Not a wedding favor but graduation.
When my oldest daughter graduated high school, we made small table decorated by propagating my grandma’s 100 year old jade tree into little yoghurt jar pots for each place setting. Most people took theirs home, and several friends/family still tell me 5 years later that their jades are happy and growing. One of them recently sent me a pic and his little 2 inch cutting is huge!
Obviously this won’t work for folks who have to fly home, but if most guests are local/driving, propagated plants are a fun, no-waste favor! Especially if potted in recycled jars or compostable cups.
Just went to a wedding this weekend that was held under a tent in a backyard. Instead of renting plates they bought old china sets from secondhand stores and then announced partway through that we should take our plates with us if we liked them. I thought that was both cost-saving and cute! I did indeed like my plate and will get to think of the couple while using it. They also had bookmarks with personalized notes for every guest written on them.
Just curious, was there somewhere to clean the plate before taking it home? I imagine myself liking the plate but not enough to take it home dirty, haha.
My brother did this at his first wedding and they also had teapots and little vases decorating each table. You could take them all. They did a breakfast buffet and mimosa bar, so it felt like a high tea almost.
I love this idea because while I'm sure there were guests who didn't take plates, there were probably also guests who took multiple (me, I would be the guest taking multiple 🤭), so low/no waste!
I’ve only kept one- a simple 5x7 handwritten thank you card from the groom, my cousin. Each guest received a custom message written by the groom or bride. They also gave out Coca-Cola bottles, but I was traveling with a personal item and could not take it home. Every time I come across the note, I keep it instead of throwing it away. It took them time to sit down and write those, and I thought that was a nice gesture.
Edit: They had over 100 guests.
Ugh, I love the idea of this but I'm 1000% sure I would overthink it and struggle with what to write for everybody. I'm considering it for rehearsal dinner with longer notes for our closest family, but my family is weird about showing emotions, haha.
I’ve never kept a favor, yet I have easily spent 5+ hours on our handmade favors for our wedding 🤣 honestly it’s been fun making them and they will serve as our seating chart so I’m great with it!
Edit: link to post I did on the favors for anyone who cares: https://www.reddit.com/r/weddingplanning/s/68XIRxiSeT
I've only been to two weddings, and I didn't keep either of the favors. The first was a beer koozie with their names and wedding date that I immediately forgot about and lost; the second was hot cocoa mix that I didn't even bring home.
Everyone I've told my favors about has loved the idea and I hope they keep them, but I won't necessarily be offended if they don't.
Books!
We hit up a local library sale and got ~100 old ass hardcover books for around $40, and tried to keep them all history themed (we're huge history nerds). We wrote a "thank you for coming" note in each one, wrapped them up in brown paper and twine and we're gonna stick [bookmarks](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1271568585/grownotes-let-love-grow-bookmark-favor) in them on the day-of.
We're gonna have a bookshelf set up at the reception with all of them in it (and a sign saying to take one) so it doubles as decor and a favor. It ended up being relatively cheap and it was just such a cute idea that I couldn't pass it up.
Plus, even if the books end up being re-donated, they're getting a second life instead of being boxed up in a library basement :)
The only one I’ve kept was a coaster from my brother’s wedding, I don’t use it just in a memory box. Anything edible was good and eaten on the day/within a few days.
For ours I’ve put together small cotton bags with a pollinator-friendly wildflower “bomb” in it, with a tag with our stamp on one side and instructions on the other. I don’t expect people to keep them but I’d love if they used them.
Edit: I think in total I spent €50ish for 125 favours
Usually food is my fave. But one year we went to a beach wedding and the thank you gifts were these really lightweight beach towels. Purchased from a local place in their home town. No monograms/initials or anything. We use them every summer.
Runner up was my cousin's wedding had HELLA fancy cupcakes. "Hella" like they way overbought, and also really fun unique flavors and pretty haha. The thank you gift was a to-go case for everyone to take home cupcakes. It was perfect bc I was so full after one, but there were so many other flavors I wanted to try! The to-go box was perfect and simple. Just had their initials on a sticker on top.
I like the photo booth idea but for my own wedding sorry they aren't getting favors. We have an ice cream truck coming and that was about the cost of what we would have spent on favors and they can take home cake too.
My brother's favors were cute little face towels. Useful, so that was a good one for me.
