While giving wedding favors is not necessary, they are always appreciated as a thoughtful gesture. The newlyweds express gratitude to all their guests for being with them with small, more or less practical items which are carrying specific emotional value.
When you are deciding whether you will or not give favors, it’s good to know what is the budget you are operating within, which presents are most welcomed at guests, how to incorporate them into your wedding theme and this is why we created this short list of most popular wedding favor ideas.
Romantic Wedding Treats
Each item at the wedding reflects sentimentality, but some are more romantic than others. A book of love poems, compact disc with a collection of romantic songs, paper or silk flowers, scented candles, picture frames with personalized messages and similar romantic items are just a start of a huge list.
There are many ways to add a romantic tone to the favors, sometimes with package (think about laser cut candy boxes with paper laces, or heart shaped wedding stickers) or with a favorite romantic poem or quote by your choice.
Practical Presents For Your Wedding Guests
In this group the main focus is on practical usage of items. Bottle openers, coasters, coolers, colorful flip flops, cookie cutters of interesting shapes, flash drives, fridge magnets, key chains, matchbooks, soaps, lip balms, planners, sun glasses, water bottles, tote bags and other small favors can be bought in bulk and often for less than a dollar or two. If we invited two hundred guests, the overall expense can lead to significant sum anyways.
With clever planning we can pick useful presents which will last long after the big day.
Edible Wedding Favors
A specific group among wedding favors with practical value are definitely edibles. Candy bars, cookies, cupcakes, donuts, honey, jam, lollipops, maple syrup, mead, selection of teas, wine and similar ideas are never out of fashion. They are sweet (in many cases literarly) and thoughtful.
Apart from financial aspect, we should consider the theme of the wedding (if any) too. If we picked a beach wedding as our leading theme, a lotion (or a gift basket with sun care products) would be a great choice. For art deco wedding black and white chocolate bars in golden (or silver) wrapping paper works great. Personalized luggage taggs, on the other hand, are perfect choice for a destination wedding. This way, we’ll add another dimension to already very personal event and make it even more special and memorable.
What about the sentimental part?
Personalization is definitely one of possibilities. A nice ‘thank you, we love you’ on the bag or sticker can do the trick. If we manage to coordinate favors with a theme, even better. What about a pack of seeds at garden or flower themed wedding? Maybe packed in a burlap or mason jar (another possible themes)? When plants come out and till they grow, they’ll bring happy memories to your friends for sure!
All DIY wedding favors definitely belong to that category too, because your guests will undoubtedly appreciate time and skills invested in presents, they got. A small kind gesture can go a long way. Of course you can combine bought and do-it-yourself favors, for instance you can get a pack of mints and personalize it with custom stickers or a hand written thank you note.
Decorated mason jars, filled with candy, homemade air fresheners (potpurries) or preserves (maybe you are on a budget, but the future mother in law excels at canning?), recipe cards, salt and sugar body scrubs, … You are limited with your imagination only. Well, your time should be taken in consideration too.
Fun Wedding Party Favors
To set the mood, you can always choose something humorous, whimsical or simply decorative. Christmas ornaments (or other ornaments in tune with time or theme of the wedding), custom (with a wedding motif on the back) playing cards, fans dyed in wedding colors, fortune cookies, funny thank you notes or stickers, moustache props, temporary tattoos, … are few of popular examples.What about lottery tickets?
You can actually make a game out of wedding favors with a Bingo game, where everybody gets something and one (or more) get a premium gift. One simple option is offered in form of next set of scratch off game cards, where you get 24 ‘losers’ and a ‘winner’. Perfect for casino themed wedding reception!
Donation For A Greater Cause
Many couples decide to donate to their favorite charity organization instead of buying something just to put it on the table. In some cases it much easier to find a good cause than items with appropriate message, usage and within one’s budget. A donation may be best choice in such cases. It also shows your love and gratitude and wedding guests (at least vast majority of them) will highly appreciate the fact you donated your money in their names.
Just make sure you pick a charity organization which is in tune with beliefs and values of all the guests, because some of them are too closely connected with politics, what can in some cases cause unnecessary rants. Some of the popular safe areas are:
- ecology (you can plant a tree in the name of all your guest or for each one of them),
- education (what about helping to build a school?),
- health (according to statistics each guest can probably relate with heart or cancer diseases);
One of the greatest things at donation is you can arrange everything online within few minutes and there are no hidden surprises in packaging or labeling.
Once again – there is definitely not necessary to give out wedding favors, especially if you are on a shoestring budget, but if you decided to go for it, we hope we inspired you with numerous unique and useful ideas. Just add your personal touch and you are good to go!
