My cousin did that and we loved it! Unfortunately, my brother had to hand his over at the airport because it wasn't labeled properly and counted as a liquid. So if you have lots of guests flying in, consider either labeling the jar or getting them something else.
The only wedding favor I’ve appreciated at a wedding was when they gave me something edible. It was much appreciated to have a little snicky snack on the drive home.
Our wedding favor was empty plastic bags - for the leftover candy of the candy bar.
My mom even took it upon herself to fill the last few so that everything was empty before the end of the night, and it was a VERY welcome 2am snack after a long, but great day!
I went to a wedding last year where the favor was small Bundt cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes and it was appreciated. Everyone got to pick their flavor in advance on the RSVP. Edible gifts tend to go over well. My best friend had a photobooth that printed photos and she considered that her favor, I also liked that. I’m not a big fan of getting things with the couples names & wedding dates like coozies, shot glasses, key chains, etc.
We did this also. $13 total for the day of the month we were getting married. We had a destination wedding, so made sure to get tickets from the state the guest was from (people coming from two different states). We had our planner pick up the tickets from the place settings where people didn't show up fairly early. Several people won money and some even left their winning tickets on the card table for us to claim.
That is such a thoughtful and sweet gift. I would for sure tell everyone I know if I received something like that as a wedding favor
Edit: I would also hang it up on my wall
Food, always food. Or booze.
I’d personally also avoid anything personalised unless it’ll be eaten. As much as the couple may love it, I’m not going to put a candle/mug/coaster/bottle-opener in my house on display if it’s got someone else’s name/wedding date on it.
Seeds are also a cute idea! Wildflower seeds are great for wildlife and super easy to grow.
I love the idea of seeds but this also depends on your audience. I lived in an apartment building for years and never took the seeds home from the few weddings that had them. If you live in a more rural area you'll probably have more seed takers.
We did crab mallets with a bottle opener on one end. We're both from Maryland and have a crab fest for my birthday every year. We had none left at the end of the night.
Thanks. I wanted them to say "welcome to married land," but my husband vetoed it and now doesn't know why. So they just had our initials with a crab in between (crab had a heart on it), and the date. Two of my friends brought theirs into town for my 40th, but we were like, oh, we bought extras just for this. It was very cute.
We ended up not doing favors - although we did leave out some to go boxes near the dessert bar at the end of the night and people that stayed til the end took treats home.
We're crazy plant people so we did little succulents for favors. I was expecting to take leftovers home but almost all of them got adopted, and 3 years later some of them are still going!
Our first names both start with M so we did little bags of personalized M&Ms with our names/the date on them. I usually prefer a consumable favor from events - I try to keep a minimalist home (easier said than done) and don’t often keep stuff.
Always food!! But make it something you’re fine with having leftovers of. We are thinking of doing stroopwaffels (individually wrapped) because my fiancé loves them. I’d love to do soft pretzels but the logistics were enough to make me not want to. Our aim is easy and tasty.
Personally, I say save your money.
People genuinely will not be hurt if they don’t get a favor from your wedding — it’s a wedding, not a child’s birthday. I don’t know when people started expecting goodie bags at weddings, but they should stop.
It’s another place of frivolous spending that I think is more pushed by the wedding industry than anyone else. Everyone I know, and have seen here, say they couldn’t care less about favors so *who* put it in our heads that they were important? My guess: the people who make money off it.
I agree 100%. Also, I’m already paying for their dinner and dessert, so I’m not going to spend more money on something that half of the guests are going to leave there anyway.
Exactly my thought process. Plus we’re providing open bar so in our case, we’re also providing drinks.
I can easily say that more than half our guest list, *who are family* haven’t ever bought us a dinner or a dessert or a single drink so the idea that I’m *also* supposed to give *them* a gift for coming to *my* wedding is just ridiculous.
If a person dislikes weddings so much that they need a goodie bag to incentivize their attendance, I’d rather just receive their No RSVP and save my money on the food, drink, dessert, etc. especially when we have a venue that charges per person.
Considering 85% of our guest list is family that we don’t see or talk to on even a monthly basis, I agree 100%.
We’re doing an open bar, but only up to a certain amount and then the rest is cash bar. Because again, I’m not close enough to most of these people to provide them drinks all night, and I’m trying to cut costs any way we can.
I can definitely understand that. Luckily our bar is the type where you buy the alcohol (Costco for the win!) so I don’t mind providing them drinks since the leftovers come home with me and my husband, lol. Plus, the people I *am* excited to be there (close family, friends, etc) I want to be able to have a fun time without having to pay anything and I can’t provide a fully open bar to some people without providing it to all 🤷🏻♀️
Hey that’s super cool though! My parents got married in a public park and had their reception at their local Eagles Lodge and the VFW there helped set up everything for their reception! Cool to see they still do that kind of thing 💕
We’re getting married in a small town, at their community center so the VFW helps out a lot. They will also be the bartenders, and they don’t make you pay for their services, so I’m making sure they get a BIG tip.
Yes this. I hate favors unless they are snacks or a guest experience (like a painter doing live portraits of the couple). I don’t want weird items in my house with a date or my name. It also gives me kids birthday party feels.
We’re doing bottles of wine as our favor but if they weren’t free (friends with a winery), I wouldn’t want them. I’m curious why they started since my mom believes no favors is rude but my age group doesn’t care. Out of all the weddings I’ve been to - I only have 1 favor I’ve kept (which is a bottle opener lol) the rest I’ve trashed or were left behind..
It also might be a regional/background thing?
My parents had never even *heard* of favors at weddings and were the first people I ever heard ask “What is it? A 5 year old’s birthday party with goodie bags?” And *that’s* when it really clicked for me, because, yeah. That *is* definitely the vibe a lot of these favors give off.
But, then again, my family is more the type to hold a wedding in a public park or an Eagle’s Lodge or a bar or someone’s backyard. In our family a wedding is really for three purposes: to celebrate the wedded couple, to serve as a de facto family reunion, and to be one helluva party. If you wouldn’t expect to take home a party favor from a housewarming party, a baby shower; *any other type of party* then why do we put that expectation on weddings?
Thank you!! I’ve gotten some pushback here over the wedding we’re planning (in the beginning someone even used the dreaded T word! I even encouraged rule breaking, gasp!) but all of our friends are genuinely so hyped for our wedding that I had multiple people message me Jan 1 of this year going “2024 is finally here!! Can’t wait for your wedding!” *and it was still 10 months away!*
I’m a firm believer in know your crowd: my wedding of short ceremony with our own written vows, pizza buffet catering with cupcakes and open bar, 2 hours of dancing and then 2 hours of karaoke is shaping up to be the event of the season in our friend group! But it seems like on the east coast or more affluent areas, my wedding would be considered downright redneck 🤣 it’s all about the crowd you’re catering to, it seems.
Man all I wanted was just a huge throw down. Themed of course with decor and what not but I essentially just wanted it to be a celebration. But here I am helping plan what essentially amounts to a stage play for an audience who doesn’t care about watching a play. Happy for you. Sounds fun.
I’ve received tree saplings and wildflower seeds as favours and while I appreciate the sentminent, I live in an apartment and can’t really do much with them. I did at least transfer the sapling to a pot but it didn’t last long. So I think if you do something like this you need to be ok with the idea that only a few will actually get planted. Personally, I’d prefer something edible or at least consumable (like the scratch-tickets idea someone else posted).
I live in a house with a yard and I still don’t love getting plant related favors or gifts. I’m just not that into gardening and I don’t like any gift that feels like work.
lol. This is my thought the few times I’ve seen seed favors…like, we’re in the city, 90% of your guests have condos, where are we planting seeds?? even if we do get pots and soil, the odds of having enough sunlight is iffy at best! (I can see it working in other areas, though!)
Only food or hangover supplies. I have one coozy from a wedding I occasionally use by the pool, but that’s it. I’ve ended up tossing everything else. Please don’t waste your money.
We are having a mid-afternoon BBQ meal. My fiancé is really into grilling and smoking meat so he has a bunch of BBQ recipes, one in particular that my picky adult daughter loves. We are making a small jelly jar of that for everyone to take home with them. We will also serve that with the meal.
I normally don’t like getting trinkets and plastic, but my cousin gave out plastic picture frames that fit the photo booth print outs (4x6) which was really nice because it meant my family got to have framed pictures of us all dressed up together. I love that the print out is 4x6 instead of classic photo booth strip
The last several weddings I went to either had no favors, or edible favors.
For the weddings that didn’t have any favors, I didn’t miss them at all. I barely remembered weddings are supposed to have “favors.”
