Hello all–
Planning receptions in 2 states for our July wedding and would love to know your opinion on wedding reception favors. Did you ever receive one you actually liked? I need some creative ideas and I’m confident you are just the folks who can help.
Thanks!
The one I remember the best is my friend Andrea’s wedding; they gave out little cellophane-wrapped bags of tulip bulbs out to each guest, with a note saying that we should plant the bulbs in fall, and every spring when they came up, we should think of them. It was great, and I had potted tulips for several years afterward.
I have a (real skin) tambourine from a wedding that we a) used that night, which made the dancing fun
b) still use to this day
The only ones I usually tend to enjoy involve chocolate. We did glow-in-the-dark necklaces, which was a) a lot of fun, especially for the kids (and kids at heart) and during the dancing; and b) cheap.
My brother and his wife set up a table with photographs of every relative they had who had served in the military (the photos were of the people in uniform). They printed a nice sheet explaining that in lieu of favors, they were donating money to the VFW. I thought that was very special.
When I was getting my hair done for the wedding, the hairdresser said that her daughter was doing a similar thing for her wedding, but not for the military. I think the national cancer society was their target for a donation, and everyone at the wedding got a NCS pin.
It may be old hat by now as I am more in the funeral stage of my life than wedding stage. But when my nephew wed in an outdoor ceremony they passed out little bottles of blowing bubbles and as they marched between the seats after the ceremony we blew bubbles instead of throwing rice. And safer for the birdies. Fun!
A niece gave glass bowls with a single flower floating in them. First they were used as centerpieces at the dinner which followed the wedding.
As others have mentioned, I’ve had some very nice chocolates as wedding favors. Some friends of ours gave our pint glasses, which we still use. We did wine glasses (with a little baggie of chocolates and a thank you note tucked inside), which I know some people use (though I personally prefer drinking wine from something nicer these days; I might do it slightly differently if I were doing it again. Here’s a pic of ours.
An orange and white tye-dyed bandana with the names and date printed on them from my cousins wedding. The bandanas were wrapped around the silverware in the buffet line, in place of a cloth napkin.
It was a gorgeous outdoor wedding in September 2005 in Aspen, CO. The orange was a perfect compliment to the colors of the folliage. I still have a couple of the bandanas and use them frequently.
Edited to add that I forgot about the flower seeds…they also gave away little baggies of California golden poppies and Columbine seeds, also, I think. State flowers from the bride’s state (CA) and the grooms (CO).
I may be in the minority, but I think wedding favours are a waste of time and money. I don’t think I’ve ever received one I remembered to take home from the wedding - I’m not actually going to stick a monogrammed wine glass in my clutch. I would suggest something consumable or incorporeal. Maybe a couple of nice chocolates or a donation to a charity that means something to you.
I’ve never been to someone else’s wedding where the favor was anything BUT Jordan almonds wrapped in tulle.
For my wedding, I made English crackers and filled them with stuff from Oriental Trading Post… there were wedding bubbles and shiny bead necklaces, wind-up cars, slinkies, bouncy balls, and putty-eye frogs. The frogs were a big hit. It all kept the kids entertained while the adults chit-chatted.
We felt the same way, which is why at our wedding we didn’t give out any favors. We figured we just gave you five hours of open bar, waiter-passed hors d’oeurves, a beautiful dinner, live music and dancing- do we really need to send you off with some stupid trinket that you’ll toss out in a week after you find it in your car’s cup holder? I don’t think so. If you don’t remember the day after all that (not that we’re saying you have to- the day was mainly for us, anyway), a favor isn’t going to do it.
A split of champagne for every guest.
Yes, it was a high-class wedding. Yes, I’m sure it was expensive. But damn if it wasn’t the best wedding favour I’d ever gotten.
I’m also fine not to get favors, and I don’t expect a charity donation ‘in lieu of favors’, I’m happy to see the tradition just fade away. pulykamell goes to many, many weddings and he says they’re skipped all the time.
I hate wedding favors. Just give me chocolate if you must.
Another wedding favor disliker. It seems childish. I would never want or use a commemorative glass with someone else’s name on it. Matchbooks are okay; I periodically run across a friend’s wedding matchbook when I’m looking for something to light fireworks with. I once got a deck of commemorative playing cards which were useful and fun.
I’ve gotten flower bulbs, which have bloomed ever summer since, in spite of my black thumbs. I also like the little tin of mints with the names of B&G on it. I ate the mints and still use the tin for pins.
I prefer edible favors.
We gave everyone some homemade candy, a CD of the wedding music, and a Yorkshire to Southern dictionary that my husband wrote to ease the communication difficulty. The dictionary in particular was a huge hit.
I’ve been to a couple of outdoor summer weddings that gave fans as favors. They were put to immediate good use.
Went to a beach wedding last year where everyone got a pair of cheapo flip flops to change into for the ceremony. That was pretty cool, and the ladies seemed to appreciate them.
We had a bird themed wedding and gave away these, which were a big hit.
In general, though, I find them to be a waste of time.
