DIY.. Fire Truck Party Favor Bags

My son had his 3rd birthday party over the weekend. Like most little boys, he LOVES fire trucks! We decided to have a fire truck theme and had everything fire truck related – hats, coloring books, cups, plates, balloons, a bounce house AND of course fire truck goodie bags!

I have a Silhouette Cameo and haven’t used it as much as I should. I knew the machine was perfect for making a large number of goodie bags. A few years ago I made a bunch of canvas bags and they’ve been sitting in the garage.  My husband has been bugging me to get rid of the stash, so they were perfect for the project.

Materials Needed:

1. Silhouette Machine and design
2. Fabric Paint, sponges, card board
3. Freezer Paper
4. Iron and ironing board
5. Canvas Fabric
6. Sewing machine and supplies

Want to sew the handbag? It’s easy and makes the goodie bag much more personal. Check my tutorials here and here.

There are a ton of freezer paper tutorials out there. I have a few here on my site and you can see them here and here. Give freezer paper a try – I highly recommend it. It is beyond satisfying to see your image come to life on the fabric. Don’t panic if you don’t have a Silhouette machine, you can always use an X-Acto knife. I used an X-Acto for years and it works.. But if you have the budget for a machine, go for it.  A Silhouette machine is a game changer! You won’t be driving yourself crazy with all the fussy cuts!

I found this group of firetruck images from Snapdragon Snippets in the Silhouette Design store. I liked the front view of the firetruck, so I ungrouped them and worked with the image until it fit the size of my canvas bag. The Silhouette Software is easy to navigate, especially if you have used a program like Adobe Photoshop.

Are you making multiple items? For efficiency and speediness, use 2 mats… Freezer paper designs can be a bit tedious, as you need to gently pull everything away from a sticky mat. The fussier the cut, the longer it takes. With multiple mats, as you are working on one design, you can send the next to cut. I made my husband promise to help with the project and we made 15 totes. I gave my husband the job of weeding the images off of the cutting mats. Ha, just so he could “feel” the amount of work that goes into a project.

I always question myself halfway through a large project and wonder why I took it on…I really wondered about this one, as I started the project the day before the party! The results were awesome. The bags turned out great and I’m sure most of the kids will all turn up in their daycare class with the same little bag!