Are favors really worth it?

[lock3130]

We are trying to decide if we should do favors and, if so, what we should do. Out of all the weddings I've been to, I can't really remember what favors I've ever received.

Part of me thinks we should do favors b/c our guests are going to be traveling from Iowa to attend the wedding but I don't know what to do. If we do them, I want to give them something that they can actually use and/or remember.

Cost is somewhat of an issue here. We don't have a real big budget for favors. We are only having about 35 people....any suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[Emilita44]

I really have never been a big favor person. Some of them are really cute, but I thought the money could be put to better use.

We are donating to a charity instead of favors and will just have a sign by the guest book letting everyone know. With all the money we're spending on this wedding, it made sense to give a little back

BUT they're are some cute things out there. Somebody suggested to me getting chocolate covered strawberries and putting them at everyone's table. It sounded good to me!

 

[Bride-to-be]

I think it depends on what your favors are. You can hit a home run with excellent favors that are still cost friendly. Or if you choose something not so exciting it could be a total miss and a waste of $$$.

If we do a Castaway Cay ceremony we are probably going to do beach towels because I figure everyone can always use them even if it gets relegated to the dog they always have a purpose. I have found custom ones that range from $6 to $40. I think it will work well for us.

If we do an epcot dessert party at the end I want to have favors that can be taken home to use as center pieces in lieu of flowers. I am really stuck as to what would be fun but haven't yet put a lot of thought into it.

One idea that I think is kind of fun and eco friendly is something sold at epcot. In the land pavillion they sell little trees that are seedlings and come in a box decorated with farmer disney characters. That way someone can go home and plant a small tree either outdoors or in depending on the climate. They are all tiny so they pack easily and they only cost like $4. Its a great way to take some of the magic home.

 

[lock3130]

Thanks everyone. We are just having such a wide variety of guests...I want to try and get something that pleases everyone.

I guess I'll continue to roam the internet!

 

[figment52]

I think it depends on what your favors are. You can hit a home run with excellent favors that are still cost friendly. Or if you choose something not so exciting it could be a total miss and a waste of $$$.

If we do a Castaway Cay ceremony we are probably going to do beach towels because I figure everyone can always use them even if it gets relegated to the dog they always have a purpose. I have found custom ones that range from $6 to $40. I think it will work well for us.

If we do an epcot dessert party at the end I want to have favors that can be taken home to use as center pieces in lieu of flowers. I am really stuck as to what would be fun but haven't yet put a lot of thought into it.

One idea that I think is kind of fun and eco friendly is something sold at epcot. In the land pavillion they sell little trees that are seedlings and come in a box decorated with farmer disney characters. That way someone can go home and plant a small tree either outdoors or in depending on the climate. They are all tiny so they pack easily and they only cost like $4. Its a great way to take some of the magic home.

I love the beach towel idea for a Castaway Cay/DCL wedding!!

the gift to charity is also a great idea.

 

[DisneyBrideToni]

I gave my guests coffee mugs along with Disney coffee and cocoa.

My DH did the drawing for the mugs and we made them on Cafepress. Everyone can use a mug!!

 

[lurkyloo]

We are trying to decide if we should do favors and, if so, what we should do. Out of all the weddings I've been to, I can't really remember what favors I've ever received.

Amen to that! I think favors are one of the wedding industry ploys to get you to spend more money. I had no illusions that any of our guests wanted a miniscule picture frame with a shot of us in it or a our monogram on a bottle stopper or a bag of stale Jordan almonds. Now I can't really talk b/c we did give our guests mouse ears, but that was just a ploy to get photos of the Disney Haters in them.

I'll bet your guests wouldn't even notice if you didn't have favors. I can't see anyone being like, "I had to fly all the way here from Iowa -- but this monogrammed bag of stale Jordan almonds makes it all worth it!"

If you really feel obligated, though, I think the charity contribution idea is a great one. For one thing, you only have to spend as much as you comfortably can -- your guests are not going to know how much you donated, and the charity will be glad for anything you can afford. Then you can put out cards or put a note in the program describing the charity, and whoever is benefitted by the charity gets something truly useful!

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

I'm following suit with mouse ears-but for a slightly different reason. FMIL said that she always wanted mouse ears. So, it's better late than never! Now, I hope she doesn't find this discussion board...I'd hate to ruin the surprise! Actually when we talked about wedding planning I told her I had some things up my sleeve and that I wasn't telling her b/c it's all part of the magic...

 

[disbridemimi]

I love the little tree idea! This I may steal, would you be offended? I have a family of tree huggers,this would be a big hit!!!

The towels are practical and would be awesome for the cruise! And you could get some cool pics of guests using them.

Mouse ears are cute!

I do think you could skip favors without anyone knowing the difference....never speak of them again...mums the word......and I think youll be ok...


seriously though, the only favors we have ever liked are edible ones, that we ate right away, and we actually use a wine topper we got at a wedding once.

