wedding favors

[spoonfulosugar]

My sister is getting married at WDW one year from this month and I'm helping her with the planning.

I'm looking for your most creative ideas for wedding favors :shop:....from simple to extravagent, let's hear them all!!!

[KAT1811]

We donated to charity in lieu of having favaors. You can place little cards at each seat letting your quests know that you took the money you would have spent on favors and put it to good use. Our guests were thrilled that the money went to benefit those less fortunate.

If you are set on physical favors maybe you could have miniature cakes made for each guest with a mickey head on the top. They each come in their own box so guests can take them home and eat them later while you still serve the wedding cake at the reception.

[biodtl]

What about a chocolate favor. I have seen choclate castles, but you could go with Mickeys, or maybe "glass" slippers.

[Jasper]

Sorry I don't have any really good suggestions to make, but if they go the route of making a donation in lieu of a party favor they need to be very careful in the charity that they choose because it seems like there is always someone in the crowd that is opposed to even the "safest" of charities these days! If you are talking about a very large list of guests coming to the wedding this kind of donation tends to be more problematic then if it is a smaller wedding simply because the bride and groom won't know all the guests as well at a big wedding.

From personal experience I would also tend to stay away from "trinkets" unless it is again a small wedding where the guests are all close to the bride and groom and want something to take away from the day. I can't tell you how many trinkets I have stuck in a drawer that mean nothing to me because they came from a wedding where I really didn't know the bride and groom that well.

That kind of narrows it down to things like food gifts are more universal than anything else.

[KAT1811]

. . . but if they go the route of making a donation in lieu of a party favor they need to be very careful in the charity that they choose because it seems like there is always someone in the crowd that is opposed to even the "safest" of charities these days! If you are talking about a very large list of guests coming to the wedding this kind of donation tends to be more problematic then if it is a smaller wedding simply because the bride and groom won't know all the guests as well at a big wedding.


I disagree here. Just my opinion of course. We had 300+ guests at our wedding and everyone at our reception applauded us for our contribution to such a worthy cause. I think that people may have a particular charity they are partial to but as long as it is a legitimate charity I would be hard pressed to see an objection

We donated to the Lukemia and Lymphoma Society in loving memory of my grandfather who passed away when I was a child.

[meldan98]

We had a December wedding and I made Christmas onraments. Even though the event is not in December, ornaments from WDW might be a neat idea.

[kdbianchini]

For my wedding, we gave out koozies and to this day, whenever we go anywhere, people pull them out to hold their drinks! We had on one side "To have and to hold and to keep your drink cold", and our names and wedding date on the other side. No one will ever forget our anniversary!

[prprincess]

Congratulations to your sister! WDW is a great place to get married...we were married there a little over 5 years ago.

Does she have a theme in mind, or does the place she plans on having her reception have a particular theme? We were married at the Wedding Pavilion, but our reception was at Ariel's at the Yacht & Beach Club. If you've ever seen it it's very beachy...the colors are pastel greens and blues, and they have a huge fish tank, and chandeliers with various colored fish hanging from it. Therefore we went with an "under the sea theme".

I'm rather crafty so I made my own glycerin soaps using various soap colorings and "beachy" scented oils...all in shell shaped molds. I put these shells into a tulle bag, tied it with a personalized ribbon, and then put the bags into little beach pails and placed one at every place setting. I got a ton of compliments!!

[BelleLovesTheBeast]

What I did for my favors was get cookie cutters (I picked hearts) and filled them with candy (red hots to be exact) and wrapped them with tulle and the ribbon had our names and date on it.

I wanted something that could be used again instead of something that they would just throw away when they got home.

[spoonfulosugar]

:blush::oops:

Thanks for moving me to this forum! I posted in "Nightlife, Shops and Water Parks" because I was thinking along the lines of Disney shopping. It makes more sense to be here though...

We appreciate your ideas, keep them coming!

