Festive Toothpicks for Your Parties

If you think about it, toothpicks are an important part of the holiday season!  They spear your olives in a martini.  They pick up cheese cubes at a dinner party.  And last but not least, they make your teeth pretty for photos.

So why should they be boring?  Here are a few really easy, cheap ways to dress up your toothpicks.  The same ideas can be applied to cocktail stirrers or skewers (not ones that are going in the oven, however!).

The easiest way to jazz up your toothpicks for a big dinner party is to dip the ends in paint.  I used the little pots of paint from craft stores, and it was really easy to just dip the toothpicks right into the pots.  Plus, I got to play around with a variety of fun colors.  To dry the toothpicks, I just stuck them into a styrofoam block and left them alone for a few hours.  (Tip: don’t stick them into floral foam!  You’ll have green foam bits left on the toothpicks when you go to use them, yuck!  Yes, I learned this from experience.)  It’s really that simples: toothpicks, dollar store paint tubs and a styrofoam block.

If you want to add glitter to the ends of the toothpicks, I strongly suggest a glittery paint.  Dipping paint or glue directly into dry glitter just leaves room for the glitter to flake off and end up all over your food. 

You can use these for a superbowl party and paint the ends in your team’s colors.

Candy-covered ends took a little longer but would be fun to use with bite-sized desserts.  I dipped the toothpick into glue then into a dish of brightly-colored sugar sprinkles.  

If you’re throwing a smaller party or want to use these for cocktail stirrers, glitter tape or washi tape flags are also delightful.  They take the longest to make out of these options, but they’re worth the extra effort.  Again, these would also be really great in team colors for a sports-related party!  Just cut 1.5 inches of tape, fold it in half around the toothpick, and cut the ends into a flag shape. 

Just a warning though, after you do this once for a party people will expect it every time!  The response from my guests has been overwhelmingly delightful, and it’s one of those little things that you can do long in advance to make your event memorable.