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DIY Folded Paper Favor Pockets for Flat Party Keepsakes
The best party favors are small, flat and actually kept. A folded paper pocket costs about nine cents, takes four folds, and turns a bookmark or a photo into something a child wants to open.
Think about the last favor bag your child brought home. A plastic whistle, a bouncy ball, a sheet of stickers, three sweets — and all of it in the bin by Thursday. The favors that actually survive are the flat ones: the bookmark, the photo from the party, the drawing card, the pressed flower. They slide into a book or get stuck on a fridge and they stay.
The only problem with a flat favor is presentation. Handed over loose it looks like an afterthought; posted into a shop-bought envelope it looks like a bill. A folded paper pocket solves it for about nine cents each. Four folds, no glue, no envelopes to buy, and a dozen made in fifteen minutes while the kettle boils.
What you'll need
- Text-weight paper or light 65 lb cardstock in two colours from your palette — one sheet makes two pockets
- One sheet of heavier card to cut the reusable pattern from
- Narrow ribbon, bakers' twine or washi tape to close each pocket
- A gold or black fine-tip pen for the names
- Optional: a small stamp, a wax seal or a sticker in the party colour
- Optional: ready-printed pocket sheets and matching tags from the Paper Atelier
Time: about 15 minutes for twelve, once the pattern is cut · Cost: $5–9 for a table of twelve
How to make the pockets
Cut one pattern and reuse it
Cut one 7-inch by 9-inch rectangle from the heavy card. That is your pattern, and it is the reason twelve pockets come out identical instead of nearly identical. Trace round it onto your coloured paper and cut — a letter sheet gives two pockets with a sliver to spare, and tabloid or 12-by-12 scrapbook paper gives four. Keep the pattern in the craft drawer; it is the piece you will reuse at every party for years. The finished pocket holds a standard 2-by-6-inch bookmark, a 4-by-6 photo or a folded drawing card with room to spare.
Fold the body, short edge up
Lay the rectangle portrait in front of you. Take the bottom short edge and fold it up to about two-thirds of the height — roughly six inches up a nine-inch sheet. Run a bone folder or the back of a spoon along the crease and press hard. A soft crease is what makes homemade paper goods look homemade; a sharp one is what makes them look bought. You now have a pocket with a flap at the top.
Fold the sides in and tuck them
Fold about half an inch of each long side inward, creasing through both layers of the pocket at once. At the bottom corners, the two side folds overlap — tuck the second one under the first and press. That overlap is what holds the whole thing together, which is why this pocket needs no glue and never comes unstuck in a bag. Open the pocket with a finger and check the inside is square; if it bows, your side folds are uneven, and widening them by a sixteenth of an inch fixes it.
Shape the flap
The flap is where the pocket stops looking like folded paper. Two options, both thirty seconds: round the two top corners with scissors for a soft, modern look, or cut a shallow V from the corners to the centre for a classic envelope point. Do all twelve the same way. For the V, fold the flap in half lengthways, snip one angle and open it — the two sides match exactly.
Close it and name it
Slide the favor in, fold the flap down and close it. A short length of ribbon or bakers' twine tied once round the whole pocket looks the most considered; a strip of washi tape across the flap point is the fastest; a sticker or wax seal in the party colour is the prettiest in photographs. Then write the child's name on the flap in gold or black — a named pocket at each place setting doubles as the place card and saves you making both.
A corner bookmark the children made themselves, a 4-by-6 photo from a previous party, a pressed flower, a packet of seeds, a drawing card with the birthday child's crayon scribble on it, or a single pretty sticker sheet. Flat, light and worth keeping is the whole brief — our guide to favors under three dollars has more ideas in the same spirit.
Where it earns its keep
Set one pocket at each place with the child's name facing up and it does three jobs at once: place card, favor and the thing that keeps children in their seats for the first five minutes while they work out whose is whose. On a kid-height table with the rattan kids' chairs, a row of blush pockets tied with twine photographs beautifully — see the table-styling guide for the rest of the setting.
It also travels. Because the pockets fold flat, you can make all twelve a week ahead and fill them the morning of the party, which is exactly the kind of job to do in advance when the date lands on a busy weekend. If yours falls on one of this autumn's school-free days, our long-weekend party guide covers the calendar; our favor station covers handing them out.
Frequently asked questions
What paper works best for folded favor pockets?
Text-weight paper or light 65 lb cardstock. Heavy cardstock will not hold a tucked corner and springs open; printer paper creases well but tears at the side folds. Patterned scrapbook paper at 12 by 12 inches is ideal and gives four pockets a sheet.
Do the pockets need glue or tape?
No. The two side folds overlap at the bottom corners and lock each other in place, which is the whole point of the design. Tape or a sticker is only for closing the flap once the favor is inside.
How long does it take to make a dozen?
About fifteen minutes once the pattern is cut, and the cutting itself is a five-minute job with a paper trimmer. Making them is a good task for the evening before the party, since they fold flat and stack.
Can children make their own?
From about age six, yes — the folds are simple and there is nothing sharp once the paper is cut. Younger children can decorate a pre-folded pocket with stamps and stickers instead, which takes about ten minutes at the table.
Can the pocket double as a place card?
That is the best use of it. Write the child's name on the flap and set one at each place: it works as the place card, the favor and a quiet first activity while guests arrive.
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