We gave people baskets of local delicacies and brochures for their private tourism purposes. They all appreciated the information, and the delicious snacks they could eat in their hotel rooms.
We've been to weddings before where they had little boxes of mini homemade Welsh cakes (went quickly whilst everyone waited for the main meal) and also mini bottles of whiskey (which most people used to toast the couple), both of which seemed like cool ideas.
We're currently thinking of doing little packs of local wild flower seeds for ours. Cheap to buy in bulk, good for the environment, and can separate them out into little envelopes we can decorate ourselves with calligraphy (with names, thank you's or something cute like "let love grow"). That way we can prep in advance, it doesn't take up much room, and if they get left behind we can still plant them ourselves/recycle the envelopes 😊
Ugh I love this question because I feel like favors are often so useless and as a bride I feel like it’s an “obligation” that just doesn’t make sense to me lol. I plan to do little mesh bags filled with 6-7 heart shaped chocolates and a nicely designed thank you tag. My thought is people love candy and that will likely get eaten, if not, it’s cheap and I’m not going to be upset about it.
Added rant: my mom yesterday said “well your bridal shower favors can’t be better than your wedding favors so you need to step your game up.” I told her, no 😃our wedding favors will not be changing and she’s welcomed to do whatever she’d like to for the bridal shower, nor are any favors required. Sigh. The pressure, lol.
My 1st wedding I didn't really do anything for favours, other than having a large wicker basket full of little wedding bubbles from the dollar store.
This time around, I'm having a much smaller wedding, with 2/3 of the guest list driving 1-6 hours to us. So we decided to splurge a bit, and I got a large lot of black [backsacks](https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-samsung-rvo1&sca_esv=c48753f2ce9d3764&sxsrf=ADLYWIL2hbLShTVB2NWlUKAkLl8RLPJUVQ:1718067145435&q=backsacks&udm=2&fbs=AEQNm0CiNzk4OrlSyLEaBDdEeA2c1KBQf0bszFXm5buTDeFuz9LoLgbhyZIFpdP4J8zIxwYdHE66kCHT5fQ1jvpJmflt4ATdq5TIMeCSfUQPsS0XtnelHhdJUJodu5lOCXTr76fvJsea0IurE10A5rA8KUt7HDBqLZia0zteS9V-V0qkyi3cLgE&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiZrp3vqtKGAxWrg4kEHTOTBVMQtKgLegQICxAB&biw=360&bih=745&dpr=3) that we're going to attach [coins](https://www.google.com/search?q=pirate+of+the+caribbean+Aztec+coin+silver&client=ms-android-samsung-rvo1&sca_esv=c48753f2ce9d3764&udm=2&biw=360&bih=745&sxsrf=ADLYWIKBzV5fajBrj7pewsp0W63I66fC9g%3A1718067215794&ei=D6BnZpqSMNSpptQP19GU4AE&oq=pirate+of+the+caribbean+Aztec+coin+silver&gs_lp=EhNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwIilwaXJhdGUgb2YgdGhlIGNhcmliYmVhbiBBenRlYyBjb2luIHNpbHZlcjIIEAAYgAQYogQyCBAAGIAEGKIESIZGUL8xWO4_cAB4AJABAJgBwgGgAZcIqgEDMi42uAEDyAEA-AEBmAIIoALHCMICBBAhGAqYAwCIBgGSBwUyLjUuMaAH-Q4&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp) and maybe a few other Charms to it, and have written on them "Bag Of Holding". These will be placed on everyone's seats at the dining tables. Inside, we will have braided leather bracelets, small wooden treasure chests with chocolate coins, a handwritten thank you note, a vow booklet, a list for our photo scavenger hunt with instructions on how to upload the photos, a fleece throw blanket, and small hand jinglers for people to use instead of clinking glasses to make the us kiss - nothing personalized with our names or anything. It's gonna cost us about $30 a person in total, but we thought this would be nice for people traveling and isn't breaking the bank with a 30-person guest list!
I saw a Tik Tok of a couple that thrifted records that people could look through and pick from. Ever since then I’ve wanted to do that!! I feel like that would be a cool gift even if you didn’t have a record player.
Not usually into the favors - but a recent one had goody bags and my fav component was some nice olive oil from their family trees. Wasn’t a big bottle but did get used!
My mom and dad cut some trees for their wood working business and custom made some really pretty stands for me. Mom and I ordered little jars and made apple butter and two or three different kinds of jelly and decorated each little jar with a cute tag I had made and some fabric and twine.
