My wedding is based on eco and environmentally friendly themes so when I found a blog about making seed bombs, I thought it would be perfect for our wedding favours. They're very easy but quite messy to make. It took me and my other half about two and a half hours to do in terms of time. It was great fun and we really enjoyed making them.
Advance prep for my DIY seed boms:
I was drying flowers — native species — in my microwave to go into the favours to add to the texture and colour.
I did a lot of research into the best paper to use, so when we were throwing out our recycling I was keeping the better quality, mostly white, paper, so that my favours weren't grey (which is what happens if you use newspaper). Even my old to-do lists for our special day went into the mix.
Then we got our hands on an old blender — many blogs online strongly recommend you don't use your expensive kitchen blender for this as it is heavy going and can burn out the motor.
I researched the best seeds to get. I wanted something which was going to be in flower in August (when my wedding is) and was going to be beneficial to the butterflies and bees, native to Britain, and seed well. I ordered my seeds from Naturescape. I got 100g which was the smallest amount and I have sown some for decoration on the day.
In terms of quantities, I did approximately 100 sheets of paper and used approximately 40g of seeds and I made 133 seed bombs.
Eco-friendly favor: seed bombs!
I picked seed bombs as favors because I didn't want to give out "stuff" (i.e. junk that will just go in a landfill) but rather... Read more
Ingredients for DIY seed bombs:
- paper: approx 1 sheet per favour
- shredder to shred your paper
- bowl
- bucket
- jug
- warm water
- native seeds (I used 40g for approx 100 favours)
- dried native petals: I used tea leaves, coloured tissue, glitter, food colouring (these are all optional)
- cheesecloth, or muslin, or thin tea towel
- ice cube trays: semi soft silicone variety worked best
- a tray or two (to dry favours on)
Here's how you make DIY seed bombs:
I shredded the paper. I saved around 100 A4 sheets and covered the paper in warm water and left it to soak overnight.
We took two small handfuls of soaked paper and added warm water until it covered all the shredded paper. Then we whipped it up in the blender.
We blended it until it looked like the above. We did batches of paper until we had filled our bucket with pulp. We then blended the petals, and added them to our bucket with the seeds and mixed well.
Then we strained the pulp through a tea towel. We put the towel over a washing-up bowl to catch the water, which we then use to water the plants.
We gathered up the edges of the tea towel, and twisted and squashed to get the water out of the pulp.
After squeezing the pulp looked like this.
We pressed the pulp into the ice cube trays. As we pressed, a bit more water came out.
We carefully pressed the bombs out of their trays and rested them on a board to dry.
Hey presto — your seed bomb favours! Editor's note: to polish off the project, grab some cute favor tags to make your DIY seed bomb favors look fancy! We think this design would be perfect.
Groovy – could you add some class of natural dye (I’m thinking beetroot juice for some reason) to make them colourdy?
Hi,
I know people do put dye (food colouring, i think) in them but I don’t know if natural dyes would work, I guess they stain paper if they get dropped on them but I wouldn’t like to say definite yes.
If you wanted to get the best result from the dye you would probably want to make them from the highest quality white paper with as little ink as possible but I guess if you want a hint it wouldn’t be a big issue about the ink.
Onion skins is another natural dye that springs to mind.
Hannaxxx
Yes, beets,raspberries, really any raw fruit can be boiled down for a dye. Also make some TickleMe Plant Bombs as this plant will close its leaves and lower its branches when tickled. Find the TickleMe Plant seeds on line.
Hi
I have just used a green cardboard egg box and that looks pretty good.
Thank you for the mention of native species!
You’re welcome. x
Definitely, native species are the way to go! Also, I think you don’t need so many seeds for your recipe. It will save money to buy less, as well. If you have too many seeds in the seed bombs, the plants choke each other out as they grow. If the seeds are fresh and have a good germination rate, just a few in each bomb will do fine.
The petals are a very nice touch. 🙂
Thanks for posting this tutorial! I was literally just looking at seed bombs to buy last night, but I was worried that they would be non-native to my area
You’re Welcome.
I did come across a blog saying that she had decided against seed favours as she had relatives who were going back to different countries so would only be navtive to those attending who were local. Luckily all our guests are local. I am hoping it will help wildlife as well as look pretty.
Best of Luck, my advice would be make sure that they are completely dry before storing them as if you don’t they will sprout (take this from experince!!).
Hannaxxx
This is a great idea, and pressing them into ice cube trays to make shapes definitely was a cute addition 🙂
Awesome tutorial – thank you! Will be giving these a go over summer (looks like a child-friendly activity too!) 🙂
How do you plant them? Do you soak them? Do you crumple them up? Do you just stick them in the soil?
You plant them whole in the soil, I don’t think that you could crumple them if you squash the water out of them properly when you make them.
Hannaxxx
Thanks!
Thank you for all your lovely comments.
Hannaxxx
Has anyone made these weeks or months in advance of giving them away? Would they fall apart or start sprouting seeds if you made them months in advance?
Hi sorry, I have only just seen this!!
Yes you can make in advance as long as you dry them thoroughly and I would suggest keeping them in a dark place.
We had a few sprout whilst they were drying out but the ones we have left over after the wedding have not sprouted at all.
Hannaxxx
Hi there, can you tell me what you recommend as flowers you added into the mix for colours/textures? many thanks Kate
Hi Sorry have also only just seen this!
I basically picked the flowers in my garden and my bosses garden and my mothers garden. Most worked well the more colourful the better the whites and yellows did go a bit brown. I tried to get small flowers like tree blossoms and violets.
Hannaxxx
Can I ask how much this cost? I’m trying to decide whether to buy seed bombs or make my own.
Hi,
Had a go at making these this werkend for our wedding in a couple of weeks. Was just wondering how long the take to dry?
Thanks
Have you had any feedback from those that received the gifts? Did the seeds sprout for them? I ask because I see that these are different from other recipes as there is no compost in them.
Hi Kara, I am not in Britain, I’m in Australia, I received a wedding favour seed ball about 2 or 3 years ago, I wasn’t sure exactly what to do with it or what it was (maybe a small tag with instructions would be handy? Not necessarily stating what will grow, but just what to do with it) so I just planted the whole thing just how it was. Soon after I got a lovely cluster of seedlings sprouting, which I separated once they looked nicely established. My little mystery seed ball produced a couple of tomato plants and wild roquette, the roquette self propagating very nicely and multiplying and still in abundance in my garden now. The poor tomatoes are another story, but I’m not good with tomatoes! I don’t think mine had compost in it, it looked kind of like a bath bomb, very clean and white. I loved it, I would recommend using a couple of hardy vegetable plants, herbs and flowers. A really special, unusual and memorable party favour that has complemented many meals since!
Love this! Did you price out pp what they cost to make?
Hi, do you know if using a hairdryer on cool to dry them out would have any affect on the seeds?
the only reason I ask is I am planning on making these way way way in advance (at least 6 months) as I have a lot of other stuff I need to get done :0) and because you say that drying them thoroughly they should keep for x amount of time xx
This is a nice option. I definitely want to do seed bombs as a favor. I like the paper option, must of the recipies I’ve seen use potter’s clay powder mixed with mulch, peat, or loam.
I have to do more research as to which would seed better in our region/climate/heavy clay content soil.
The paper route makes me think of the artsy craft papers you see at fairs. Its hard to choose. Thanks for all the info.
Whats the best way to dry these out?
I put mine in the dehydrator, on super low. Just wanted the fan, not the heat. Works well! Planting on my 67th birthday, hemp is going to be popping up all over…