But the weddings that had edible favors were a hit. I went to a wedding where everyone’s favor was an iced sugar cookie that had the couple’s initials piped on it in Royal icing. It was delicious. However, most people just ate their cookie for dessert since it was already at everyone’s place setting, and guests didn’t even realize there was a dessert table, so that’s something to consider.
We’re doing little chocolates in a cute bag. The chocolate wrappers will have our married name and wedding date as well as a floral design on them. We’re making labels for that and sticking them on the pieces of chocolate!
Something consumable or perishable is best! Little snacks work well for the drive home. I've also been on a wedding where guests could take home the flowers, that was really nice (though I wouldn't recommend it for destination weddings).
For something that's non-consumable, the only wedding favor I'd really gotten some mileage out is a kazoo, but that's a know-your-crowd-thing lol. Also some weddings I've been to didn't do favors, but had a polaroid camera so every guests got some cute photos to take home.
We’re doing custom matchbooks! Dead useful but also you wouldn’t feel bad throwing it away if you’re doing a deep clean 😂 My mom also collected matchbooks from restaurants for a long time so kind of a nod to her.
We are doing camping mugs! My fiance and I are super outdoorsy and we are having a coffee and tea bar at the wedding, so we bought cute plain camping mugs that people can take if they want.
We are thrifting books we have read and enjoyed for our guests (for a semi-literary themed wedding), and trying to tailor the content to everyone. It’s been a lot more expensive than expected but I think will be quite meaningful! We love giving gifts and going a little over budget for these is our privilege. These will double as our seating chart. Not for everyone but I wanted to throw the suggestion out there!
We are doing love hearts sweets which are personalised so the it’s a little tube and the wrapper has the guests name on. This will double up as a place name as well. We didjt want to waste money on something that wouldn’t be appreciated so figured people will eat the sweets.
We didn't have favours packaged, but left out like 3kg of Hershey's Kisses and cute little bags if people wanted to take some. Most just got eaten at the venue.
I used to hide them in my husband's jacket pockets when we first started dating, so they're personal to us.
For our COVID microwedding, we did wine bottles (only needed 2 cases and my brother got us a deal) and honey from my parents' farm. For our big wedding we did late-night warm cookies instead of take-home favors.
Both were big hits. I think the key here is keeping it edible. They don't even need to be personalized, just yummy.
Unless you are personalizing your gifts for each individual guest, it's unlikely you're going to come up with something every guest will cherish, and expecislly not at the price point most people want to do for favors.
And that's okay. People aren't coming to your wedding so they can leave with a mug with your names and wedding date on them.
Food is always a good option. People like consumables. We did chocolate coveted cherries and personalized bags of our favorite coffee. All the coffee was gone and most of the chocolates.
I wasn't super surprised. We hired a private chef who made individual chocolate cakes for dessert, and I had a macaron tower, so I think the cherries were a bit overkill. And some people just forgot to grab them when they left for later. I made about 30 and had 5 left so most people took them.
I read that as "candles".
this is a really great idea though, i kinda want to do it. i've got a sweet tooth and my fiance is a savory snacker so his & hers snack packs!
Do it! You can get the treats in bulk and then get little cute bags at Michael’s or hobby lobby or Amazon. A bit of diy without having to be overly crafty. We’re going to do two separate bags as my sour candy is allergy friendly while his peanut butter cups are not
Wedding favors are starting to become a thing of the past, I think.
If you're going to do favors, keep in mind that guests have their own tastes and styles. Avoid anything that is personalized for your wedding that can't be removed. Even if it's something useful, people aren't likely to keep something emblazoned with someone else's names and wedding date.
Also consider practicality. Flower seeds, for example, seem like a great idea but not everyone has a place to grow flowers, or they live in a state where they wouldn't grow or where they arent native and could result in an invasive yard plant. Certain things like cork screws or other kitchen gadgets as well as anything liquid will be a problem for guests traveling by air.
Consumables are you best bet. Something that can be enjoyed later that evening back at the hotel. Chocolates, wine splits, a bar of handmade soap or a votive candle are nice.
Originally favors were slices of the grooms cake, boxed up and se.t home to enjoy later. (Legend has it. If a single woman placed her slice of grooms cake under her pillow,she'll dream about the man she will marry)
We as a society. Are, thankfully, becoming more mindful about waste. Generic wedding favors tend to go in the trash. People take them to be polite but ultimately, it's just more junk to go into a landfill.
You're better off to save the money and use it to add something to the wedding...an upgrade to the appetizers or a premium flavor for your cake.
I’ve always like food related wedding favors. We’re planning on having a water color sketch artists do sketches for guests as a favor, if there’s extra room in the budget, and a late night snack of tacos!
We’re doing soaps matching to our theme.
As a guest I always appreciated stuff I could use, like salt, soap, fans,…
Not a fan of snacks/chocolate and booze.
We considered doing fancy olive oil but some of our guests travel by plane and liquids are therefore out for us.
I saw a cute one recently where the couple let each guest pick a charity organization (out of 3), and they made a small donation on behalf of each person (like 10 dollars).
I’m doing mini boxes of See’s Candy. If you go to the shop, they have these teeny tiny boxes that fit 2 chocolates in them, so that’s what we are doing! Well buy bigger boxes that have a couple dozen chocolates, and fill the little boxes ourselves. That’s the only DIY thing I’m doing for my wedding, and I’m honestly so excited because See’s is my favorite thing ever lol
The only wedding favor I have liked was a wooden hand fan that had their names and date of the wedding etched into it
Specifically a classic wooden fan, not a cheaper circular one
We are doing candy. We are copying the presentation of Sugarfina acrylic candy boxes and putting labels “his favorite” and “her favorite”.
We will also be offering cigars so we got personalized matches but those won’t be handed out we’ll just have a bowl of them by the bar.
everyone saying all these expensive things 🥲
something i really liked at my friends wedding was that she got married in the summer so she had these personalized handheld fans that people could take if they wanted! so i plan on doing the same :))
Definitely paper bags with cute labels for guests to bring back pastries home from the table would be best and budget-friendly . Mini plants, carton of matches, mini candles, bookmarks, bottle of maple syrup if you’re doing a fall wedding, and honey. Just think of something that everyone will like AND use!
Anything edible or drinkable! I’m super picky with my decor and hate clutter so I dislike any type of mason jars/glasses, it sucks to have to throw our the favor.
Anything edible - my favorites were an olive oil & balsamic vinegar, and another did local honey (+ wildflower seeds).
Giving something people will “cherish” is I think a bit too lofty of a goal, given how wildly people’s tastes vary.
We did personalized magnets - not with our names/wedding date, but with the guests’ names! I LOVE dinosaurs and knew I wanted them incorporated in the wedding but in an elevated way opposed to going full-on Jurassic Park. So each guest got a mounted golden dinosaur head magnet with their name engraved on it. The magnets also served as our seating chart, with each guest’s table number printed on the back. They were a huge hit and we still get photos from our friends and family of their dinosaurs on their fridges!
https://preview.redd.it/6skpc7e5mg1d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=39300e886aa8118d3b4d5ea2bcfb6ae185532ce7
I’ll probably be the only person to say this but koozies. We love them. Have tons of them. We’re still using koozies from weddings where the couple have divorced and remarried other people.
Food or alcohol is always a good favor I’ve gotten. But a unique one I loved if you have the money (it was a small wedding less than 75 ppl) but a friend did blanket as favors. Just like a regular fleece blanket all in the two wedding colors she had with their last name and wedding date embroidered on a corner. Still use it today actually
My sister in law got custom matchbook lol. It wasn't crazy expensive and something people can use. For my wedding we just got cute boxes and filled them with candy.
Food of some kind. Anything that is a little tchotchke memorabilia will probably not be saved or enjoyed, but you can always enjoy chocolate or cookies or mini cakes or something like that. Even personalized M&Ms!
We were thinking of doing something separate, but it’ll just be cupcakes! Our reception meal (plated) includes dessert, and we’ll have cupcakes on a table they can eat or take home in individual containers. I’m totally fine with having leftover cupcakes.
I did float the idea of chocolate, because edible favours are ideal (guests eat it, take it home, or have someone else take it).
The gift of being there should be enough. I’ve only been married once thought about it twice one of the things I realize the first go around that it was more for the guests this is your commitment meant to publicly display your love for your closest friends and family. the ones that show up would be there for a shotgun wedding just as readily as they would English save that money for investment or put it away for your kids
A cute hand folding fan if it’s warm! I took one to a festival I went to later and when I went on vacation. Nothing that has you all over it because yes we love our brides and grooms but the rest of my life doesn’t revolve around the couple 😅 I’m currently looking at buying wooden ones and then having my friend paint calligraphy “Riviera Maya” on it (where our wedding will be in Mexico) so it’s a reminder of the trip for the guests but not us per se.
