Clever ways to package loose leaf tea?

April 11, 2013 11:01 AM

I need to package loose leaf tea to make small gifts, think like a wedding favor. The package could include another small item (could be in a small glass or have a small pot of honey, or something else) but should not cost more than $2 (excluding the tea) in bulk quantities (like 400). Thanks for your suggestions!
posted by cacao to Food & Drink (15 answers total)

Linen or burlap bags and you can include a honey dipper
posted by hmo at 11:05 AM on April 11, 2013

I once took toilet paper tubing, wrapped it in gift wrap so it looked like a large piece of candy, and filled it with small items. Then tie off the ends with ribbon. You could also cut down gift wrap tubing to get more tubes. Or paper towel tubing.
posted by Michele in California at 11:09 AM on April 11, 2013

Something like this can be made with paper sandwich bags (Trader Joe's or Whole Foods), string and scrapbook tags. Really easy. Also, search "packaging" on Pinterest and you can get a whole bunch of ideas.
posted by patheral at 11:18 AM on April 11, 2013

bulk muslin bags

Make them fancy on the outside with ink stamping or fancy bows or whatever, but this will be a) cheap, and b) will keep the tea inside where it's supposed to be.
posted by anastasiav at 11:18 AM on April 11, 2013

Response by poster: Thanks for the great suggestions so far!

Just to put emphasis where I forgot to, I'm REALLY interested in clever packaging that includes another small item, or where the packaging itself is another small item.
posted by cacao at 11:34 AM on April 11, 2013

Best answer: Is a teacup too obvious of a receptacle for a gift of tea?
posted by blue t-shirt at 11:47 AM on April 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

I would see if I couldn't get a deal on tea infusers and put the tea itself into the infusers which you would then wrap in tissue paper.

A quick google search for "cheap ball infuser" suggests that you can indeed get them for under $2, and spoon tea infusers (which I think are a little nicer) seem to come in at $3 on the cheap end and $5 more likely.
posted by gauche at 12:17 PM on April 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: You could do small glass jars or tins. Paint a stroke of chalkboard paint on the lid to label.
posted by Katine at 12:23 PM on April 11, 2013

Drinking jars? Plus or minus a honey dipper, nice ribbon. Try shopping around for a better deal.
posted by teragram at 12:29 PM on April 11, 2013

Uline has small organza, velvet and moire bags that are in your price range.
posted by workerant at 12:41 PM on April 11, 2013

Best answer: I used tea as wedding favours! We found coloured glass containers with a tight sealing lid at the dollar store in lots of pretty colours. I'm *still* seeing them around my friends' places now, years later.

Another idea could be a votive candle holder with an *unscented* tea light then the tea on top in some sort of plastic, then the whole thing wrapped in tulle or cello? This would work extra well if you have a lot of couples coming to the event, because two candles kind of makes more sense than one for people to actually use around their places.
posted by Sweetchrysanthemum at 1:26 PM on April 11, 2013

For cute tins etc, try specialtybottle.com. I have ordered things from them and been happy with quality/price.

These tea caddies are cute. Also called tea bag holders. Tea caddy doesn't necessarily seem to mean those little guys.

If you're interested in making 200 reusable tea bags (heh), here's a tutorial. Or, you know, buy them and then attach something to the string for personalization. Note that the price is for 6 of them.

The site with the bags has several cool ideas. These bamboo strainers are cute!
posted by freezer cake at 1:41 PM on April 11, 2013

I once received a wedding favor which was 4 different varieties of looseleaf tea, each in its own paper filter bag, with an artsy hand-stamped gift-card (event name, decorative stuff, and tea identification) holding the open ends of the bags together (think index-card sized, folded over the top of all the bag edges, and stapled).
Something like that was very cheap, might be improved by putting it all in plastic.

Alternatively, a tea bag holder, like these teapot shaped dishes, ~$1 each? Any small dish would work well, including soy-sauce dishes like are readily available and Chinese homegoods stores.
posted by aimedwander at 4:36 PM on April 11, 2013

Best answer: If you purchase tins/glass/plastic, try to find the closest supplier since a big cost factor will be freight. (disclaimer - I worked with/for some of these companies)

These companies all have small sized drawn cans; if you go with a tin, look for something with a screw top or rubber ring to keep your tea fresh longer.
Holiday Tins - Texas
Atlantic Can - New Jersey
Unipaq - Chicago
Western Specialty - California
Independent Can - Maryland/Iowa (parent of Western)
Tindex - Canada

Midnite Snax has a small heart shaped jar $2.13/ea at the 500 level. (They also have push top tins, small hinged tins etc)
posted by jaimystery at 7:32 PM on April 11, 2013

Response by poster: Update: we ended up pairing small jars of loose leaf tea with small jars of honey. We found the jars through one of your web-sites, but interestingly enough, when we realized the honey seller used the same jars, we asked him to send us a bunch of extras for a price that ended up being much lower than we could get buying them ourselves. I guess they bought in larger quantities and didn't try to make much, if anything, off of selling them to us. Thanks for your help!
posted by cacao at 9:36 AM on August 6, 2013