14 DIY Baby Shower Favors You Can Make the Night Before

The gifts are opened, the cake is cut, and now everyone is standing by the door waiting to be sent home with something. That something does not need a glue gun marathon or a trip to three craft stores: it needs one good idea, repeated fourteen times, in things you can finish after the baby sprinkle is asleep.

Every favor below is built from parts you can actually find tonight: a jar, a bag, a tin, a pot. None of them need baking skill or a hot glue burn on your thumb, and each one says out loud whether it is a five minute job or a proper Tuesday evening project.

Work through them by what they do rather than what they look like: first the ones guests eat on the ride home, then the ones that sit on a bathroom shelf for a week, then the ones that are still alive on a windowsill next spring.

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Favors You Can Eat or Drink

These are gone by the time she gets home, which is exactly the point: nothing to dust, nothing to regift. Keep the portions small, the labels short, and the ingredients something you would actually eat yourself.

Hot Chocolate Mix Jars

Cold weather shower, and she is standing by the door in a coat already. A jar of something warm in her hands reads better than a bag of anything.

Build it from the bottom: cocoa powder and sugar settle first, then a layer of mini marshmallows pressed flat against the glass so they show, then mini chocolate chips on top. A round of cardstock sits under the ring lid to keep it food safe, and the ring itself gets a tag tied on with red twine: stir, do not shake.

Works for any shower after the clocks go back, and it costs under a dollar a jar if you buy the cocoa in bulk. No marshmallows for a dairy free guest: swap in crushed peppermint instead, same jar, same tag.

Ready to Pop Popcorn Bags

The pun is not subtle, and that is why it works: everyone reads the tag, laughs once, and eats the popcorn on the way to the car.

Fill a clear cellophane bag with popcorn, fold the top over twice, and seal it with a strip of washi tape in blush or pale yellow rather than a staple that catches on coat pockets. A small round label reading ready to pop goes dead center on the fold.

This is the five minute favor on this whole list, and the cheapest: a dollar store popcorn bag and a sticker. Swap the popcorn for salted pretzels if someone at the shower cannot do corn.

S’mores Kits

A rustic or summer shower with nowhere to actually build a fire still deserves something toasty to take home.

Lay two graham cracker halves flat in the bottom of a small kraft bag, a square of milk chocolate on top of those, then a single marshmallow balanced last so it shows through the open top. Fold the bag down twice and tie it shut with plain twine, no bow needed.

Best for an outdoor or backyard shower where the theme already leans cosy. If graham crackers are hard to source, shortbread biscuits do the same job underneath the chocolate.

Mama to Bee Honey Jars

For the shower that has already gone all in on bees: striped ribbon, little paper wings, the whole hive of it.

A small hexagonal glass jar gets filled with local honey, a tiny wooden honey dipper tied to its neck with black and white gingham ribbon. The tag hanging off the ribbon reads mama to bee, nothing else needed.

Perfect for a bee-themed shower, a tiny jar of honey is a sweet takeaway and a great way to support a local business. Swap honey for a small jar of lavender jam if a guest cannot have honey, same jar, same ribbon.

Mini Spiced Tea Bags

Not every guest wants chocolate or popcorn, and a quiet little tea bag covers the ones who would rather curl up with a mug.

Fill a pyramid tea bag with loose leaf chai or chamomile, staple a small paper tag to the string, and lay two or three bags into a small kraft box lined with a strip of tissue paper. Close the lid and tie it with narrow ribbon.

Good for a morning or brunch shower where coffee and tea are already on the table. Keep the blend caffeine free if the guest list is mostly pregnant friends.

Favors She Will Actually Use Before Bed

This is the shelf-by-the-sink category: a small comfort that gets used within the week rather than pushed to the back of a drawer. If you still need the room itself sorted, 20 DIY Baby Shower Decorations That Do Not Look Homemade Under Party Lighting covers the backdrop these favors sit in front of.

Mini Stockings with Hand Cream

Stuff a small knit stocking with a twist of white tissue paper, tuck a travel size hand cream down into the cuff, and slide a sprig of dried eucalyptus in beside it so the green shows at the top. Loop a ribbon through the hanging tab for a tag.

If the shower is not winter, this one is the easy skip on this list: a felt stocking looks odd at a spring brunch. Swap the hand cream for a mini lip balm if you already have a lip balm favor elsewhere at the party.

Lip Balm

The favor nobody throws away, because everybody is always losing a lip balm somewhere at the bottom of a bag.

Wrap a plain lip balm tube in a printed belly band carrying the baby’s name or due date, secured with a dot of glue rather than tape that peels. Stand six or eight of them upright in a shallow bowl near the door instead of bagging them individually.