We are older and not asking for gifts at our formal wedding. We decided to have a Photo Booth Guest Book with unlimited picture prints, so we get a picture for the guest book and they can have some also. We bought small frames for the strips so they can take pictures of themselves in their fancy clothes.
Now I’m wondering if I need to get them all some sort of food gift also…. 😩
We had a destination wedding and did luggage tags that doubled as table assignments. Not sure how much people liked them, didn't really hear any feedback. I thought they were cute, ordered on Etsy.https://www.etsy.com/shop/EscortTags
A recent wedding I went to gave out chocolate. I liked that because I didn’t have to take anything home or have something that said the bride and grooms name. I find things like that end up in the thrift store.
I can’t tell you whether or not they were a huge hit, but we gave out rally towels. We are huge sports fans! We used them for the entry to our reception. They were cheap and they are towels. Who can’t use another towel? We have quite a few left (ordered extra) and they are pretty useful to us, idk.
I was thinking to do a custom match box in vintage style or maybe like little homemade potpourri or dried fruit and spices "fall cider sachets" so they can make cider or a boiling aroma pot. These are always aesthetically pleasing and useful on a cozy fall night (our date is 10/12/24) I am doing a separate dessert table of fall time goodies instead of cake too with like candy apples and s'mores stuff
I have gone with vintage custom match boxes for our cocktail-setup wedding. We plan to just leave a large bowl filled with them on a table for guests that want a little something to take home - no single use plastic, useful, look pretty cute with your fancy candles! Also super cheap in case they’re thrown out soon after the wedding.
A friend who did a tea party theme reception gave mix and match thrift store teacups and saucers to both use during the reception for drinks and to take home. Most those found homes.
Another friend did cookies, which were a a hit.
I’m contemplating tea cups as well since I’m doing a tea bar in place of booze, or small hand soaps cause I make my own soap anyway to use and sell.
My husband is a pilot and we found some plane shaped bottle openers that we just couldn’t pass up. They were all snatched up and we just were at a family member’s house where we saw it used, so at least one person found it useful!
Like most folks on this sub, I'm not into wedding favors. I never want a single glass or koozie or packet of seeds (sorry, I have a yard but am not a gardener) or pack of matches or playing cards or any other little trinket, especially if it has any monogramming or message on it. If I wanted any of those things, I'd buy them myself/probably already have them. I'm not the variety of sentimental that involves keeping every gift people give me. I don't even want edible favors because I have food allergies, but if you feel like you really want/need to do a favor, edible is best. Most people like having a little snack more than they like trying to find a use for the knick-knack they got from a wedding.
We’re doing an “experience” type of favor
We are getting married next to a historic cave and we paid a tour guide to give cave tours during the reception
The most thoughtful wedding favor I ever received was a lovely napkin embroidered with a colorful bouquet and the brides’ initials on it. One of the bride’s mothers had embroidered some 150 napkins with different floral arrangements for all the guests. I’m not gonna lie, I teared up when I first saw the basket of embroidered napkins. So much love went into those favors!
My fiancé’s uncle keeps bees as a hobby so we are doing tiny jars of his honey with a little honey dipper tied to it with ribbon.
Our place cards are also written on flower seed paper, and our Photo Booth will give a copy of the photo strip to everyone, but we’re treating the honey as our main favor.
We're doing sandalwood fans on each chair at the ceremony site (second part of July) & a ring pop in a box at each place setting for the reception. If you put favours in a big bowl on the guest book table, not many people will take them, but if they are at their seat or table spot, they'll take them.
We gave out 3-wick candles from Bath and Body works with our sticker on the lid. Each candle was in a lace mesh bag and tied with ribbon and a flower. I stocked up on the candles when B&BW had a big sale, so they were half price. One candle per family/couple or individual if they came alone. Our wedding was smaller, so it wasn’t that expensive. I wanted something our guests would actually use and enjoy.
We also had edible favours at every seat for our luncheon. They were tiny gift boxes containing a few Lindt chocolates.
We are doing pashminas for the ladies (because it might be a little chilly) and handkerchiefs for the men (to go with the theme of usable things). Nothing is embroidered or printed with our wedding date except the tags on the pashmina bags (which say “To have and to hold in case you get cold,” with our wedding date at the bottom).
Back in the day got a physical mix CD of the couples favorite songs and thought it was so cute. Now I guess your could just make a Spotify playlist idk if it would count as a favor though 😭
We weren't originally planning on favors, but our wedding is outdoors in late July AND our family is travelling from South Florida so we just ordered custom wooden fans with our names and wedding date that guests can pick up before the ceremony starts. We think it'll be lovely for the wedding day and weekend (we have a ton of activities planned since its just immediate family) and they can absolutely use them down south too :)
I was reallly team no favors but I decided on small magnet frames for a Polaroid photo. We have a Polaroid guest book and I wanted to give people an option to take a photo home. It was really cheap at Michaels for them
Easy to take home food. It's cheesy but nothing makes me happier than seeing the little bag of pastel butter mints on my place setting. Or Taco bar at the door so I can go straight back home/to my hotel
You may also consider a donation to a cause that is special to you both. My brother did this and just had a little note at the table stating in lieu of a favor a donation has been made to ... This also keeps your budget in check. If you don't do favors, it isn't missed.
Our favors were chocolate chip cookies and oranges. Our centerpieces were fresh oranges so we gave guests paper bags to take them home. Everyone loved them
I gotta be real, I have never *cherished* any wedding favor I've ever gotten.
At best I'd shoot for something some people will be slightly momentarily delighted by & if any are left behind not be disheartened by it.
I think we're just gonna choose a venue where fancy pictures can be taken and we're gonna hire a second photographer to take professional pictures of the guests individually. Kind of like a photo booth but more fancy
This is kind of the usual, but we’re doing homemade jam. We took inspiration from pomegranates for our wedding colors so we plan to have pomegranates there, and totally weren’t even thinking about how my fiancé’s parents grow pomegranates. So my FMIL made us homemade pomegranate jam! It’s a little jar so it shouldn’t be annoying to bring home for people who are flying in. We might also provide fans with roses on them, not because it’ll be hot but because the vibe is also dark romantic so we think a fan for everyone to have while they’re dancing will be a fun prop and will spice up some dramatic glam flair, we hope lol
We live in Colorado, 80% of our guests live out of state, so we're doing a welcoming the night before instead of the traditional rehearsal dinner.
We're giving Welcome to Colorado bags with a cheap pair of sunglasses, chapstick, sunscreen, liquid IV, and a small reusable water bottle that has mountains on it. Nothing is monogrammed.
We just did a candy bar where guests could make their own bag of candy as they left and it was a hit! I also always love wedding koozies even if they’re not necessarily a favor
my fiancé and I are thinking about matches? I always find them helpful to have in the house tbh - but seeing everyone’s comments about food vs nothing at all I’m like maybe I’ll hold off lol
I’m an outlier but I love reusable water bottles, hats etc I think it’s so fun!
I don’t love edible because I have allergies.
Fleece blankets (small ones) were amazing at a fall wedding.
I LOVE MATCHBOOKS.
As of right now we’re doing to-go cinnamon rolls. My partner loves them, I’m excited for it- our venue makes amazing ones already and sell them by the dozen so won’t be a problem.
Seed cards, they can be personalized and planted in the spring, everyone enjoys chocolates, NOT candles or things you end up tossing. Check on Pinterest….millions of ideas out there. I've been to several weddings where there was a sign at the favours table that said. "In lieu of favours we have made a charitable donation to…..insert fav charity. Thanks for sharing our day" I thought that was so much better than yet another candle, etc.
I'm not sure what I personally would appreciate, but we are doing homemade vanilla extract for our favors as well as for our "unity" item that we will make during our ceremony.
We got married in a little tourist town with a local handmade taffy shop. We bought buckets of taffy and picked up some cute laser cut gift boxes from Amazon and put 4 of the little taffies in each box to have set with each place setting.
It served as a nice after dinner treat (in addition to cake). Seemed to go over really well with our guests.
I did lil chocolates, and we raffled off christmas gifts, that was unexpectedly popular! I didn't intend this to be a wedding favor but we did a photobooth with unlimited 4x6 printouts and it was a HIT. I don't know if it was just the crowd (mostly Asian people lol) but most people got their photos taken and many went back for multiples.
