Wedding Favors?

[NHAnn]

Wow...I dont' know that I've ever just tossed away a wedding favor, I guess I'm in the minority! I've always thought that the pretty tulle packages and things were as much a table decoration as a token favor for the guests. Lottery tickets will get thrown away (if they aren't winners of course) and aren't nearly as pretty

If it's candy I eat it or give it to someone who would (of course I toss whatever fancy wrapping/ribbon it was dressed up in.) If it's a candle I burn it - or throw it in a box where I have candles for power failures.

In the days of engraved matchbooks I kept them to light candles or my woodstove. Never got wine, cheap or otherwise, though I was at a retirment party once where each place setting had a little "nip" bottle of an after dinner liquer like Bailey's or Amaretto or Drambuie, with a pretty ribbon around the neck. And a fall New England wedding where there were 3 oz bottles of maple syrup with pretty ribbons of autumn colors.

IMy favorite favor is from my stepson and DIL's wedding. They had sort of an ocean/nautical theme with a ceremony at the beach and reception at a nearby inn. They handpainted little wooden ornaments cutout in the shape of a sailboat. The hulls were green, the sails white and they were strung on a blue ribbon. On one side the sails were lettered with the bride & grooms names and the wedding date. On the other side they were lettered with the guest's first name and table number. So they served as placecards ...and now as a treasured ornament on my Christmas tree Definitely not a throwaway judging from most of the reactions I observed!

 

[CajunDixie]

B-I-L & S-I-L gave each of the females in the wedding party a bottle of Romance by Ralph Lauren. For the guys they bought engraved wooded jewelry boxes. For the parents they bought silver engraved frames large enough to hold a 5x7 photo that they then provided from the wedding pics(parents choice of pics) Every person/family picked up a Yankee votive size Wedding scent candle that had a tag with their name and table number from a table outside the reception. I know my sons and the flowergirl received gifts but I have no idea now what they received.

 

[Blondie]

We had yankee candles for wedding favors, they went over really big.

I love this idea but imagine it could get rather pricey.

 

[Hippychickali]

Wow! I didn't realize so many people spent so much money on wedding favours. It's a nice gesture but I certainly wouldn't be able to afford a lot of this stuff.

Ali

 

[KrnB]

We did frosted sugar cookies for our favors; the frosting matched the wedding colors. They went over really well and added a lot to our tables. They were really tasty.

The same lady that made the cookies made some truffles for our gift opening... yum!!

 

[Hippychickali]

KrnB, that's a really nice favour. It seems very reasonable and thoughtful.

Ali

 

[jellymanoffspring]

We did frosted sugar cookies for our favors; the frosting matched the wedding colors. They went over really well and added a lot to our tables. They were really tasty.

The same lady that made the cookies made some truffles for our gift opening... yum!!

Those cookies are beautiful....love the "hearts" in the frosting!!!

 

[Meriweather]

My son isn't doing them for his wedding.....using the money or other things.

But.....the last wedding we went to had a very clever one......actually two.
A can of diet coke together with a power bar. Tied with a pretty ribbon and a poem.
These two things represented the bride and groom and I really liked it.
And we did use them

 

[Fire14]

We did notepads and ink pens. I still use mine at work and if anybody steals my pen I know.

 

[MsLeFever]

We did small chocolates in shapes that were weddingish. My MIL made them and my mom wrapped them in tulle.

I just went to a wedding that did the charitable donation. I liked it.

 

[pearlieq]

Edibles are always great--they're always appreciated and very seldom go to waste. There's lots of great options--Jordan almonds, truffles, cookies, mini cakes, personalized candy bars, etc. The lottery tickets are a wonderful idea, too!

Just to play devil's advocate: I've seen some people advise away from donating to a charity in lieu of giving wedding favors. There were two main reasons stated. First, it could be possible to offend some people based on your choice of charity. People have so many divergent beliefs, what could seem like a very worthy charity to you could be really upsetting to someone either because they don't like the charity or don't like the organizations with which the charity is also affiliated. Second, some may interpret a gift to charity as a bit self-serving. Not only do you get to support a charity of your choice, but you get to take the tax deduction and any recognition/gifts.

