sleep deprived (was up every 2-3 hours with a sick LO last night after a bumpy few nights last week) and any semi-intelligent thought seems like it should be up for an award, so forgive me if its the latter...

 

But, in leaving the house this morning I realized that doing this:

 

would help the nanny remember when to give the next dose of fever reducer.  Who knew that your window and a dry-erase marker would be a good medium?  ...but most of all, this could come in handy when it's my turn to give his meds.

 

[At the start, I've just got one tid bit.  But I figure, it's a good start and one blog is an easy way to keep all this little helpful hints together in a single spot.  You might check back later and find additional information...]