Hosting a baby shower requires wearing a lot of different hats. You need to coordinate everyone, possibly plan a surprise, organize decorations, prepare food, manage the guest list, organize gifts, plan games AND provide the prizes and favours. Phew. It’s a big job, and can add up quickly in cost. But there’s a lot of DIY you can do to try and save money. These DIY baby shower favors are simple but totally adorable and paired with a free printable thank you tag, they are fairly inexpensive to assemble.
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If you have a large guest list, the cost of the favours and prizes can really add up. I’ve compiled a list of affordable DIY baby shower favors each with free printable thank you tags to help make the task simpler and cheaper for you. 🙂
You’ll find that I’m a big fan of the mini mason jar. That’s because you can usually purchase 12 of them for around $10, which is a really good deal! I typically find them at Canadian Tire or Home Hardware but Walmart probably has them too. Otherwise you can get them on Amazon here.
I created free printable tags to go with all these favour ideas. I would recommend printing them on cardstock for a little extra durability and structure. They would be cute printed on white or kraft brown. I also made them each in two colours, because I didn’t already have enough to do (lol!) but mainly because I thought that would be extra helpful to you! Enjoy! (If you’re looking for even more free printables, I rounded up over 65 adorable free baby shower printables in this post.)
Each of the 13 tags come on a sheet of 12, totally free for you to print!
DIY Baby Shower Favors
Seeds or Small Plants
You can pick up wildflower seed packets for fairly cheap or plant a small succulent in a mini mason jar. Wrap them in simple brown paper tied with twine and attach a ‘Love is Blooming’ tag in pink or blue.
Honey
Fill a mini mason jar with locally made honey and glue or tape the ‘Thanks for bee-ing here!’ tag to the top. Use some cute washi tape for extra flair!
Sugar Scrub
There are a ton of recipes out there for DIY sugar scrub. While I haven’t personally tried these, I like the sounds of this Lemon & Lavender blend and this Coconut & Vanilla blend . Fill a (you guessed it!) mini mason jar with the scrub and tie a ‘From my Shower to Yours‘ tag in pink or green to it.
Tea
Pick up a couple boxes of specialty teas and wrap up a small variety in pretty vellum paper tied with a ribbon. Make sure you choose tea bags that are individually wrapped. Attach a ‘Tea-riffic’ tag in pink or green to the packet.
Popcorn
Make a large batch of fancy popcorn like this Sweet & Salty Marshmallow Popcorn or this Old Fashioned Caramel Corn. There are many many recipes to be found on Pinterest. Fill a small bag with the popcorn and tape a ‘Ready to Pop‘ tag to it.
Cookies or Candy
Whip up a couple batches of chocolate chip cookies and slide one or two in a little envelope. Or fill a small bag with Hershey’s kisses or M&M’s. Tie them up with a ‘Thanks for making the day so Sweet‘ tag in blue or purple.
Candle
I’ve never diy’ed my own candles, yet. But I’d love to give it a try! Pull out your trusty mini mason jars and fill them with a lovely homemade scented candle. Label with a ‘Thanks for Lighting up the Day‘ green or coral coloured tag!
Lip Chap
Who doesn’t need a good lip chap?! That’s right, no one. And Burt’s is the best. Buy a bulk pack of Burt’s Bees lip chap, wrap them up individually and use the ‘Thanks for bee-ing here‘ tag.
Soap
I have a local soap maker who makes the most divine almond-scented soap! Find someone similar in your area or make your own batch of soap! Wrap each bar in a strip of brown paper and tape it closed with the ‘From my Shower to Yours‘ tag.
The key with both the favours and prizes is that you don’t want to give out stuff that no one wants. It’s much better to give useful or edible gifts that are more likely to be enjoyed.
Game Prizes
If you checked out my previous post containing 60+ FREE baby shower printables, you will have found a number of great ideas for games. Sometimes games can feel kinda corny, but I say they’re a great ice breaker when not all the guests know one another. It should help make everyone relaxed and get them laughing. And the secret to enthusiastic participation is to offer good prizes!
Gift Cards
A $10 gift card for Starbucks, Tim Horton’s or Target would be an awesome prize! Even a gift card to the grocery store would be greatly appreciated.
You can even get an Ebates rebate on gift cards from many different retailers including Amazon, Chapters and Old Navy. Yet another way to save a little money!
Lotto Tickets
At $1-$3 a piece you could put together a nice little packet of scratch tickets as a prize. If that won’t get people actively participating, I don’t know what will!
Baking Mix in a Jar
Ok, now you’ll need a larger sized mason jar! Haha! I swear I’m not usually this obsessed with jars! I’ve seen some really cute ideas for diy cookie or cake mixes in a jar. I received one once as a gift and it was a great activity to do with my boys!
Manicure Kit
Include nail files and pretty polish and anything else you might need for a DIY manicure! Use a cute basket and include a magazine & chocolate bar to make it even more spa-like.
Edibles
You can’t go wrong with a basket full of yummy treats! Maybe add a bottle of sparkling apple juice with fancy cheese & crackers!
I hope you’ve found my suggestions helpful! If you end up using one of the free tags, I’d REALLY love to see a picture of them in action! Send me an email or post it in the comments. 🙂
Happy Planning!
Love these ideas! I’m hosting a bridal shower next month and I love the idea of the “thanks for bee-ing here” honey jar!!
Glad you liked it! I’d love to see a picture if you end up using it!
I love these ideas! Especially loving the little bags of popcorn and the seed packs. I hosted a shower a few years ago and gave away pink nail polishes.
I thought about including nail polish in the list! Maybe I should add it!
These are really good ideas. For my bridal shower my mom did the diy sugar scrub and I love it. I still have it and use it once or twice a week.
A lot of these could work for a bridal shower, I hadn’t thought of that before!
That ready to pop prize is to DIE FOR! So cute
Haha, I thought so too!
So many cute ideas! The prizes you chose are so fun
Thanks Paula!
Thanks for all these ideas. I’m planning a shower right now and I don’t think I’m doing favors BUT I do plan on figuring out a prize!
-Lauren
Prizes are tricky, let me know what you come up with!
Love your ideas. I am looking for a printable tag for a bath bomb – “From my shower to your bath” but I can’t seem to find it.