[Disney Doll]

I don't even remember what kind of favors we did at my wedding so it must not have been something too exciting. I do remember that at my bridal shower there were sachets of potpourri as favors. That way even if someone just throws it in a drawer at least their drawer will smell good.

[pixiegoose]

Our wedding favors were Yankee Candle votives in the "Wedding Day" scent, wrapped in tulle and tied with a personalized ribbon. We figured that just about everybody uses candles at some point and it was a very mild scent.

My sister-in-law had a fall themed wedding and used cookie cutters in different fall shapes with a little note tied to them as favors.

[NotaGeek]

Honestly? I hate wedding favors, and I am one of those people that always leave it behind. It's just something else I don't collect and I definitely don't think it's something I would expect as a guest. If I was at a WDW wedding and in lieu of having to pack something else home there was a card that said "Instead of favors we have made a donation to the (whatever that Animal Kingdom Charity is called)" or "Thanks for being part of our Dream Wedding. To help someone else's dream come true we have made a donation to The Children's Make a Wish Foundation in lieu of party favors. Dreams are meant to be shared" I would be thrilled!

[PirateLover]

Wedding favors are a tricky thing. To those of you who are under the assumption that potpourri or candles will be used by everyone at some point, I hate to tell you this, but you are wrong. Some people are extremely sensitive to scents and probably end up throwing potpourri out. I actually honestly don't know a single person who likes potpourri. Also, everyone does not use candles. My mom is one person who has never lit a candle in her life, aside from the rare blackout here and there. And as she is one sensitive to even the mildest scented candle, she wouldn't use them at that time either.

In my lifetime I've only received 2 favors that I've actually used. One was a cheap plastic mug that had "So and so's graduation" written on it. I like cups. The other one was a small picture frame. This couple had a Disney themed wedding and the favor was a silver colored plastic picture frame featuring Cinderella and Prince Charming. I have a picture of my fiancee and myself in it.

[mrsgaribaldi]

I love the charity idea!!! I also love to get a favor but then I don't use them either. I like the idea of a picture frame, they could put pics from the wedding. My next thought would be something edible. I went to 2 wedding in the last year and didn't get anything I would use at either if them. They gave really nice stuff, but nothing I use.
On a side note, I've heard of parties where the people having the party put disposable cameras on the tables for the people to use during the party. They then leave them and you get left with alot of cameras and hopefully some good pics. I know it's not a favor but I really like that.

[Flower]

I am thinking something edible so people do not need to take it home with them, unless it is small like a picture frame. What about a white chocolate 'glass slipper' filled with mousse?

I love the donation idea. I helped out a good friend with her wedding, 2 months before she was to get married her little flower girl was killed by a car. In lieu of party favors she & her husband purchased a bunch of children's books and donated them to the school library where the little girl would have been starting kindergarten in a few weeks. I made up labels for the front of the books in memory of Molly. We had all of the books at the reception with a note detailing what was happening - people were commending them for doing it and were even donating more money to contribute to the library.

I love NotaGeeks idea of donating to the Childrens Wish Foundation as they do so much to bring children to WDW.

[DizNee143]

im getting married in sept..and me and my fiance are doing the personalized m&m's..i just havent found a container to put them in yet..i was gonna do 1/2 pint chinese take out containers..but i realized its gonna take a lot of m&m's to fill that up..and we arent exactly that rich..those things are expensive!!!
but i agree with the people who said about going with things that are edible..at least then you know they will enjoy it...for our engagment party we did the personalized hershey bar wrappers..those were a hit and everyone enjoyed it!..
do you know how many of the wine bottle toppers things i have? or should i say had..4..4 of them and we dont drink wine or champagne..the only i kept was from my sisters wedding..
id go with edible route..
goodluck with whatever you sister decides!!!!

[d_m_n_n]

"Thanks for being part of our Dream Wedding. To help someone else's dream come true we have made a donation to The Children's Make a Wish Foundation in lieu of party favors. Dreams are meant to be shared" I would be thrilled!