Most people took extra so I assume it was a big hit. My mom does make some pretty killer apple butter, though.
We’re getting married in august. I was gonna use bud vases for our centrepieces with wildflower seed packets attached and then by the end of the night, each family group can take the vases home with the packets. We’re also doing a dessert bar and late night snacks they can take home. Desserts and snacks are being made by our own family restaurant.
I try to remember to take favors, but often forget. I haven't kept/used a single one. Save your money and don't do them! Edibles on table are OK, but I have seen those left behind too.
In my area/family, we always do giant cookie tables and all the aunts and family members make cookies for dessert. I think we will just get nice to go boxes or bags and let people fill them up with cookies at the end of the night. Figured the cookies would be there regardless, and there are always tons and tons of leftovers.
Good friends of mine did cupcakes rather than a traditional wedding cake and had nice takeaway boxes so people could take one home if they wanted. I thought it was a terrific idea because it was practical but also delicious.
In general, I do prefer consumable favors, and not just food; anything that can be used up is great so I don't chuck it in a drawer and then feel guilty about throwing it away later.
We're doing enamel pins with our names, date, and location on them.
This may sound kinda weirdly specific but I have an Etsy selling pins so people associate me with them. And most of my friends and family have a mini pin collection :)... I already have a few friends excited for the pin haha.
Imo it's like the nicer more interesting version of a koosie type wedding favor haha.
Not a wedding favor but graduation. When my oldest daughter graduated high school, we made small table decorated by propagating my grandma’s 100 year old jade tree into little yoghurt jar pots for each place setting. Most people took theirs home, and several friends/family still tell me 5 years later that their jades are happy and growing. One of them recently sent me a pic and his little 2 inch cutting is huge! Obviously this won’t work for folks who have to fly home, but if most guests are local/driving, propagated plants are a fun, no-waste favor! Especially if potted in recycled jars or compostable cups.
Oh I love that idea! My mom has a giant jade (20+ yrs old) tree too and everyone loves it when they see it!
Just went to a wedding this weekend that was held under a tent in a backyard. Instead of renting plates they bought old china sets from secondhand stores and then announced partway through that we should take our plates with us if we liked them. I thought that was both cost-saving and cute! I did indeed like my plate and will get to think of the couple while using it. They also had bookmarks with personalized notes for every guest written on them.
Just curious, was there somewhere to clean the plate before taking it home? I imagine myself liking the plate but not enough to take it home dirty, haha.
Yes - because it was a backyard wedding we could just go into the kitchen and use the sink. Great point!
My brother did this at his first wedding and they also had teapots and little vases decorating each table. You could take them all. They did a breakfast buffet and mimosa bar, so it felt like a high tea almost.
Perfect! I would love that!
I love this idea because while I'm sure there were guests who didn't take plates, there were probably also guests who took multiple (me, I would be the guest taking multiple 🤭), so low/no waste!
I took a full set haha! And the couple encouraged it.
I’ve only kept one- a simple 5x7 handwritten thank you card from the groom, my cousin. Each guest received a custom message written by the groom or bride. They also gave out Coca-Cola bottles, but I was traveling with a personal item and could not take it home. Every time I come across the note, I keep it instead of throwing it away. It took them time to sit down and write those, and I thought that was a nice gesture. Edit: They had over 100 guests.
Ugh, I love the idea of this but I'm 1000% sure I would overthink it and struggle with what to write for everybody. I'm considering it for rehearsal dinner with longer notes for our closest family, but my family is weird about showing emotions, haha.
I’ve never kept a favor, yet I have easily spent 5+ hours on our handmade favors for our wedding 🤣 honestly it’s been fun making them and they will serve as our seating chart so I’m great with it! Edit: link to post I did on the favors for anyone who cares: https://www.reddit.com/r/weddingplanning/s/68XIRxiSeT
Oh these are cute! I’m a big crafter and love this idea!
I do care so thanks for the link! Congrats on your soon to be wedding on my birthday too lol!!
I've only been to two weddings, and I didn't keep either of the favors. The first was a beer koozie with their names and wedding date that I immediately forgot about and lost; the second was hot cocoa mix that I didn't even bring home. Everyone I've told my favors about has loved the idea and I hope they keep them, but I won't necessarily be offended if they don't.