I am not saying I personally have anything against couples making charitable donations, but these are some reasons I've heard as to why it may be better to just make a private donation instead of passing it off as a favor.

All that being said, we gave out toys to our guests (did double duty as table markers) and also made personalized CDs.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

[mtemm]

And a fall New England wedding where there were 3 oz bottles of maple syrup with pretty ribbons of autumn colors.

I can't believe I didn't think of that one...we got married in October in New England so it would have been perfect. I hadn't planned on doing any favors initially..dh talked me into doing something so we did individually wrapped truffles. I just figured everyone likes candy. but I like the maple syrup idea so much, especially since so many of my family and friends are from other areas of the country.

 

[kerrynic78]

We made a donation to a soup kitchen my mom volunteered at in her memory. We had scrolls made and put a ring around them and they were put at each setting. They were a huge hit.

 

[merrily]

I went to on outdoor wedding this past summer. The favors were sparklers. Most people lit them during the reception after dark.

 

[ilovedale3]

We just did candy. I knew that most people would throw away pretty much anything else and we really didn't want another added expense.

Our favor was kind of cheesy, but we thought they were cute and we got lots of compliments. We took about three Hershey kisses, put them in a plastic spoon, and wrapped them in tulle (just the "spoon" end of the spoon). Then we tied them with a ribbon adn had a little tag on each one that said "A spoonful of Kisses from the Mr. and Mrs." with our names and wedding date on the back of the tag. It was super cheap, I made them myself, and it was something that people could just eat and toss!

 

[Hippychickali]

Just to play devil's advocate: I've seen some people advise away from donating to a charity in lieu of giving wedding favors. There were two main reasons stated. First, it could be possible to offend some people based on your choice of charity. People have so many divergent beliefs, what could seem like a very worthy charity to you could be really upsetting to someone either because they don't like the charity or don't like the organizations with which the charity is also affiliated. Second, some may interpret a gift to charity as a bit self-serving. Not only do you get to support a charity of your choice, but you get to take the tax deduction and any recognition/gifts.

I know that you are only playing devil's advocate pearlieq, but I feel like I have to speak to this since we are giving a charitable donation. Please don't take this as an insult to you. Instead I am directing it to the people who would have a problem with my choice of party favour.

If people are offended by our choice of charity, to put it bluntly, too bad. I can't imagine any body being offended by us wanted to support a starving people (for example) rather than getting a chocolate truffle or something. A wedding is supposed to represent the couple and this gesture very much represents us. We give private donations weekly. I am going to technically work for a charity for the rest of my life. As far as charitable donations being self-serving - . There are many organizations that depend on people being self-serving, then. I guess you could say that it's self-serving to buy fancy, expensive favours. The couple could be seen as wanting to impress the guests. Honestly, if someone has a problem with this, they can go pound sand.

Ali

 

[ksjayhawks]

For my daughter's wedding, we made chocolate candies in their wedding colors, tied up 5 in tulle with a colored ribbon and sat by each place setting. They went over well--there were none left!

 

[mrsheppo]

I've done the favors for 3 of my daughters. For #1 DD was getting married at Disneyland and it was a total of 10 people, so we did personalized T-Shirts that we ordered from the Disney catalog.

For #2 DD I made matchbook mint favors and teabag favors. They looked like matchbooks but had the mints & teabags instead. Made them to coordinate with her colors.

For #3 DD we did personalized cds, 1 per family, and the music on the cd was played during dinner at the reception. These were a big hit and cost about $25.00 for 50 of them. I designed the cd labels and cases.

 

[gdulaney]

We have some friends who did the donation thing, but in what I thought was a very clever way. Each table had a centerpiece that was a fishbowl with a couple of goldfish...and a card explaining that a donation had been made to the local humane society (it's a "no kill" shelter).

Ginny

 

[julia & nicks mom]

for my brother's wedding - I bought mini wine bottles and put the place cards on each of them - they did double duty -

everyone raved about them and maybe about 5 bottles were left - which we enjoyed!!

for those that were underage - we filled their bottles with M&M's

oh - and the reason the table name is Kauai 2002 is b/c we named the tables after places that were significant to them and put a picture of them at each place on the tables