:thumbsup::thumbsup: Excellent idea! This would mean more to me than a trinket (that usually turns to clutter).

And God knows I don't need another yummy treat after a meal and cake!! :blush:

[MNNHFLTX]

At our wedding we had small ceramic pots of miniature roses arranged in the middle of each table as a centerpieces. Each had a transparent cling with our names and wedding date on it. We figured that people could take the clings off and/or replant the roses if they wanted to. Every one seemed to like them. :)

It wouldn't be a very practical wedding favor for those who have a lot of guests who fly in from out-of-town, but most of our guests were local, so it wasn't a problem.

[DisneyDog]

We went to a local winery and got small bottles of wine and had special labels made up for each bottle with our names and date of our wedding. We also bought these little picture frames and used them as place markers and gave each guest a copy of our engagement photo.

Funny, I recently found engraved books of matches that my mom and dad gave out at their wedding. I don't suppose anyone would do that anymore.

[NotaGeek]

im getting married in sept..and me and my fiance are doing the personalized m&m's..i just havent found a container to put them in yet..i was gonna do 1/2 pint chinese take out containers..but i realized its gonna take a lot of m&m's to fill that up..and we arent exactly that rich..those things are expensive!!!
but i agree with the people who said about going with things that are edible..at least then you know they will enjoy it...for our engagment party we did the personalized hershey bar wrappers..those were a hit and everyone enjoyed it!..
do you know how many of the wine bottle toppers things i have? or should i say had..4..4 of them and we dont drink wine or champagne..the only i kept was from my sisters wedding..
id go with edible route..
goodluck with whatever you sister decides!!!!

I just saw miniature colored Chinese take-out containers for REALLY cheap at Cost Plus World Market this weekend and thought "Man I wish I had an occasion to give those out to friends..." They would be the perfect size for some M&Ms.

[Flower]

The other favor we got and I absolutely loved was personalized shot glasses. We really don't drink, but for a 3 year old they are perfect at dinner with orange juice or milk in them! I know, bad mom allowing my kid to do shots, but they really are a good size and he loves them!:marg:

[KAT1811]

We went to a local winery and got small bottles of wine and had special labels made up for each bottle with our names and date of our wedding.



I love this idea but. . . make sure that the venue the reception is being held at allows you to distribute alcohol as a favor. My SIL just got married last month and the hotel would not let her hand out the men's favors because they were alcohol (she had them in little personalized boxes with their wedding information on them). Many places are no longer allowing the distribution of alcohol as favors, many states have third party liability and they do not want to assume the risk.

[mook3y]

for our wedding, we had a lite theming of cinderella and prince charming. We are both huge disney fans. Was not over the top, but invitations was cindy and her prince and then we bought the cake topper from Disneyland of them.

Anyways, for our favor, we found at a local party store, "plastic" glass slippers. They were probably 4". we took a card holder and glued them to the inside heal of the shoe and filled them with mints in netting.

We used these for holding the name cards for our guests.

Another thing we did was place a disposable camera on each table and asked our guests to help us capture the magic of our reception.

Some of our bests photo's came from those cameras.

[DizNee143]

Funny, I recently found engraved books of matches that my mom and dad gave out at their wedding. I don't suppose anyone would do that anymore.

you would think..
but my friend got married in sept and and she gave away candles and a book of matches with their names and date on it...very cute..

[Dakota Rose]

I think the best favors are ones that reflect the interests of the couple and fit in with the wedding theme. :) For example, my cousin and her DH are both school teachers. They got married at an apple orchard. Their favors were miniature candles shaped like apples, which of course, fit in with being teachers and an apple orchard wedding. For our wedding, we had a Cinderella theme. I've collected trinket/mini jewelry boxes since I was a kid. My mom found ceramic trinket boxes. Half of them were shaped like Cinderella's carriage and half of them were a shoe. We used a sharpie to write our names and wedding date on the bottom. I had a friend get married in Yosemite and they gave everyone a little evergreen tree sapling. Another friend got married at a winery and gave everyone a pair of wine glass marker rings.