Works for any season, any theme, any budget. Match the scent to whatever else is on the table: vanilla near the hot chocolate jars, honey near the bee favors.

Candle Tins

The one favor on this list that lasts the longest after the sweets are eaten and the lotion is used up.

Start with an empty two ounce tin, glue a wick to the base with a wick sticker, then pour in melted soy wax with a few drops of scent oil stirred through. Once it sets, a round label goes on the lid with the baby’s name and the date.

No mold needed and no wick-centering tool: the tin does both jobs for you. If you are short on time, buy unscented tins already poured and only make the labels yourself.

Bath Salt Sachets

Something for a guest who says she never has time for herself, which at a baby shower is usually most of the room.

Spoon epsom salt and a pinch of dried lavender buds into a small sheer organza pouch, cinch the top with a silver ribbon drawstring, and tie a tag on reading a bath for you, not the baby. Lay several in a basket near the exit.

Cheap to make in bulk, since epsom salt costs almost nothing by the pound. Rose petals swap in cleanly if lavender is not in the colour scheme.

Mini Soap Bars

A small bar of soap sounds plain until it is wrapped properly, and then it looks like it came from somewhere expensive.

Wrap an ivory glycerin soap bar in a square of wax paper, twist the ends closed, and tie the middle with plain twine. A tiny stamped baby foot imprint on the bar itself, pressed in before it hardens, does the theme work without a single sticker.

Stack several in a low basket lined with a folded tea towel rather than individual bags, it looks fuller for less effort. Unscented bars are the safer default for a mixed guest list.

Favors That Keep Growing After the Shower

The slowest favors on the table, and the ones most likely to survive past the thank you cards. They ask a little more patience from you now, and pay it back months later when something is still alive because of a party.

Succulents

Go green with these adorable plants that are easy to maintain, look great, and can be personalized by wrapping a fun thank-you ribbon around the pot.

Plant a small succulent into a terra cotta pot with fresh soil, top the soil with a thin layer of moss so it looks finished rather than freshly potted, then wrap a kraft paper collar around the outside and tie it with twine. A small wooden tag leans against the base.

Suits almost any shower, any season, since the plant does not care what the theme is. No green thumb in the house: a faux succulent in the same pot photographs identically and never dies on anyone’s windowsill.

Seed Packets for Watch Me Grow

The favor that costs the least and keeps paying off for an entire season after the party is over.

Fold a small paper envelope, fill it with wildflower or sunflower seeds, and seal the flap with a round sticker printed watch me grow. Stack the finished envelopes in a shallow wooden crate near the door instead of handing them out one by one.

Total cost comes in under twenty five dollars for a full guest list. Herb seeds swap in cleanly for a kitchen-minded crowd, basil and mint instead of flowers.

Mini Herb Pots

A kitchen windowsill favor for the guest who will actually use it in a pasta sauce within the month.

Plant a basil or mint seedling into a terra cotta pot, wrap the outside in a strip of green gingham fabric tied with twine rather than paper so it stands apart from the succulent favor, and write the herb’s name on a small chalkboard tag pressed into the soil.

Works best for a kitchen, garden or brunch themed shower. If seedlings are out of season, a small jar of dried herb mix with the same tag covers the same idea without the plant.

Mini Terrarium Jars

The favor that is still sitting on someone’s desk a year later, which is more than most party favors can claim.

Build it in layers inside a small squat glass jar: white pebbles first for drainage, a thin layer of activated charcoal above that, then potting soil, and finally a cushion of moss with a tiny air plant set on top, no watering can needed since it drinks through the air. Wrap a length of wire or twine around the neck of the jar as a handle.

Best as the one slightly more effort favor on the table, saved for the guests closest to the family. An air plant can be swapped for a small preserved moss ball if live plants are hard to source in time.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many baby shower favors do you need to make?

Count one favor per guest from the RSVP list, then add a small buffer of three to five extra for last minute plus ones or a favor that does not survive the car ride home.

How much should you spend on baby shower favors?

Homemade favors like these typically run two to five dollars a head once supplies are bought in bulk, far under what a store bought equivalent costs per guest.

Do you actually need favors at a baby shower?

No, favors are optional rather than required. Baby shower favors continue to be an on trend tradition, though they are not a must do for every host.

How far in advance can you make baby shower favors?

Most of these keep for one to two weeks once sealed, except the popcorn bags and s’mores kits, which taste best made the same day or the night before the shower.

What do you write on a baby shower favor tag?

Keep it to one short line that ties the favor to its pun or theme, such as ready to pop or mama to bee, plus a quiet thank you underneath.

What do you put in a baby shower favor bag?

One clear idea per bag works better than several small items crammed together: a single jar, a single tin, or a single potted plant reads as a gift rather than clutter.