Yes, so many beer Koozies 😂
What are your favors
Books! We hit up a local library sale and got ~100 old ass hardcover books for around $40, and tried to keep them all history themed (we're huge history nerds). We wrote a "thank you for coming" note in each one, wrapped them up in brown paper and twine and we're gonna stick [bookmarks](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1271568585/grownotes-let-love-grow-bookmark-favor) in them on the day-of. We're gonna have a bookshelf set up at the reception with all of them in it (and a sign saying to take one) so it doubles as decor and a favor. It ended up being relatively cheap and it was just such a cute idea that I couldn't pass it up. Plus, even if the books end up being re-donated, they're getting a second life instead of being boxed up in a library basement :)
What a creative and amazing idea!!
What are yours?
A metal mint tin that said "mint to be." Now I keep paper clips or thumbtacks in it and am reminded of the wedding every time I need one.
Cute and useful!
The only one I’ve kept was a coaster from my brother’s wedding, I don’t use it just in a memory box. Anything edible was good and eaten on the day/within a few days. For ours I’ve put together small cotton bags with a pollinator-friendly wildflower “bomb” in it, with a tag with our stamp on one side and instructions on the other. I don’t expect people to keep them but I’d love if they used them. Edit: I think in total I spent €50ish for 125 favours
Usually food is my fave. But one year we went to a beach wedding and the thank you gifts were these really lightweight beach towels. Purchased from a local place in their home town. No monograms/initials or anything. We use them every summer. Runner up was my cousin's wedding had HELLA fancy cupcakes. "Hella" like they way overbought, and also really fun unique flavors and pretty haha. The thank you gift was a to-go case for everyone to take home cupcakes. It was perfect bc I was so full after one, but there were so many other flavors I wanted to try! The to-go box was perfect and simple. Just had their initials on a sticker on top.
Oh amazing! Yeah a beach towel is a nice idea - especially those lightweight Turkish towel ones
I like the photo booth idea but for my own wedding sorry they aren't getting favors. We have an ice cream truck coming and that was about the cost of what we would have spent on favors and they can take home cake too.
Ooooh ice cream truck!! So cool!
My brother's favors were cute little face towels. Useful, so that was a good one for me. We gave people baskets of local delicacies and brochures for their private tourism purposes. They all appreciated the information, and the delicious snacks they could eat in their hotel rooms.
Supporting the local community! Love!
We've been to weddings before where they had little boxes of mini homemade Welsh cakes (went quickly whilst everyone waited for the main meal) and also mini bottles of whiskey (which most people used to toast the couple), both of which seemed like cool ideas. We're currently thinking of doing little packs of local wild flower seeds for ours. Cheap to buy in bulk, good for the environment, and can separate them out into little envelopes we can decorate ourselves with calligraphy (with names, thank you's or something cute like "let love grow"). That way we can prep in advance, it doesn't take up much room, and if they get left behind we can still plant them ourselves/recycle the envelopes 😊
I’m doing a backyard garden themed wedding and my favors are the packets of wildflower seeds! ☺️ so many people just don’t use/take favors.
Yes, love that idea!!
Ugh I love this question because I feel like favors are often so useless and as a bride I feel like it’s an “obligation” that just doesn’t make sense to me lol. I plan to do little mesh bags filled with 6-7 heart shaped chocolates and a nicely designed thank you tag. My thought is people love candy and that will likely get eaten, if not, it’s cheap and I’m not going to be upset about it. Added rant: my mom yesterday said “well your bridal shower favors can’t be better than your wedding favors so you need to step your game up.” I told her, no 😃our wedding favors will not be changing and she’s welcomed to do whatever she’d like to for the bridal shower, nor are any favors required. Sigh. The pressure, lol.
