Party Favors

Tomorrow is my baby shower: hosted by my friend, Wendy. Without doubt, she throws the best parties I've ever attended, so I'm pretty stoked.

She has turned down all of my offers to help in any way, but I demanded to do something. So I decided to make some party favors to thank the guests.

I came across these cute chocolate covered pretzel rods on Pinterest and decided that they were a must. Salty pretzels and chocolate all in one little adorable package? "Yes, please" says the pregnant lady.

While making these sticks of deliciousness, I discovered that professional chocolatier is probably not a career I should pursue. Working with chocolate is kind of hard!! I burned/seized 2 batches of chocolate. Ouch. Eventually I figured out enough to complete the project, though, and the result is pretty good. I used white chocolate chips to dip the white pretzels, and then I used Wilton Candy Melts for the blue drizzle. After using the candy melts and discovering how much easier they are to work with than chocolate chips, I bought them in cocoa flavor for the regular chocolate pretzels. They taste great and are truly much easier to melt and dip.

I also used Wilton's Disposable Candy Decorating Bags. They make drizzling so easy. You just put the melts inside, twist the end (I secured it with elastic), pop them in the microwave, and clip the tip. When you're done, there is no messy cleanup; you just toss them in the trash.

Wilton even makes special bags for pretzel rods!! Am I starting to sound like an infomercial? These are super cool, and they even come with the silver twist ties. I found all of these Wilton products at Joann Fabrics.

I also made candles, because I remembered the Blue Ball Jars that came out recently, and I knew I had to use those for something. This was my first attempt at candle making, and alas - it was also a bit of a struggle. 

I used this tutorial, but failed at first with the scenting process. The first two kinds of oil I tried did not work very well. Those candles hardly smell at all. Then I discovered Candle Scents by CandleScience on Amazon. I ordered a sampler pack of these, and they worked great. I also ordered my wicks and soy wax through Amazon.

This is what every guest will receive at the shower. I feel very lucky to have friends and family who are willing to celebrate and support me during this life changing event. I hope they like their thank you party favors!