We have gone to a lot of coworkers weddings, and I imagine these things may have sentimental value to the bride & grooms families but well, not so much to us...so these are what we were not really into keeping:

shot glasses with the bride & grooms name & wedding date
beer mug with bride & grooms names
picture frames with pics of couple
glass slippers
little boxes filled with candy etc etc. We usually eat the candy....
playing cards with B&G pic all over them
little candles
single martini glass we gave to someone at table so they could have a pair
engraved magnet
etc etc etc

wow now I feel so mean, but seriously some of these things were a waste of money as at the end of the night they were all left on the tables

 

[PrincessShea]

I think the vast majority of favors are a waste of money and just useless trinkets.

I plan to get the chocolate placecards Disney offers as favors. It's edible and it kills two birds with one stone.

 

[cutedisneygirly]

I am actually baking Mickey-shaped sugar cookies drizzled in chocolate. I bought 2 Mickey cookie cutters on e-bay. So this Wednesday, my mom and I will be baking 100+ Mickey-shaped sugar cookies. I have to use all that wonderful kitchen stuff I received for my bridal shower right???

With all the ingredients & cookie cutters, I think it will be about $1 per person. I liked the idea because it was very personal and yummy!

 

[BecBennett]

I'm not doing favours. I went to a wedding last weekend and I didn't see one person take a favour home. I'd hate to go to trouble making dozens of them, only to see them all get thrown out.

If I have money left over in the budget, I'll donate it to a charity, and call that the favour.

 

[B2B-2008]

We did this for ours so that it also doubled up as the name place card.

 

[rpmdfw]

If we do an epcot dessert party at the end I want to have favors that can be taken home to use as center pieces in lieu of flowers. I am really stuck as to what would be fun but haven't yet put a lot of thought into it.

If you want a combination favors/centerpiece idea I'd recommend wanderfuls.com. They're little tubes with metallic pom-poms on top that make a little centerpiece "bouquet". You can fill the tubes up with candy, small toys, etc.

We used them for our ADH reception and everybody loved them. It looked little fireworks on every table when the lights hit them. And our combined cost for table centerpieces AND a hundred favors was less than $500. There are pictures of them in my planning journal/trip report linked in my signature.

 

[Bride-to-be]

If you want a combination favors/centerpiece idea I'd recommend wanderfuls.com. They're little tubes with metallic pom-poms on top that make a little centerpiece "bouquet". You can fill the tubes up with candy, small toys, etc.

We used them for our ADH reception and everybody loved them. It looked little fireworks on every table when the lights hit them. And our combined cost for table centerpieces AND a hundred favors was less than $500. There are pictures of them in my planning journal/trip report linked in my signature.

Thats an excellent idea!!! Thanks so much! You have such a long trip report - I started reading it the other day I can't wait to finish it. I will be looking for the wanderful pics.

 

[rpmdfw]

Thats an excellent idea!!! Thanks so much! You have such a long trip report - I started reading it the other day I can't wait to finish it. I will be looking for the wanderful pics.

Yeah, sorry about that. I got kind of wordy. And the thread got hijacked a couple of times . . .

Check the wanderfuls.com website for a lot of different options. We thought they were the perfect solution.

 

[Bride-to-be]

They are perfect!!! I am going to order a catalog.

 

[rpmdfw]

They are perfect!!! I am going to order a catalog.

Cool. Glad I could help.

 

[Starr W.]

Amen to that! I think favors are one of the wedding industry ploys to get you to spend more money. I had no illusions that any of our guests wanted a miniscule picture frame with a shot of us in it or a our monogram on a bottle stopper or a bag of stale Jordan almonds. Now I can't really talk b/c we did give our guests mouse ears, but that was just a ploy to get photos of the Disney Haters in them.

I'll bet your guests wouldn't even notice if you didn't have favors. I can't see anyone being like, "I had to fly all the way here from Iowa -- but this monogrammed bag of stale Jordan almonds makes it all worth it!"

If you really feel obligated, though, I think the charity contribution idea is a great one. For one thing, you only have to spend as much as you comfortably can -- your guests are not going to know how much you donated, and the charity will be glad for anything you can afford. Then you can put out cards or put a note in the program describing the charity, and whoever is benefitted by the charity gets something truly useful!

I loved the mouse ears! but skip the personalized canvas bags! We saw a couple of them being carried by mousekeeping at SSR last November!

 

[Ember]

I had favors because I was under my minimum wedding expenditure by $250!! They were going to charge me that money whether I spent it or not, so I added ribbons to SBP for the ceremony and some chocolate tea cup favors.

They were cute, they fit my afternoon tea reception nicely, and I think they went over well. But had I not had extra money to spend at that point I would have skipped them completely.