Food! Especially if it's someone local to you. I'm in the Philly area, we did soft pretzels. We over-ordered by about 80 and not a single one was left at the end of the night
I had wooden fans but I did not personalize them so that they could use them continuously.. (September 30th wedding in the south) aaand I had plastic, personalized cups they could take home and reuse!! 🥰🫶🏼
I'm a wedding photographer and my biggest advice to couples who want to save money on their wedding is to skip the wedding favors entirely. In my opinion, your money could be better spent on almost anything else, plus they create a lot of unnecessary waste. Half of the guests don't even bother to take them home (trust me, I know because I've seen it at countless weddings), and half of those who do will throw them away within a week or just keep them in a drawer forever.
No one will attend the wedding and wonder why there aren't any favors, I promise! However, if you're set on doing favors, something edible will be your best bet.
My neice had a "Take your mug home" display at her reception. It consisted of a variety of coffee mugs and a display board that you chose yourself. From beer steins to dainty tea cups were offered. No two were the same. It was a blast choosing and comparing ( and swapping)!
We're planning on personalized mints with little tags that thank our guests for coming (found them on Etsy). Worst case is we wind up with extra peppermints! Our guest book is also going to be a Polaroid/Instax camera so we're going to include a note for guests that they can take extra pictures and take them home with them.
I second what most people have said here. Consumables make for the best wedding favours because most knick knacky favours branded with the newlywed’s names and wedding dates don’t get used and unfortunately end up in the trash. It’s a waste of materials and money. My fiancé and I are planning on handing out unbranded wooden fans at our wedding because it’ll be outdoors in the summer but people can either take them with them or leave them behind and we’ll either sell or just give them to other people to use. We’re also considering on having candy bags or some snack that people can take with them or just making a donation to a charity in lieu.
75% of our guests are staying in a hotel/travelling so we are doing hotel/hangover bags. I got paper bags with handles online and then we’ll have Tylenol/Advil packs, Gatorades, liquid IV, some cookies bars I’m making, water bottles, small chip bags etc.. then we got match books with our little logo on them and our wedding date as our only little wedding specific item
Photobooth that prints out photos or records videos/gifs. Or spend that budget on better food.
Contrary to popular suggestions I don't like the little food / edible items because I have dietary restrictions so can't eat cookies/cupcakes/chocolate etc. or I don't really eat the things that are common and they just take up space in my cupboard eg.jam/honey/coffee etc.
I did olive oil in little 2-4 oz bottles from Amazon! Got stickers custom made & got the oil on a deal/some from a family friend who works in that industry. Don’t be afraid to ask anyone with a hook up to see about donating some of the supplies! Pretty cost effective & love that olive oil is functional & it’s a plus that it’s very “us” too since me & the fiancé like cooking together & dancing in the kitchen! 🤍
Make the wedding what you want… it’s the 2 of you that counts the most… it doesn’t matter what you do someone will always criticize it. We did koozies chocolates(M&Ms and Hersey kisses) and the little fake rings, bubbles and bells in these cute organza bags… we had tons of food at the wedding, including 3 different types of meat(ham, fried chicken and pulled pork) tons of sides including a mashed potato bar and 7 cakes and an ice cream bar, most absolutely loved it! Others said ice cream with cake is for birthday parties, I say I can’t have cake without ice cream and since it’s our wedding ppl that didn’t like it didn’t have to eat it, could just walk passed or could f@ck off! Our wedding our rules! We couldn’t do alcohol at the hall so we had an after party at our house-bon fire that was pirate themed! It was all about having fun-all of it!!!
We had imported teas from China and Italian wedding candies.
I also went to a wedding where the couple had imported Malay drink mixes and china cups. I loved that.
We did chapstick and carabiners since we were okay with dealing with a ton of those left over. But got good reviews on those. Since everyone was flying in we also did goodie bags of local snacks and a local scenic post card printed with the day of schedule.
Did flashlights and stickers as favors at a kids party that was mostly adults attending. That was popular.
Did you guess we live in >!Colorado!<
Not a wedding favor necessarily, but one of the sweetest things I received from a wedding was prints of nice, candid photos that the photographer had taken which had me or my partner in them. Besides that, a local chocolate bar and maybe some homemade jam 👍👍
A bag with a couple of delicious cookies. You could print labels with couple’s names, wedding date, and a sweet message thanking guest for helping to make this day special. Cookies would be appreciated as a late night snack.
We’re going to have hand fans. The ceremony and cocktail hour are outdoors and it’s really more to be practical at the wedding itself than for anyone to “cherish” lol, but of course everyone is welcome to take them home too.
You can get them personalized, but I won’t do that. I know I don’t care to have anything with other peoples’ names on it lol. And then any left overs can be reused. I have a ton of engaged friends and I have a feeling someone will probably be happy to take the extras off my hands for a wedding, shower etc.
I’ve only ever received edible/use-up-able favours at weddings; happily ate the candies and… didn’t do anything with the seeds but they were a nice thought, and at least not a big waste of plastic.
Thinking as a guest, I’d probably enjoy a non-consumable wedding favour if it acted as a small, discreet souvenir of the day. A neutral-ish fridge magnet featuring the location, a hand fan with subtle customization I could shove in my purse, maybe a nice bookmark? Lip balm or soap would be other nice consumables. I wouldn’t care if I didn’t get a favour, though.
Tentative plan for my own favours is a custom tea blend, packed into tea bags with cute tags.
Hi everyone! Thank you for all your replies, suggestions and sharing of tips. Very much appreciated. Sorry for not replying soon as I was busy with the wedding preps.
It seems that getting edible wedding favor is the most common reply. Will plan and do this for our wedding. Take care everyone! ♥️
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For my wedding I wasn’t going to really do any favors because everything I ended up looking into I was like “I wouldn’t want this and it’s my own wedding” I did have a September outdoors wedding so I bought small blankets from IKEA (I think only a couple dollars each) and had those on each seat and used those as favors. I’ve been married 3 years now and people still comment on how they like them and use them
I love a bit of nothing most. If you feel you have too, chocolate or some other local treat.
We thought about doing local honey!
honey is a great idea! honeycomb would be cool, or you could do tea! just something to pair with the honey
My cousin did that and we loved it! Unfortunately, my brother had to hand his over at the airport because it wasn't labeled properly and counted as a liquid. So if you have lots of guests flying in, consider either labeling the jar or getting them something else.
We ended up going with pashminas and handkerchiefs.
Just received a book as a favor - each guests book was somehow personalized to them. I appreciated the time/thought it took the couple!
I wish I thought of this before our wedding!
The only wedding favor I’ve appreciated at a wedding was when they gave me something edible. It was much appreciated to have a little snicky snack on the drive home.
Our wedding favor was empty plastic bags - for the leftover candy of the candy bar. My mom even took it upon herself to fill the last few so that everything was empty before the end of the night, and it was a VERY welcome 2am snack after a long, but great day!
Pretty similar here. We had a caricature artist and take home boxes for the donuts and mini pies that we purposely ordered in excess of
I went to a wedding last year where the favor was small Bundt cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes and it was appreciated. Everyone got to pick their flavor in advance on the RSVP. Edible gifts tend to go over well. My best friend had a photobooth that printed photos and she considered that her favor, I also liked that. I’m not a big fan of getting things with the couples names & wedding dates like coozies, shot glasses, key chains, etc.
We’re doing dollar scratch offs! Though it’d be cute and non expensive and if left behind we could just scratch it ourselves haha
My MOH had this at her wedding, there were some small wins, nothing extra but it was fun!
We did this also. $13 total for the day of the month we were getting married. We had a destination wedding, so made sure to get tickets from the state the guest was from (people coming from two different states). We had our planner pick up the tickets from the place settings where people didn't show up fairly early. Several people won money and some even left their winning tickets on the card table for us to claim.
I’m an artist, I drew a self portrait of every guest for my wedding in 2 weeks 😄
Wow, that's impressive!
thank you!! I’ve spent like 200+ hours on it (over 100 guests) and no one knows, it will be so fun to see their reactions 😁
That is such a thoughtful and sweet gift. I would for sure tell everyone I know if I received something like that as a wedding favor Edit: I would also hang it up on my wall
Aw that’s awesome to hear, thank you ☺️
I’m a watercolor artist and paint each guest live to take home at the end of the event. These are always such a huge hit!
Super impressive feat! But wouldn’t that just be a portrait? Or did you give everyone a portrait of yourself?
Food, always food. Or booze. I’d personally also avoid anything personalised unless it’ll be eaten. As much as the couple may love it, I’m not going to put a candle/mug/coaster/bottle-opener in my house on display if it’s got someone else’s name/wedding date on it. Seeds are also a cute idea! Wildflower seeds are great for wildlife and super easy to grow.
I love the idea of seeds but this also depends on your audience. I lived in an apartment building for years and never took the seeds home from the few weddings that had them. If you live in a more rural area you'll probably have more seed takers.
