My daughter just graduated high school and will be attending college in England, so we are throwing her a travel themed graduation party. I needed a travel-themed party favor, and realized luggage tags would be the perfect solution.

Inexpensive luggage tags as party favors

There are so many faux leather luggage tags available to choose from, and you can often find them in bulk as well.

Here are some good luggage tag options I found on Amazon:

• Weewooday 8-Piece Set in an 8-Color Assortment
• Travelambo 8-Piece Set, available in over 20 different colors
• Teskyer 3-Piece Set, available in over 20 different colors
• Dunzy 30-Piece Set, available in 6 different colors

For our party, I ended up purchasing the Travelambo faux leather luggage tags and chose three different colors: Lotus Green, Light Blue, and Light Grey. I chose these lighter shades so the monograms would stand out better.

DIY personalized luggage tags

Just the luggage tags alone make unique party favors for a travel-themed party, but I thought I would take them up a notch by personalizing them. Personalizing your party favors is such a thoughtful way to make your guests feel extra special at the party.

Customizing luggage tags with paint

The easiest DIY way to add personalization to a luggage tag is with a stencil and paint. To do this, just create a vinyl stencil with your Cricut or Silhouette machine, and center it on your luggage tag. Then use a cosmetic sponge to dab on a good quality multi-surface paint, remove the stencil, and you're done!

Laser engraving a luggage tag

Another great way to personalize luggage tags is to laser engrave them. This was a great opportunity for me to use my xTool Laser Cutter (see my review!) and that's how I did all of the tags for my daughter's party.

I used the xTool's software (details in my review) to choose a font and placement for the tags. Then I laid out five tags in a row to engrave them all at once. I could have fit more than five on the work surface, but it was easier to line them up when I was just working with a single row. I am still new at laser engraving, so easier is better while I'm learning!

Once I had the design and the blanks all laid out, the laser did all the work. One thing I did learn quickly is that the faux leather smells pretty bad when it's etching, so it's best to work outside or at least near an open window with ventilation.

Adding these initials is such a simple thing, but has such a huge impact because all our guests will feel so special to receive their own personalized luggage tag.

Displaying the luggage tag party favors for guests

To make it easy for guests to find their tags at the party, I hung them on hooks on a large board.

I made this display board exactly like the one we made for the paint swatch wedding guest book we created for my friend last summer. I added vinyl letting at the top to invite guests to find and take their tags, and it looked so pretty with all the tags hanging.

Other ideas for using luggage tags as party favors

Besides a travel-themed party, here are some other great ideas for using luggage tags as party favors:

• Wedding reception favors for a travel-loving couple
• Bridal shower before a destination wedding
• Group trip with friends and family members

Luggage tags make inexpensive, unique party favors whether you leave them plain or personalize them with initials. They are also a great beginner project if you are just starting out with laser engraving. The spacing of the small initials is very forgiving, and the tags are pretty inexpensive, so if you mess up, you aren't out a lot of money.