Sweet honey and beeswax favors are a wonderful way to delight your guests and thank them for attending your special celebration at any time of year! You can get started with a few simple ideas. You’ll need some small glass jars and lids, gift boxes, honey, lip balms, perhaps small candles, a few assorted ribbons and silk flowers, hot glue gun, tags for handmade labels or custom labels. An afternoon to be creative and you’ll have some very special favors to give your very special guests.

After counting the number of favors you ’ll need, you can estimate how many boxes of bottles, caps and amount of honey needed for your project. I used the 2 oz. hex jars and the 3-ounce mini skep jars for our favors. The amount of honey needed is dependent on the number of jars you need to fill.

The yardage of ribbon, number of flowers and tags will vary with the number of favors you are going to make. An easy way to determine the amount of ribbon is to tie a bow around your bottle that is the right length and multiply that by that number of favors. I would buy a little extra just in case your lengths vary slightly. Running short when you are in the creative zone is a bit frustrating and sometimes the same style of ribbon might not be available later.

I began filling the jars with a standard funnel, but then I thought of a way to fill them an easier way. I simply cut the bottom off of a clean, 2 liter plastic soda bottle and inverted it into the top of the little jar. A funnel works well, but I like the size of the opening on the 2 liter better.

Cap and wipe your jars to remove any trace of honey on the outside of the jars. You’re now ready to decorate and label your jars. This is where you can have fun and get creative. It’s a good idea to keep the design simple if you have a large number to make, because the more complicated they are, the longer your project will take. Experience has taught me this a time or two!

If you are making up gift boxes, then you will base your number on the number of guests attending your event. I used a 4 x 4 x 2 inches deep gift box. It fits a small honey jar and lip balms nicely.

I used cute little quotes on the tags reading, “Our Love is the Balm and is Sweet as Honey”, “Thank you for Bee-ing with us today!”, and “Meant to Bee!” This was fun, and of course, I encourage you get creative here! This is what makes it unique and personal!

Displaying them could be a creative endeavor as well, or place them right on tables where guests are seated. I have a tiered tray that I love to use for events. Try a favorite fabric, elegant tablecloth, or rustic wooden boxes or baskets.

Above all, have fun and stay inspired!
Mel Sandbrook