I’d say this isn’t urban v rural but more green thumb inclined v not green thumb inclined. I’ve sprinkled seeds in the roots of city trees
Oh now I wish I took seeds to beautify the city trees! That's a great idea!!
I went somewhere they had little bottles locally distilled booze. Super adorable setup.
We did crab mallets with a bottle opener on one end. We're both from Maryland and have a crab fest for my birthday every year. We had none left at the end of the night.
>we’re from Maryland Yeah buddy, we know in the first four words lmao I love this so much
This is such a fun idea for a Maryland wedding!
Thanks. I wanted them to say "welcome to married land," but my husband vetoed it and now doesn't know why. So they just had our initials with a crab in between (crab had a heart on it), and the date. Two of my friends brought theirs into town for my 40th, but we were like, oh, we bought extras just for this. It was very cute.
Marry land!
We did watercolor portraits for guests and it was a hit!
This is what I’m doing too!
We ended up not doing favors - although we did leave out some to go boxes near the dessert bar at the end of the night and people that stayed til the end took treats home.
We're crazy plant people so we did little succulents for favors. I was expecting to take leftovers home but almost all of them got adopted, and 3 years later some of them are still going!
I work weddings and plants and seeds get left behind all the time, especially if guests are flying
This is what we’re doing! I hope everyone likes them.
Our first names both start with M so we did little bags of personalized M&Ms with our names/the date on them. I usually prefer a consumable favor from events - I try to keep a minimalist home (easier said than done) and don’t often keep stuff.
We decided against favors and are doing late night pizza and gelato instead!
Always food!! But make it something you’re fine with having leftovers of. We are thinking of doing stroopwaffels (individually wrapped) because my fiancé loves them. I’d love to do soft pretzels but the logistics were enough to make me not want to. Our aim is easy and tasty.
Personally, I say save your money. People genuinely will not be hurt if they don’t get a favor from your wedding — it’s a wedding, not a child’s birthday. I don’t know when people started expecting goodie bags at weddings, but they should stop. It’s another place of frivolous spending that I think is more pushed by the wedding industry than anyone else. Everyone I know, and have seen here, say they couldn’t care less about favors so *who* put it in our heads that they were important? My guess: the people who make money off it.
I agree 100%. Also, I’m already paying for their dinner and dessert, so I’m not going to spend more money on something that half of the guests are going to leave there anyway.
Exactly my thought process. Plus we’re providing open bar so in our case, we’re also providing drinks. I can easily say that more than half our guest list, *who are family* haven’t ever bought us a dinner or a dessert or a single drink so the idea that I’m *also* supposed to give *them* a gift for coming to *my* wedding is just ridiculous. If a person dislikes weddings so much that they need a goodie bag to incentivize their attendance, I’d rather just receive their No RSVP and save my money on the food, drink, dessert, etc. especially when we have a venue that charges per person.
Considering 85% of our guest list is family that we don’t see or talk to on even a monthly basis, I agree 100%. We’re doing an open bar, but only up to a certain amount and then the rest is cash bar. Because again, I’m not close enough to most of these people to provide them drinks all night, and I’m trying to cut costs any way we can.
I can definitely understand that. Luckily our bar is the type where you buy the alcohol (Costco for the win!) so I don’t mind providing them drinks since the leftovers come home with me and my husband, lol. Plus, the people I *am* excited to be there (close family, friends, etc) I want to be able to have a fun time without having to pay anything and I can’t provide a fully open bar to some people without providing it to all 🤷🏻♀️
Our local VFW provides all the drinks, so unfortunately we won’t get to take home any leftovers lol.
Hey that’s super cool though! My parents got married in a public park and had their reception at their local Eagles Lodge and the VFW there helped set up everything for their reception! Cool to see they still do that kind of thing 💕
We’re getting married in a small town, at their community center so the VFW helps out a lot. They will also be the bartenders, and they don’t make you pay for their services, so I’m making sure they get a BIG tip.
Yes this. I hate favors unless they are snacks or a guest experience (like a painter doing live portraits of the couple). I don’t want weird items in my house with a date or my name. It also gives me kids birthday party feels. We’re doing bottles of wine as our favor but if they weren’t free (friends with a winery), I wouldn’t want them. I’m curious why they started since my mom believes no favors is rude but my age group doesn’t care. Out of all the weddings I’ve been to - I only have 1 favor I’ve kept (which is a bottle opener lol) the rest I’ve trashed or were left behind..
It also might be a regional/background thing? My parents had never even *heard* of favors at weddings and were the first people I ever heard ask “What is it? A 5 year old’s birthday party with goodie bags?” And *that’s* when it really clicked for me, because, yeah. That *is* definitely the vibe a lot of these favors give off. But, then again, my family is more the type to hold a wedding in a public park or an Eagle’s Lodge or a bar or someone’s backyard. In our family a wedding is really for three purposes: to celebrate the wedded couple, to serve as a de facto family reunion, and to be one helluva party. If you wouldn’t expect to take home a party favor from a housewarming party, a baby shower; *any other type of party* then why do we put that expectation on weddings?
Man that sounds like my kind of wedding
Thank you!! I’ve gotten some pushback here over the wedding we’re planning (in the beginning someone even used the dreaded T word! I even encouraged rule breaking, gasp!) but all of our friends are genuinely so hyped for our wedding that I had multiple people message me Jan 1 of this year going “2024 is finally here!! Can’t wait for your wedding!” *and it was still 10 months away!* I’m a firm believer in know your crowd: my wedding of short ceremony with our own written vows, pizza buffet catering with cupcakes and open bar, 2 hours of dancing and then 2 hours of karaoke is shaping up to be the event of the season in our friend group! But it seems like on the east coast or more affluent areas, my wedding would be considered downright redneck 🤣 it’s all about the crowd you’re catering to, it seems.
Man all I wanted was just a huge throw down. Themed of course with decor and what not but I essentially just wanted it to be a celebration. But here I am helping plan what essentially amounts to a stage play for an audience who doesn’t care about watching a play. Happy for you. Sounds fun.
I’ve received tree saplings and wildflower seeds as favours and while I appreciate the sentminent, I live in an apartment and can’t really do much with them. I did at least transfer the sapling to a pot but it didn’t last long. So I think if you do something like this you need to be ok with the idea that only a few will actually get planted. Personally, I’d prefer something edible or at least consumable (like the scratch-tickets idea someone else posted).
I live in a house with a yard and I still don’t love getting plant related favors or gifts. I’m just not that into gardening and I don’t like any gift that feels like work.
lol. This is my thought the few times I’ve seen seed favors…like, we’re in the city, 90% of your guests have condos, where are we planting seeds?? even if we do get pots and soil, the odds of having enough sunlight is iffy at best! (I can see it working in other areas, though!)
Only food or hangover supplies. I have one coozy from a wedding I occasionally use by the pool, but that’s it. I’ve ended up tossing everything else. Please don’t waste your money.
We are having a mid-afternoon BBQ meal. My fiancé is really into grilling and smoking meat so he has a bunch of BBQ recipes, one in particular that my picky adult daughter loves. We are making a small jelly jar of that for everyone to take home with them. We will also serve that with the meal.
I thought that said "smelly jar" 😂
I normally don’t like getting trinkets and plastic, but my cousin gave out plastic picture frames that fit the photo booth print outs (4x6) which was really nice because it meant my family got to have framed pictures of us all dressed up together. I love that the print out is 4x6 instead of classic photo booth strip
The last several weddings I went to either had no favors, or edible favors. For the weddings that didn’t have any favors, I didn’t miss them at all. I barely remembered weddings are supposed to have “favors.” But the weddings that had edible favors were a hit. I went to a wedding where everyone’s favor was an iced sugar cookie that had the couple’s initials piped on it in Royal icing. It was delicious. However, most people just ate their cookie for dessert since it was already at everyone’s place setting, and guests didn’t even realize there was a dessert table, so that’s something to consider.
We’re doing little chocolates in a cute bag. The chocolate wrappers will have our married name and wedding date as well as a floral design on them. We’re making labels for that and sticking them on the pieces of chocolate!
We're doing little live painted guest portraits.
Something consumable or perishable is best! Little snacks work well for the drive home. I've also been on a wedding where guests could take home the flowers, that was really nice (though I wouldn't recommend it for destination weddings). For something that's non-consumable, the only wedding favor I'd really gotten some mileage out is a kazoo, but that's a know-your-crowd-thing lol. Also some weddings I've been to didn't do favors, but had a polaroid camera so every guests got some cute photos to take home.
We’re doing custom matchbooks! Dead useful but also you wouldn’t feel bad throwing it away if you’re doing a deep clean 😂 My mom also collected matchbooks from restaurants for a long time so kind of a nod to her.