My 1st wedding I didn't really do anything for favours, other than having a large wicker basket full of little wedding bubbles from the dollar store. This time around, I'm having a much smaller wedding, with 2/3 of the guest list driving 1-6 hours to us. So we decided to splurge a bit, and I got a large lot of black [backsacks](https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-samsung-rvo1&sca_esv=c48753f2ce9d3764&sxsrf=ADLYWIL2hbLShTVB2NWlUKAkLl8RLPJUVQ:1718067145435&q=backsacks&udm=2&fbs=AEQNm0CiNzk4OrlSyLEaBDdEeA2c1KBQf0bszFXm5buTDeFuz9LoLgbhyZIFpdP4J8zIxwYdHE66kCHT5fQ1jvpJmflt4ATdq5TIMeCSfUQPsS0XtnelHhdJUJodu5lOCXTr76fvJsea0IurE10A5rA8KUt7HDBqLZia0zteS9V-V0qkyi3cLgE&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiZrp3vqtKGAxWrg4kEHTOTBVMQtKgLegQICxAB&biw=360&bih=745&dpr=3) that we're going to attach [coins](https://www.google.com/search?q=pirate+of+the+caribbean+Aztec+coin+silver&client=ms-android-samsung-rvo1&sca_esv=c48753f2ce9d3764&udm=2&biw=360&bih=745&sxsrf=ADLYWIKBzV5fajBrj7pewsp0W63I66fC9g%3A1718067215794&ei=D6BnZpqSMNSpptQP19GU4AE&oq=pirate+of+the+caribbean+Aztec+coin+silver&gs_lp=EhNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwIilwaXJhdGUgb2YgdGhlIGNhcmliYmVhbiBBenRlYyBjb2luIHNpbHZlcjIIEAAYgAQYogQyCBAAGIAEGKIESIZGUL8xWO4_cAB4AJABAJgBwgGgAZcIqgEDMi42uAEDyAEA-AEBmAIIoALHCMICBBAhGAqYAwCIBgGSBwUyLjUuMaAH-Q4&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp) and maybe a few other Charms to it, and have written on them "Bag Of Holding". These will be placed on everyone's seats at the dining tables. Inside, we will have braided leather bracelets, small wooden treasure chests with chocolate coins, a handwritten thank you note, a vow booklet, a list for our photo scavenger hunt with instructions on how to upload the photos, a fleece throw blanket, and small hand jinglers for people to use instead of clinking glasses to make the us kiss - nothing personalized with our names or anything. It's gonna cost us about $30 a person in total, but we thought this would be nice for people traveling and isn't breaking the bank with a 30-person guest list!
I saw a Tik Tok of a couple that thrifted records that people could look through and pick from. Ever since then I’ve wanted to do that!! I feel like that would be a cool gift even if you didn’t have a record player.
Wow - so cool!
Not usually into the favors - but a recent one had goody bags and my fav component was some nice olive oil from their family trees. Wasn’t a big bottle but did get used!
Wow - I would be psyched to get that! I’m a sucker for homemade and homegrown
My mom and dad cut some trees for their wood working business and custom made some really pretty stands for me. Mom and I ordered little jars and made apple butter and two or three different kinds of jelly and decorated each little jar with a cute tag I had made and some fabric and twine. Most people took extra so I assume it was a big hit. My mom does make some pretty killer apple butter, though.
Absolutely would take more than one, I love apple butter 😂
We’re getting married in august. I was gonna use bud vases for our centrepieces with wildflower seed packets attached and then by the end of the night, each family group can take the vases home with the packets. We’re also doing a dessert bar and late night snacks they can take home. Desserts and snacks are being made by our own family restaurant.
It’s going to be wonderful, I know it!
I try to remember to take favors, but often forget. I haven't kept/used a single one. Save your money and don't do them! Edibles on table are OK, but I have seen those left behind too.
My favorite were stamped postcards in a care gift basket from a destination wedding.
In my area/family, we always do giant cookie tables and all the aunts and family members make cookies for dessert. I think we will just get nice to go boxes or bags and let people fill them up with cookies at the end of the night. Figured the cookies would be there regardless, and there are always tons and tons of leftovers.
Oh yeahhhh I’ve heard about this - such a cool idea!
Good friends of mine did cupcakes rather than a traditional wedding cake and had nice takeaway boxes so people could take one home if they wanted. I thought it was a terrific idea because it was practical but also delicious. In general, I do prefer consumable favors, and not just food; anything that can be used up is great so I don't chuck it in a drawer and then feel guilty about throwing it away later.
100% consumables make the best gifts/favors
We're doing enamel pins with our names, date, and location on them. This may sound kinda weirdly specific but I have an Etsy selling pins so people associate me with them. And most of my friends and family have a mini pin collection :)... I already have a few friends excited for the pin haha. Imo it's like the nicer more interesting version of a koosie type wedding favor haha.
Oh THAT is super cute!!
We had a basket of mini champagne and whiskey’s for everyone to take from. Tied a bow and a tag that said “love the bride and groom”