Ideas for Making Party Nut Cups

• Treat party guests to a mix of filling and tasty nuts. Anna Yu/Photodisc/Getty Images

  No matter what type of party you're hosting, from an elegant Christmas dinner to a casual birthday bash, nut cups are the ideal snack. Convenient and portable, nut cups allow guests to mix and mingle while munching on tasty, hunger-satisfying snacks. Include a sampling of nut varieties to please every party goer.

Baby Shower Treats

• If you're planning a baby shower, design whimsical, themed nut cup treats for the guests. You can set one cup next to each party-goer's place setting or arrange them in a woven basket or on a tray in the center of a table. To create the holders, fold pastel pink, green, yellow or blue cloth napkins into baby diaper shapes. Use baby diaper pins to secure the holders together for a charming look. If you know the baby's name, slide letter-shaped beads onto the pins to spell it out. Fill the handmade bags with roasted nuts, such as almonds or cashews. You can also add a few pastel-hued candies, such as jelly beans, candy-covered almonds or chocolate candies.

Harvest-Inspired Nut Cups

• Harvest-inspired nut cups make festive treats for Halloween and other autumn parties. Decorate the cups with craft items and fill them with seasonal goodies. Start by decorating mini terra cotta plant pots with acrylic paint and stencils. You can use themed stencils featuring shapes such as ghosts, bats, cats, pumpkins, spiders, acorns and turkeys. Tie thin decorative orange, deep red, gold or black ribbons into bows around the pot rims. Fill the cups with homemade toasted pumpkin and sunflower seeds, roasted nuts, candy corn or orange and black jelly beans.

Tea Party Snacks

• Treat tea party or garden-inspired wedding reception guests to delicate nut cup favors. To create the sweet treats, fill small vintage floral-patterned tea cups with a variety of snack items. Include decadent treats such as yogurt-covered raisins, pastel candy-covered almonds, creamy butter mints, macadamia nuts, roasted cashews and almonds, dried cranberries, gourmet chocolates or green tea-flavored candies. Tie satin ribbons around the tea cup handles and attach guest name cards made with white paper lace doilies to the tea cups.