Party favors for "Death & Taxes"?

May 26, 2008 12:50 PM

I need ideas for creative (and cheap) party favors for a "Death & Taxes" party I'm hosting early in June!

Early in June, my sweetie and I are having 40 of our closest friends and relatives over to our place for a themed party, and we'd like to leave everyone with a token of our appreciation for their travels and attendance.

Relevant notes:
- We'll be having a fun competition at the party, so we could have one set of prizes for the winners (there will be two teams of 20 each) and another set for the "losers", but we want everyone to get something

- The group will consist of folks of all ages, so the gifts need to be "good" for a wide variety of people

- We're cheap, so the more thrifty / frugal, the better!

- The party's going to be themed as "Death & Taxes," but if you have fabulous party favor ideas that you just know'll knock their socks off, don't hold back.

posted by Jaqi to sports, hobbies, & recreation (10 comments total)

Not sure if you're already planning this, but the beverage choice should be obvious.
posted by rhizome at 1:50 PM on May 26, 2008

Oriental Trading is a good bet for cheap party favors.

Money
Death
posted by SuperSquirrel at 1:50 PM on May 26, 2008

My two defaults for "themed" and "cheap" are always Oriental Trading Company and Archie McPhee.

Death:
Death themed 'barrel o' monkeys' keychains
Death Mints

Taxes:
Calculators
The most accountant-looking action figure
Bubblegum coins

Put stuff in a plastic coffin or a black bag. Tie it off with a ribbon of a paper receipt and you've got a party bag.
posted by Gucky at 1:55 PM on May 26, 2008

Have one area of the party misthemed as Death & Texas, complete with pictures of JFK and Electric Chair shots (vodka/peach schnapps/blue curacao).
posted by troika at 3:07 PM on May 26, 2008

Plum Party has tons of unique party favors. You'll find some black plates and things in the over-the-hill section.
posted by IndigoRain at 3:50 PM on May 26, 2008

maybe you could make sugar skulls? molds are available on the internet, or at cooking stores or hispanic shops, although it is out of season. think soap making or candy making supplies.

little piggy banks would be cute, maybe with some pennies inside
posted by dahliachewswell at 6:21 PM on May 26, 2008

Well, first things first, you have to tax them for attending (make it potluck or BYOB). Insist that they file an extension if they don't bring anything. Have a complicated system of tax credits and such.

Give everyone a bag with stuff that's supposed to represent what their tax dollars go toward (these are meant to encompass national, state, and local taxes, and are not supposed to be proportional or realistic representations of real spending). Some toy soldiers (military), some spare change and bandaids with neat cartoon characters on them ("government handouts" and healthcare), a puzzle book or something (science, education, etc), some IOUs (debt), those "chinese finger trap" things (Law and order), a roll of red tape, some hot wheels (roads and infrastructure), seeds (parks, natural resources. you could make em sunflower seeds so they can eat em), some sort of pork summer sausage (pork barrel spending).
posted by gauchodaspampas at 6:41 PM on May 26, 2008

Joss money is really cheap for bazzillions of dollars for dead people.
posted by pompomtom at 6:49 PM on May 26, 2008

Mexican sugar skulls (day of the dead supplies).
Staples have some cool keychain calculators.
posted by Susurration at 7:09 PM on May 26, 2008

I was totally into the Mexican sugar skulls, but being the certified kitchen idiot that I am, I wanted to find a bakery that could make them for me. Obviously, it's entirely the wrong time of year, so that didn't quite work out. HOWEVER, the "Death & Taxes" brew is on its way - thanks so much for pointing it out!
posted by Jaqi at 1:28 PM on June 6, 2008