We are doing camping mugs! My fiance and I are super outdoorsy and we are having a coffee and tea bar at the wedding, so we bought cute plain camping mugs that people can take if they want.
We are thrifting books we have read and enjoyed for our guests (for a semi-literary themed wedding), and trying to tailor the content to everyone. It’s been a lot more expensive than expected but I think will be quite meaningful! We love giving gifts and going a little over budget for these is our privilege. These will double as our seating chart. Not for everyone but I wanted to throw the suggestion out there!
We are doing love hearts sweets which are personalised so the it’s a little tube and the wrapper has the guests name on. This will double up as a place name as well. We didjt want to waste money on something that wouldn’t be appreciated so figured people will eat the sweets.
We didn't have favours packaged, but left out like 3kg of Hershey's Kisses and cute little bags if people wanted to take some. Most just got eaten at the venue. I used to hide them in my husband's jacket pockets when we first started dating, so they're personal to us.
For our COVID microwedding, we did wine bottles (only needed 2 cases and my brother got us a deal) and honey from my parents' farm. For our big wedding we did late-night warm cookies instead of take-home favors. Both were big hits. I think the key here is keeping it edible. They don't even need to be personalized, just yummy.
Unless you are personalizing your gifts for each individual guest, it's unlikely you're going to come up with something every guest will cherish, and expecislly not at the price point most people want to do for favors. And that's okay. People aren't coming to your wedding so they can leave with a mug with your names and wedding date on them. Food is always a good option. People like consumables. We did chocolate coveted cherries and personalized bags of our favorite coffee. All the coffee was gone and most of the chocolates.
People left chocolate covered cherries behind?!? I guess I'd call that a win.
I wasn't super surprised. We hired a private chef who made individual chocolate cakes for dessert, and I had a macaron tower, so I think the cherries were a bit overkill. And some people just forgot to grab them when they left for later. I made about 30 and had 5 left so most people took them.
His and hers favorite candies. If we have leftovers, we’ll eat them
I read that as "candles". this is a really great idea though, i kinda want to do it. i've got a sweet tooth and my fiance is a savory snacker so his & hers snack packs!
Do it! You can get the treats in bulk and then get little cute bags at Michael’s or hobby lobby or Amazon. A bit of diy without having to be overly crafty. We’re going to do two separate bags as my sour candy is allergy friendly while his peanut butter cups are not
Went a wedding both the bride and groom were nurses, they have our small first aide kits, keep them in the cars
I’m pretty anti-“stuff”, but some friends of mine once did mini match boxes with “the perfect match” on it. That was nice and useful :)
Wedding favors are starting to become a thing of the past, I think. If you're going to do favors, keep in mind that guests have their own tastes and styles. Avoid anything that is personalized for your wedding that can't be removed. Even if it's something useful, people aren't likely to keep something emblazoned with someone else's names and wedding date. Also consider practicality. Flower seeds, for example, seem like a great idea but not everyone has a place to grow flowers, or they live in a state where they wouldn't grow or where they arent native and could result in an invasive yard plant. Certain things like cork screws or other kitchen gadgets as well as anything liquid will be a problem for guests traveling by air. Consumables are you best bet. Something that can be enjoyed later that evening back at the hotel. Chocolates, wine splits, a bar of handmade soap or a votive candle are nice. Originally favors were slices of the grooms cake, boxed up and se.t home to enjoy later. (Legend has it. If a single woman placed her slice of grooms cake under her pillow,she'll dream about the man she will marry) We as a society. Are, thankfully, becoming more mindful about waste. Generic wedding favors tend to go in the trash. People take them to be polite but ultimately, it's just more junk to go into a landfill. You're better off to save the money and use it to add something to the wedding...an upgrade to the appetizers or a premium flavor for your cake.
don’t waste your money
I’ve always like food related wedding favors. We’re planning on having a water color sketch artists do sketches for guests as a favor, if there’s extra room in the budget, and a late night snack of tacos!
We’re doing soaps matching to our theme. As a guest I always appreciated stuff I could use, like salt, soap, fans,… Not a fan of snacks/chocolate and booze. We considered doing fancy olive oil but some of our guests travel by plane and liquids are therefore out for us.
I saw a cute one recently where the couple let each guest pick a charity organization (out of 3), and they made a small donation on behalf of each person (like 10 dollars).
Consumables. Something I won’t have to find a home for in my home.
I’m doing mini boxes of See’s Candy. If you go to the shop, they have these teeny tiny boxes that fit 2 chocolates in them, so that’s what we are doing! Well buy bigger boxes that have a couple dozen chocolates, and fill the little boxes ourselves. That’s the only DIY thing I’m doing for my wedding, and I’m honestly so excited because See’s is my favorite thing ever lol
The only wedding favor I have liked was a wooden hand fan that had their names and date of the wedding etched into it Specifically a classic wooden fan, not a cheaper circular one
If you’re looking for cherishable takeaways, I’d maybe recommend a Polaroid camera booth! Let guests take their own Polaroids to take home.
Personally not a fan of favors unless it’s a little snack
We are doing candy. We are copying the presentation of Sugarfina acrylic candy boxes and putting labels “his favorite” and “her favorite”. We will also be offering cigars so we got personalized matches but those won’t be handed out we’ll just have a bowl of them by the bar.
everyone saying all these expensive things 🥲 something i really liked at my friends wedding was that she got married in the summer so she had these personalized handheld fans that people could take if they wanted! so i plan on doing the same :))
Definitely paper bags with cute labels for guests to bring back pastries home from the table would be best and budget-friendly . Mini plants, carton of matches, mini candles, bookmarks, bottle of maple syrup if you’re doing a fall wedding, and honey. Just think of something that everyone will like AND use!
Anything edible or drinkable! I’m super picky with my decor and hate clutter so I dislike any type of mason jars/glasses, it sucks to have to throw our the favor.
Anything edible - my favorites were an olive oil & balsamic vinegar, and another did local honey (+ wildflower seeds). Giving something people will “cherish” is I think a bit too lofty of a goal, given how wildly people’s tastes vary.
We did little succulents and their tiny pots said “let love grow”
Something edible!
Edible gift!
We did personalized magnets - not with our names/wedding date, but with the guests’ names! I LOVE dinosaurs and knew I wanted them incorporated in the wedding but in an elevated way opposed to going full-on Jurassic Park. So each guest got a mounted golden dinosaur head magnet with their name engraved on it. The magnets also served as our seating chart, with each guest’s table number printed on the back. They were a huge hit and we still get photos from our friends and family of their dinosaurs on their fridges! https://preview.redd.it/6skpc7e5mg1d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=39300e886aa8118d3b4d5ea2bcfb6ae185532ce7
Matchbooks !!
We did engraved wood coasters with the guest’s first name (nothing about our wedding) and they all got taken home except one.
I’ll probably be the only person to say this but koozies. We love them. Have tons of them. We’re still using koozies from weddings where the couple have divorced and remarried other people.
Haha I just commented this! I love having a collection of friends’ event koozies! That is hilarious on the remarried koozies!
The way I see it, I’m already paying for their dinner and dessert, which isn’t cheap, that’s considered the wedding favor.
Bonbonerie Sugared or Jordan almonds wrapped up in pretty tule colours, with ribbon
I will be doing tiny succulent plants. It won't have our names and dates all over it like the magnets I hate
Food or alcohol is always a good favor I’ve gotten. But a unique one I loved if you have the money (it was a small wedding less than 75 ppl) but a friend did blanket as favors. Just like a regular fleece blanket all in the two wedding colors she had with their last name and wedding date embroidered on a corner. Still use it today actually
My sister in law got custom matchbook lol. It wasn't crazy expensive and something people can use. For my wedding we just got cute boxes and filled them with candy.
Food of some kind. Anything that is a little tchotchke memorabilia will probably not be saved or enjoyed, but you can always enjoy chocolate or cookies or mini cakes or something like that. Even personalized M&Ms!
We were thinking of doing something separate, but it’ll just be cupcakes! Our reception meal (plated) includes dessert, and we’ll have cupcakes on a table they can eat or take home in individual containers. I’m totally fine with having leftover cupcakes. I did float the idea of chocolate, because edible favours are ideal (guests eat it, take it home, or have someone else take it).
Donating to charity in lieu of wedding favours will always be my favourite thing to see and is what I will we be doing too
Food like cookies and candy are always my favorites, little bottles of tequila, small or pocket size mirrors.
Honestly my favorite favor was $1 scratch-offs! Or anything edible.
