DIY Birdhouse Favors
With a brilliant start to our DIY Contest, Tracy Marcello whose wedding was featured a few short months ago, sent in her adorable DIY birdhouse wedding favors, complete with cookies wrapped in cellophane bags!
About the favors:
Our wedding theme was rustic and DIY, and birdhouses seemed to fit that bill. Since the wedding was a week before Christmas, was decided to do birdhouse ornaments and cookies – both homemade by members of the family. My mom is an artist, so she was able to paint each birdhouse using different colors and patterns; my sister-in-law has her own cooking blog, so it seemed natural to ask that she make the cookies (which couldn’t have been cuter or more delicious). The birdhouses came in five different styles and cost 50 cents each from Michael’s; we purchased 60 – one per couple or single guest and five extras. It took about 15 hours for my mom to paint them all, so it is an extensive project, but was well worth the effort.
Materials
– Wooden birdhouse ornaments, from a local craft store (The birdhouses we used were from Michael’s and cost 50 cents each)
– Acrylic paint, various colors
– Small paint brushes
– Sandpaper
– Thin, black felt marker
– Gift tags with couple’s name and wedding date printed on them
– Gift tag ties in a matching color
– Small cellophane bags (for cookies)
– Twist ties
– Hole puncher
– Cookies (any shape or flavor; the cookies we used were heart-shaped lavender-honey shortbread cookies baked by my sister-in-law Roopa)
Instructions:
For birdhouses: Make sure your work surface is covered with an old tablecloth or newspapers before painting. Acrylic paint works best, but inexpensive craft paint is fine. Use sandpaper to soften any sharp or splintered edges of the birdhouses and remove any stickers. Paint each birdhouse in any color or pattern that might match your wedding theme (we painted a lot like barns, cabins and farm houses). Allow ample time for drying, then use a thin, felt black marker to write the wedding date and couple’s initials on the back of each house.
For gift tags: Print the couple’s first names and wedding date on each tag (Kinko’s offers this service for a small fee, or you can print 20 copies on a single sheet of paper and cut out each individual tag). We used thick, cream-colored card stock and black ink. Use a hole puncher to make a small hole in the top of each tag, and guide a small (about three-inch) piece of ribbon through each tag.
For cookies: Follow any family recipe, or use the lavender-honey shortbread recipe. Cut cookies in shapes of hearts or birds. Place two cookies in each cellophane bag and secure with twist-ties. Use the ribbon, with gift tag in place, to attach the cookies to the top of each birdhouse. Place on the favor table and watch people try to take two!
***We’ve extended the deadline, so you have until April 3rd to send over your project! Email us at [email protected] with 6-10 images, sized at 600 pixels wide, list of materials and instructions. Click here for all the deets!***
Beautiful little houses. Great job!
Thanks for posting our birdhouses, Ruffled!
Hahaha, I did take two, and they will be adorable all year round sitting in my front room:-)
Tracy is so creative and talented! An all around wonderful bride.
These are so sweet! I love them!
My wife would love these!
Very cute idea! You could display these in so many different and memorable ways.