What are your favors ? And how much did it cost ?

[Mrs.soontobealfonzo]

I just want to get some ideas ? thanks ladies

 

[labbielove]

We are going to do a donation to the American Cancer Society,
and also at each place setting we''ll have a box with some sort of edible- most likely a homemade truffle from a local candy shop that is down the street from my house-

Not sure how much the donation will be, and we haven''t priced out the candy yet. If the truffles are too much we may do something different.

 

[San Diego Bride]

we made a donation to st. jude children''s hospital for our guests. st. jude sent us bookmarks which we put at all of the place settings. it made sense for us since i work with sick children and my husband works with children with cancer. (we actually met taking care of a teenager with cancer). we also had a charity registry for our wedding rather than a traditional one.

 

[MustangGal]

We did golf balls with our names and dates stamped on them in our colors, then wrapped them up in celophane and tied a little tag on each that said "Thanks for helping us have a ball", cheesy, I know. We got married on a golf course, and hubby works works in the golf industry, so it made sense. They ended up being about $2 per ball.

 

[Jas12]

About a year ago I started making my own pure vanilla extract (bulk purchased organic beans and steeped them in pure alcohol) I then purchased frosted bottles and designed my own labels--I made a small vanilla-based recipe card to go with each and I am putting it all together in an organza bag. They will be tagged with the table assignment.

I think the whole thing will work out to be be around $5.00 a person. A little expensive, but i really wanted to do it and to buy a 4 oz bottle of pure vanilla would be much, much more than that! I am hoping people will really use it and think of us when they do!

 

[Pandora II]

We are having a dinosaur theme - you are allowed to laugh - FI and I were both obsessed with them when we were kids and still go off fossil hunting when we have time. I found Edward Monkton''s Lovely Love Story about 2 dinosaurs in love and gave it to FI for valentines day and we are having the book as one of our readings, so the plan is:

I have bought some really nice dinosaur cookie cutters and I am thinking of making shortbread biscuits and ice them - colours are ivory, yellow and sage green. Then put one in a cellophane bag.

Then I am having a custom stamp made of one of the bits from the book but my own design. I''m using this with fabric paint to stamp small bags which will be tied with ribbon embroidered with our names and the date. The bags will be filled with a mixture of herbs that are traditional for weddings - lavender, rosemary, mint, sage and thyme. I''m going to use mainly herbs for my bouquet and arrangements along with yellow roses and forget-me-nots so hopefully it will all tie in.

I haven''t decided what fabric to use yet for the bags - I quite like the idea of a lightweight calico or unbleached cotton or similar, nothing too shiny.

I was worried that the lavender bags (even if they do have dinosaurs on) would be too girlie for some male guests - hence why I''m doing biscuits too. Do you think both are too much? Could I get away with just doing the bags and the traditional sugared almonds? I''m wary of having too much to do in the last weeks. (The bags can be made this year, but biscuits need to be just before and I am already making the BM''s dresses, icing my own cake and all the other bits and pieces that just happen.)

 

[akw94]

I *think* I''m going to make my own iced sugar cookies and write the wedding date, our initials or other such things on them in icing. It seems possible and I will definitely do a trial.
No idea on the cost yet though. If not, I was thinking of doing mini-chocolate bars. I think you can get 50 or 100 for around $40 on theknot.com. They have personalized labels and I thought that was cute since I loooooove chocolate!

 

[regalada]

We bought little ceramic plaques painted with doors, which is one of the nicest features of houses in our location, Old San Juan. We bought them from an artisan in San Juan. They were originally $4 a piece but since we bought 14 of them we got a discount. I wrote our names and wedding date in the back and we packed them in gold pyramid boxes with a bow on top.

Bittersweet story about our favors: we were browsing in different kiosks at a crafts fair trying to find something that spoke to us, as soon as we saw the little doors we knew that was it. We asked how much, and told the lady we wanted 14 (we had a very small wedding). She asked why so many and we said they would be favors in our wedding. At that moment, she whipped out a marker and asked what our names were, she wanted to inscribe one little plaque for us as a gift. When I told her my name, she looked at me with tears in her eyes and said that I had her mother''s name, and that her mother had passed away a couple of months before. She started crying and hubby, our maid of honor and me stood there wondering what to do. She finally stopped crying, thanked the Lord, finished up the inscription, gave us the little door along with a big hug to each of us, and the most heartfelt congratulations. It was one of the sweetest moments we had in the whole wedding planning period

.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I didn''t want to do favors but my mom really want to so we did a piece of dark chocolate (in a shape of cupid) from a local candy co in small black bags with a white wax seal to close them (there is a picture on my wedding thread). I would guess they were under $3 a piece. Maybe even $2.

 

[KimberlyH]

We had 28 guests, which allowed me to do something a bit more time consuming. We purchased cache pots (small flower pots) and I stenciled each guest''s name on a pot, and planted kalanchoe in them. We used them as decorations (I made a few extras for my deceased grandparents and John''s deceased father and aunt) and we just laid them down the center of the table and then everyone got to take theirs home.

 

[Trelala]

I got glass coasters from theknot.com. I plan to put photos of each of the guests with either FI or me in the coaster. We''ll have their name in calligraphy on the bottom and their table number on the back. Maybe I''ll have a thank you message on the back as well. I read this idea somewhere years ago and always wanted to use it. It ought to be a great conversation starter, there are some pretty interesting photos I plan to use.

Total cost: a little more than $2/person, including tax and shipping

 

[Gypsy]

My favors are CRAZY expensive but...

I'm persian. Our wedding won't be... but I wanted some touches. SO... I put my mother in charge of favors. I should have stipulated SOMETHING... but how was I supposed to know my mother would order 3x3 inch handmade gold, ivory mosaic inlay handmade in Isfahan boxes. I kind you not my favors-- 50 of them, cost more than my gown. Still, they are REAL collectibles.

 

[budgetbride]

frey's white chocolate blueberry bar. they reflect the colors of our wedding. plus they taste really good. they cost about $2 per bar. i'm only getting 75-90 of them.

 

[kimberlina13]

I''m still deciding, but our photographer will put a pic of fiance and me on a white lollipop and inscribe the date. I think she said that it would be about a buck a pop.

 

[basil]

I haven''t made a final decision yet, but I think I''m going to have little Chinese take-out boxes filled with Jordan almonds. To combine our Chinese and Italian hertitages.

The boxes seem to run $0.25-0.50 each, and 5 pounds of almonds is like $35. I was estimating I''d be able to put 4 oz in each, so that''s $1.75 pp. I was thinking of making up a sticker to seal the box, but I don''t know how much inkjet sticky paper and ink will end up costing.

 

[Jas12]

basil--your idea is so cute--i have a thing for Jordon Almonds (my family calls them Italian confetti) i think they have been used in so many tacky weddings (at least i clearly remember them as a child at every wedding i attended--i am 1/2 italian) but now they seem kitchy to me--which i love. Your idea of pairing them in the chinese take-out boxes makes them funky!

Some great ideas here...for those of you doing sugar cookies (i have a lot of cookie making experience) it is super affordable and super easy. Just get a good, workable sugar cookie recipe and ice with Royal Decorator''s icing (this is key b/c it will dry hard and keep its shape) also look for a recipe that uses merigne powder instead of raw egg whites.

 

[njc]

We had iced sugar cookies in the shape of L''s for our last name. We put each in a clear plastic candy bag and I made tags for each one that doubled as seating cards for guests and tied it all together with nice ribbon. They were about $2-3 each... I cant remember, but they were a big hit!