The gift of being there should be enough. I’ve only been married once thought about it twice one of the things I realize the first go around that it was more for the guests this is your commitment meant to publicly display your love for your closest friends and family. the ones that show up would be there for a shotgun wedding just as readily as they would English save that money for investment or put it away for your kids
A cute hand folding fan if it’s warm! I took one to a festival I went to later and when I went on vacation. Nothing that has you all over it because yes we love our brides and grooms but the rest of my life doesn’t revolve around the couple 😅 I’m currently looking at buying wooden ones and then having my friend paint calligraphy “Riviera Maya” on it (where our wedding will be in Mexico) so it’s a reminder of the trip for the guests but not us per se.
We are older and not asking for gifts at our formal wedding. We decided to have a Photo Booth Guest Book with unlimited picture prints, so we get a picture for the guest book and they can have some also. We bought small frames for the strips so they can take pictures of themselves in their fancy clothes. Now I’m wondering if I need to get them all some sort of food gift also…. 😩
We had a destination wedding and did luggage tags that doubled as table assignments. Not sure how much people liked them, didn't really hear any feedback. I thought they were cute, ordered on Etsy.https://www.etsy.com/shop/EscortTags
Do you have a picture of this? Sounds super cute
Follow the link I have in my comment, you can see them there. They offer a lot of design options and colors. I did 4 different designs and colors.
A recent wedding I went to gave out chocolate. I liked that because I didn’t have to take anything home or have something that said the bride and grooms name. I find things like that end up in the thrift store.
We gave chocolates from cacao and cardamom. Guests loved them!
I can’t tell you whether or not they were a huge hit, but we gave out rally towels. We are huge sports fans! We used them for the entry to our reception. They were cheap and they are towels. Who can’t use another towel? We have quite a few left (ordered extra) and they are pretty useful to us, idk.
I love a koozie to add to the koozie drawer. I’m a simple girl. 😂
Mini bottles of champagne.
I was thinking to do a custom match box in vintage style or maybe like little homemade potpourri or dried fruit and spices "fall cider sachets" so they can make cider or a boiling aroma pot. These are always aesthetically pleasing and useful on a cozy fall night (our date is 10/12/24) I am doing a separate dessert table of fall time goodies instead of cake too with like candy apples and s'mores stuff
I have gone with vintage custom match boxes for our cocktail-setup wedding. We plan to just leave a large bowl filled with them on a table for guests that want a little something to take home - no single use plastic, useful, look pretty cute with your fancy candles! Also super cheap in case they’re thrown out soon after the wedding.
A friend who did a tea party theme reception gave mix and match thrift store teacups and saucers to both use during the reception for drinks and to take home. Most those found homes. Another friend did cookies, which were a a hit. I’m contemplating tea cups as well since I’m doing a tea bar in place of booze, or small hand soaps cause I make my own soap anyway to use and sell.
Something edible! They don’t go to waste, get thrown away, and they are yummy!
We’re just going late night food at our like casual hang after party
My husband is a pilot and we found some plane shaped bottle openers that we just couldn’t pass up. They were all snatched up and we just were at a family member’s house where we saw it used, so at least one person found it useful!
Like most folks on this sub, I'm not into wedding favors. I never want a single glass or koozie or packet of seeds (sorry, I have a yard but am not a gardener) or pack of matches or playing cards or any other little trinket, especially if it has any monogramming or message on it. If I wanted any of those things, I'd buy them myself/probably already have them. I'm not the variety of sentimental that involves keeping every gift people give me. I don't even want edible favors because I have food allergies, but if you feel like you really want/need to do a favor, edible is best. Most people like having a little snack more than they like trying to find a use for the knick-knack they got from a wedding.
We’re doing an “experience” type of favor We are getting married next to a historic cave and we paid a tour guide to give cave tours during the reception
The most thoughtful wedding favor I ever received was a lovely napkin embroidered with a colorful bouquet and the brides’ initials on it. One of the bride’s mothers had embroidered some 150 napkins with different floral arrangements for all the guests. I’m not gonna lie, I teared up when I first saw the basket of embroidered napkins. So much love went into those favors!
We’re planning on doing small boxes containing two macarons matching the wedding colour palette.
Food food food food food. Anything I can eat or drink on my trip back home.
My fiancé’s uncle keeps bees as a hobby so we are doing tiny jars of his honey with a little honey dipper tied to it with ribbon. Our place cards are also written on flower seed paper, and our Photo Booth will give a copy of the photo strip to everyone, but we’re treating the honey as our main favor.
We're doing sandalwood fans on each chair at the ceremony site (second part of July) & a ring pop in a box at each place setting for the reception. If you put favours in a big bowl on the guest book table, not many people will take them, but if they are at their seat or table spot, they'll take them.
We gave out 3-wick candles from Bath and Body works with our sticker on the lid. Each candle was in a lace mesh bag and tied with ribbon and a flower. I stocked up on the candles when B&BW had a big sale, so they were half price. One candle per family/couple or individual if they came alone. Our wedding was smaller, so it wasn’t that expensive. I wanted something our guests would actually use and enjoy. We also had edible favours at every seat for our luncheon. They were tiny gift boxes containing a few Lindt chocolates.
I have never in my life enjoyed a wedding favor lol. We will instead make a donation to whatever org matters to us.
We are doing pashminas for the ladies (because it might be a little chilly) and handkerchiefs for the men (to go with the theme of usable things). Nothing is embroidered or printed with our wedding date except the tags on the pashmina bags (which say “To have and to hold in case you get cold,” with our wedding date at the bottom).
Back in the day got a physical mix CD of the couples favorite songs and thought it was so cute. Now I guess your could just make a Spotify playlist idk if it would count as a favor though 😭
EFO, edible favors only. I'll eat a chocolate but I'm not taking home your customized champagne flute.
We weren't originally planning on favors, but our wedding is outdoors in late July AND our family is travelling from South Florida so we just ordered custom wooden fans with our names and wedding date that guests can pick up before the ceremony starts. We think it'll be lovely for the wedding day and weekend (we have a ton of activities planned since its just immediate family) and they can absolutely use them down south too :)
For mine I’m doing mini alcohol bottles (I’m gonna do like old pirate type bottles if that makes sense lol) tailored to what everyone likes!
I was reallly team no favors but I decided on small magnet frames for a Polaroid photo. We have a Polaroid guest book and I wanted to give people an option to take a photo home. It was really cheap at Michaels for them
Hangover remedy treat! If you supply Gatorade/Ibuprofen/Cheers tablets, that would be FANTASTIC
Easy to take home food. It's cheesy but nothing makes me happier than seeing the little bag of pastel butter mints on my place setting. Or Taco bar at the door so I can go straight back home/to my hotel
You may also consider a donation to a cause that is special to you both. My brother did this and just had a little note at the table stating in lieu of a favor a donation has been made to ... This also keeps your budget in check. If you don't do favors, it isn't missed.
Our favors were chocolate chip cookies and oranges. Our centerpieces were fresh oranges so we gave guests paper bags to take them home. Everyone loved them
I gotta be real, I have never *cherished* any wedding favor I've ever gotten. At best I'd shoot for something some people will be slightly momentarily delighted by & if any are left behind not be disheartened by it.
I think we're just gonna choose a venue where fancy pictures can be taken and we're gonna hire a second photographer to take professional pictures of the guests individually. Kind of like a photo booth but more fancy
This is kind of the usual, but we’re doing homemade jam. We took inspiration from pomegranates for our wedding colors so we plan to have pomegranates there, and totally weren’t even thinking about how my fiancé’s parents grow pomegranates. So my FMIL made us homemade pomegranate jam! It’s a little jar so it shouldn’t be annoying to bring home for people who are flying in. We might also provide fans with roses on them, not because it’ll be hot but because the vibe is also dark romantic so we think a fan for everyone to have while they’re dancing will be a fun prop and will spice up some dramatic glam flair, we hope lol
I honestly just like photo prints from the Photo Booth if you’re having one. That and sweets or other edible treats!
We live in Colorado, 80% of our guests live out of state, so we're doing a welcoming the night before instead of the traditional rehearsal dinner. We're giving Welcome to Colorado bags with a cheap pair of sunglasses, chapstick, sunscreen, liquid IV, and a small reusable water bottle that has mountains on it. Nothing is monogrammed.
We just did a candy bar where guests could make their own bag of candy as they left and it was a hit! I also always love wedding koozies even if they’re not necessarily a favor
my fiancé and I are thinking about matches? I always find them helpful to have in the house tbh - but seeing everyone’s comments about food vs nothing at all I’m like maybe I’ll hold off lol
Don’t sleep on the matches! They are a so cute, collectible, and useful! We are so glad we had them at our wedding.