[garymacd]

Funny, I recently found engraved books of matches that my mom and dad gave out at their wedding. I don't suppose anyone would do that anymore.

I think we still have some of those left from our wedding. It was only 27 years ago...next week.

But, if you want extravagant, I could use a new Corvette, or an old one for that matter.

My personal paradigm would say that you could give everyone a new smoke alarm with a Hush button on it. Not very extravagant, but eminently practical.

My beloved wife says I am too practical.

[Dakota Rose]

I think we still have some of those left from our wedding. It was only 27 years ago...next week.

But, if you want extravagant, I could use a new Corvette, or an old one for that matter.

My personal paradigm would say that you could give everyone a new smoke alarm with a Hush button on it. Not very extravagant, but eminently practical.

My beloved wife says I am too practical.


Would you pair the smoke alarm with personalized matches? :)

[Hammer]

Funny, I recently found engraved books of matches that my mom and dad gave out at their wedding. I don't suppose anyone would do that anymore.

It is tradition in my family to have them at every wedding. In fact, I am looking a box of matches from my cousin's wedding 2 years ago sitting on my computer desk.

Personally, I am not a fan of wedding favors. Should I ever get married, I will want to give to a charity.

[brewcrew26]

We have a Jelly Belly factory outlet store close to our home so in a pinch we gave out their coconut flavored M&M's and dark chocolate almonds in little organza sachets.

We only had about 50 guests at our reception. I can't tell you how many went home with us. We just finally finished eating all the candy last week (we got married in February).

I've seen some cute little gift ideas in a mail order catalog I get from the people we got our invitations from (Paper Direct). They can do fun little gifts like personalized pens, matchbooks, even bigger items like backpacks and water bottles. I'm sure if you think of an idea, you can just do a web search and find a place that personalizes them.

At my old job, we were able to make everything from iPod covers to mousepads with our company logos. Many places allow you to send in a photo and logo, if you know a graphic designer friend (or are handy with a computer) you could come up with a cute logo with a picture of you and your hunny, the date of your wedding, and your names.

Even places like Zazzle allow you to make everything from stamps to key chains which are a lot more user-friendly and don't get thrown into drawers.

As for the contribution to the charity, my best friend did that for her wedding in October but they selected the Democratic Party. Well, let's just say it divided the reception and had a lot of more conservative guests talking. Although, most of her guests were all dem politicians. Just be careful what charity you select.

[mrsgaribaldi]

Funny, I recently found engraved books of matches that my mom and dad gave out at their wedding. I don't suppose anyone would do that anymore.


My friend had them at her wedding in January. The matches in a box.

[offwego]

Atenna toppers? Just a thought since they are small, could be varied if you wanted & would tie in to your Disney wedding. (not to mention being very different) However the charity idea is lovely!!

[DisneyCouture]

We had chocolate truffles for wedding favors. Godiva makes them in the shape of wedding cakes. So cute!

[Medland]

Lavender and lilac were our wedding colors so I put silver and purple wrapped hershey's kisses (dark and milk chocolate) in ivory tulle and tied it up with a ribbon. I knew how many seats we were going to have at the wedding so I was able to estimate very closely what we would need and the few extras my husband and I had we took to eat on the plane to Orlando and on our honeymoon. I have always liked edible favors, especially if there is going to be lag time between the service and reception.

[garymacd]

Would you pair the smoke alarm with personalized matches? :)

That is too funny. :rotfl:

[MScholl13]

Our wedding colors were Tiffany box blue and silver, so we did that color of blue and white personalized M&M's with our names and wedding date on them. We mixed in some of the same color M&M's that weren't personalized and wrapped them in tulle circles with silver bows. They were great!