10 Unique Dinner Party Favors Slideshow

A pot full of boiling hot, sugary berries can be intimidating, but with our tips, it can be easy. Pick up fruit at the market, or recruit your minions (your children!) to help you at the closest u-pick field. Try this fruity cherry jam or this easy no-cook strawberry jam.

You might be familiar with the miniature version of your favorite liqueurs from the airplane or hotel minibar, but they're also perfect to send home as favors. For example, if you're hosting an engagement party with St-Germain cocktails, send guests home with a mini bottle of bubbly and St-Germain so they can continue the celebrating at home.

All you need is some colorful paper and some Scotch tape to transform an ordinary bar of chocolate into something unique. Plus, who doesn't love a little piece of chocolate before bed?

Hosting a movie night party? Create a movie-ticket-like wrapper for the bar of chocolate by cutting a piece of paper just narrower than your bar and wrap it around the foil (be careful removing the other paper wrapper). You can also turn the treat into a conversation piece or fortune teller by enclosing a question, fact, or fortune in between the bar and your custom wrapper. 

Be inspired by your garden (or what you find at the greenmarket) like chef Beau Vestal did for one dinner party recently, and send guests home with a jar of pickled fruits or vegetables. Here are some ideas to get you started.

During the winter months, I've often found myself presented with a breakfast treat after a dinner out at a fancy restaurant — sometimes fruitcake, other times sticky buns or madeleines — and it's a lovely way to remember how delicious the prior night's meal was (and is something to look forward to).

Do the same for your guests. Bake banana bread in a mini loaf pan and wrap in waxed paper and twine, or opt for two muffins tucked into a cellophane bag and tied with a ribbon.

Not the baking type? Send your guests home with a healthy snack they can enjoy at any time of day: homemade yogurt. If you don't have a fancy yogurt-maker at home, pull out the crock pot and use these tips for making your own flavored yogurt at home for about two dollars a cup. Pack in small cups and serve along with a small bag of homemade granola.

Inspired by the little trays of chocolates and mignardises fine-dining establishments send out with their checks, do the same for your guests (albeit packaged up, to-go). Channel your inner Godiva chocolatier and make rich chocolate or crunchy cookie truffles at home, then package them up in small ballotin boxes sealed with a sticker — or embossed with your monogram. 

Every holiday season, my family uses personalized sugar cookies in lieu of place cards. The array of ornament-, snowflake-, and angel-shaped cookies adds color to the table, and they're the perfect favor to send guests home with.

With the right batch of cookie cutters (flowers in spring, beach balls in summer, and pumpkins in fall) and decorating tools, you too can make and decorate your own sugar cookie favors at home. Start with a simple recipe and a batch of royal icing, then read our tips for decorating cookies like a professional — and have fun!

For those who have chickens at home, keeping up with all the eggs can at times be challenging. (After all, how many times a day can you eat omelettes, egg salad, and scrambled eggs?) Plus, who can resist a farm-fresh egg with a rich, orange-yellow yolk? Share the wealth with your guests by sending each person home with three eggs in small baskets or a box filled with shredded paper.

Not a savvy baker or short on time? Add a delicious homemade touch to your dinner party by making each guest a jar of candied nuts — sweet, spicy, or both — to take home.