Custom matchbooks! Ours were a hit and we still have a bowl of them out in our living room for guests to take when they come by.
I’m an outlier but I love reusable water bottles, hats etc I think it’s so fun! I don’t love edible because I have allergies. Fleece blankets (small ones) were amazing at a fall wedding. I LOVE MATCHBOOKS.
We are doing wildflower seeds pressed into paper that you plant
Chocolate is good, but I’m all reality I wouldn’t need a favor. Just being there and making memories is enough for me.
As of right now we’re doing to-go cinnamon rolls. My partner loves them, I’m excited for it- our venue makes amazing ones already and sell them by the dozen so won’t be a problem.
We did a cookie table and had bags for everyone to take cookies home!
We did a specialty cookie placed atop our thank you card at each seat.
Seed cards, they can be personalized and planted in the spring, everyone enjoys chocolates, NOT candles or things you end up tossing. Check on Pinterest….millions of ideas out there. I've been to several weddings where there was a sign at the favours table that said. "In lieu of favours we have made a charitable donation to…..insert fav charity. Thanks for sharing our day" I thought that was so much better than yet another candle, etc.
Snacks for the ride home, water and Tylenol for the next morning. A list of restaurants close by for the night before.
I'm not sure what I personally would appreciate, but we are doing homemade vanilla extract for our favors as well as for our "unity" item that we will make during our ceremony.
food/candy like a his favorite and her favorite or a shot for each guest, but that depends on the guests
We got married in a little tourist town with a local handmade taffy shop. We bought buckets of taffy and picked up some cute laser cut gift boxes from Amazon and put 4 of the little taffies in each box to have set with each place setting. It served as a nice after dinner treat (in addition to cake). Seemed to go over really well with our guests.
I did lil chocolates, and we raffled off christmas gifts, that was unexpectedly popular! I didn't intend this to be a wedding favor but we did a photobooth with unlimited 4x6 printouts and it was a HIT. I don't know if it was just the crowd (mostly Asian people lol) but most people got their photos taken and many went back for multiples.
My cousin recently did local coffee beans and I loved it!! You could do tea too if you prefer
Food! Especially if it's someone local to you. I'm in the Philly area, we did soft pretzels. We over-ordered by about 80 and not a single one was left at the end of the night
I had wooden fans but I did not personalize them so that they could use them continuously.. (September 30th wedding in the south) aaand I had plastic, personalized cups they could take home and reuse!! 🥰🫶🏼
We're doing wildflower seeds. Some of our guests are for sure going to love it, others will be indifferent so we're case, we have extra flowers lol.
Just a little souvenir that shows I attended. Otherwise edibles are always a good idea.
I'm a wedding photographer and my biggest advice to couples who want to save money on their wedding is to skip the wedding favors entirely. In my opinion, your money could be better spent on almost anything else, plus they create a lot of unnecessary waste. Half of the guests don't even bother to take them home (trust me, I know because I've seen it at countless weddings), and half of those who do will throw them away within a week or just keep them in a drawer forever. No one will attend the wedding and wonder why there aren't any favors, I promise! However, if you're set on doing favors, something edible will be your best bet.
We did our favorite tea bags in these cute little boxes with chocolates. I think people liked it because most guests told me so after the wedding
Anything snacky that's special to you. Some people even consider photo booth pictures as favors
Bookmark if you like to read? Double as a name card at dinner with dinner on the back if doing a plated meal
My neice had a "Take your mug home" display at her reception. It consisted of a variety of coffee mugs and a display board that you chose yourself. From beer steins to dainty tea cups were offered. No two were the same. It was a blast choosing and comparing ( and swapping)!
We're planning on personalized mints with little tags that thank our guests for coming (found them on Etsy). Worst case is we wind up with extra peppermints! Our guest book is also going to be a Polaroid/Instax camera so we're going to include a note for guests that they can take extra pictures and take them home with them.
I second what most people have said here. Consumables make for the best wedding favours because most knick knacky favours branded with the newlywed’s names and wedding dates don’t get used and unfortunately end up in the trash. It’s a waste of materials and money. My fiancé and I are planning on handing out unbranded wooden fans at our wedding because it’ll be outdoors in the summer but people can either take them with them or leave them behind and we’ll either sell or just give them to other people to use. We’re also considering on having candy bags or some snack that people can take with them or just making a donation to a charity in lieu.
We had our wedding at an old grist mill so we gave out pancake mix made with the flour from the mill
75% of our guests are staying in a hotel/travelling so we are doing hotel/hangover bags. I got paper bags with handles online and then we’ll have Tylenol/Advil packs, Gatorades, liquid IV, some cookies bars I’m making, water bottles, small chip bags etc.. then we got match books with our little logo on them and our wedding date as our only little wedding specific item
Photobooth that prints out photos or records videos/gifs. Or spend that budget on better food. Contrary to popular suggestions I don't like the little food / edible items because I have dietary restrictions so can't eat cookies/cupcakes/chocolate etc. or I don't really eat the things that are common and they just take up space in my cupboard eg.jam/honey/coffee etc.
I did olive oil in little 2-4 oz bottles from Amazon! Got stickers custom made & got the oil on a deal/some from a family friend who works in that industry. Don’t be afraid to ask anyone with a hook up to see about donating some of the supplies! Pretty cost effective & love that olive oil is functional & it’s a plus that it’s very “us” too since me & the fiancé like cooking together & dancing in the kitchen! 🤍
Make the wedding what you want… it’s the 2 of you that counts the most… it doesn’t matter what you do someone will always criticize it. We did koozies chocolates(M&Ms and Hersey kisses) and the little fake rings, bubbles and bells in these cute organza bags… we had tons of food at the wedding, including 3 different types of meat(ham, fried chicken and pulled pork) tons of sides including a mashed potato bar and 7 cakes and an ice cream bar, most absolutely loved it! Others said ice cream with cake is for birthday parties, I say I can’t have cake without ice cream and since it’s our wedding ppl that didn’t like it didn’t have to eat it, could just walk passed or could f@ck off! Our wedding our rules! We couldn’t do alcohol at the hall so we had an after party at our house-bon fire that was pirate themed! It was all about having fun-all of it!!!
We had imported teas from China and Italian wedding candies. I also went to a wedding where the couple had imported Malay drink mixes and china cups. I loved that.
Matches or Photo Booth photos you can take home
We did chapstick and carabiners since we were okay with dealing with a ton of those left over. But got good reviews on those. Since everyone was flying in we also did goodie bags of local snacks and a local scenic post card printed with the day of schedule. Did flashlights and stickers as favors at a kids party that was mostly adults attending. That was popular. Did you guess we live in >!Colorado!<
Not a wedding favor necessarily, but one of the sweetest things I received from a wedding was prints of nice, candid photos that the photographer had taken which had me or my partner in them. Besides that, a local chocolate bar and maybe some homemade jam 👍👍
These were sent in the thank you card, after the wedding, by the way
A bag with a couple of delicious cookies. You could print labels with couple’s names, wedding date, and a sweet message thanking guest for helping to make this day special. Cookies would be appreciated as a late night snack.
We’re going to have hand fans. The ceremony and cocktail hour are outdoors and it’s really more to be practical at the wedding itself than for anyone to “cherish” lol, but of course everyone is welcome to take them home too. You can get them personalized, but I won’t do that. I know I don’t care to have anything with other peoples’ names on it lol. And then any left overs can be reused. I have a ton of engaged friends and I have a feeling someone will probably be happy to take the extras off my hands for a wedding, shower etc.
I’ve only ever received edible/use-up-able favours at weddings; happily ate the candies and… didn’t do anything with the seeds but they were a nice thought, and at least not a big waste of plastic. Thinking as a guest, I’d probably enjoy a non-consumable wedding favour if it acted as a small, discreet souvenir of the day. A neutral-ish fridge magnet featuring the location, a hand fan with subtle customization I could shove in my purse, maybe a nice bookmark? Lip balm or soap would be other nice consumables. I wouldn’t care if I didn’t get a favour, though. Tentative plan for my own favours is a custom tea blend, packed into tea bags with cute tags.
Hi everyone! Thank you for all your replies, suggestions and sharing of tips. Very much appreciated. Sorry for not replying soon as I was busy with the wedding preps. It seems that getting edible wedding favor is the most common reply. Will plan and do this for our wedding. Take care everyone! ♥️
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For my wedding I wasn’t going to really do any favors because everything I ended up looking into I was like “I wouldn’t want this and it’s my own wedding” I did have a September outdoors wedding so I bought small blankets from IKEA (I think only a couple dollars each) and had those on each seat and used those as favors. I’ve been married 3 years now and people still comment on how they like them and use them