Okay so heres the deal. I liked the wedding favor mason jar idea where they get to drink out of the jar and bring it home. However I have heard great and negative things about this approach. What are your thoughts or past experiences?
Also if I change my mind and do a different favor what are some ideas or favors you did or have seen? I can't spend too much money as I am on a tight budget. (I do like the kuzie ideas bc my fiance likes to collect them)
Thank you for your time and help!!
Re: Please help! What were your wedding favors?
Edible favors are always best. I have no use for one mason jar, or most of the other cutesy crap people give away.
My favor was cupcakes. Most everyone took at least one. My MIL made these votive candle things and two people took them. Two. My mom and my grandma.
We had cheesecakes and gelato. But there's nothing wrong with a wedding cake and cupcakes. Generally the [edible] favor is taken with the guest to be eaten later so no reason not to double up on cake.
Favors are a token of appreciation and thank you to your guests. So, your fiancé collects koozies, but do your guests? Your guests are the ones who will be taking them home, not your fiancé.
And the mason jar thing? I honestly don't know of a single person who wants to drink out of a jar and then bring the dirty jar home with them as their gift. So I have to keep track of my jar all night and wash it myself? And what about people who want to switch beverages throughout the night? Is there someone there who is going to wash out their jar for them? And what about the lids? What am I going to do with a lidless jar once it's home? I don't drink out of jars at home - I have glasses for that.
Favors aren't required. Your reception is a thank you to your guests - favors are just a bit above and beyond. If you're on that tight of a budget, then skip them. Otherwise, go with the thing that has the most appeal, which is usually edible. Hershey's Kisses aren't that expensive - throw some in a decorative bag and call it a day. There are plenty of people who would take leftovers if there are a few people who don't happen to like chocolate and people aren't left with something that takes up space that they'll probably never use.
Is that really true? I thought the traditional sugared almond favors were an old Italian wedding custom.
Mason Jar - cute but I know as the bride I kept losing my drinks during the night because I would take a few sips of my drink, put it down because I wanted to hit the dance floor and the forget where I put my drink.
Koozie - I think that's a know your crowd thing. In my family they aren't a popular thing so my guests would have ended up leaving them or taking them & throwing them away
What I had - Chocolate heart shaped suckers, huge hit. A friend made them for us as a wedding gift. We should have had a bunch left over to take home because she made extra in case any broke, but there wasn't a single one left over. She put them all in individual bags to cover the chocolate and tied with ribbons in our wedding colors. They looked so cute on each of the plate settings. And they were yummy too.
So we did chocolate rocks wrapped in tulle, tied with ribbon, and placed in little white buckets.
If you're on a tight budget they're a good thing to skip - If you still want to spend that money, upgrade something else such as have a larger portion of cake for your guests or upgrade a protein option on the menu or a wine option...
We had 6oz. Honey Bears as our main favor with a note "Thanks for Beeing here!" (I grew up on a Honey Farm and was wearing a bee pin that my Granny had given me as my something blue, and we had a "Nuk box" as our card box - it's a smaller beehive we use when starting up new hives for those who don't know what that is so it was part of a theme). We also gave out chocolate mints from our favorite steak house back home at the end of the meal. For the kids we purchased McDonald's toys...
I actually forget that we even had favors since I didn't buy them or plan for them - it was all MIL. Edibles or consumables are the best ones. This board tends to favor edibles, but I have to confess I almost never eat or take the edible ones!
So yeah, I think if you do something edible, make it nice, and probably on the sweet side or something like fancy popcorn... don't cheap out if you are gonna do it.
If your area has regional treats, this is a nice idea- rather than so-and-so's wedding emblazoned on a thing, it's more like getting an area souvenir.
What I DON"T remember was receiving a favor at a birthday party. Gifts were for the birthday child. Why would I expect to get something for someone else's birthday? But then, I also don't remember getting anything just because a new sibling was born, or I got an "A" on a report card, or performed household chores.
God, I'm old.......getting off my impromptu soapbox as I have many miles of snow to walk through.......
... and they're a functional favor!! Even if you don't smoke, they're awesome to have around because I don't need the 300 pack of them!!
I also agree that if you are on a budget, you can skip favours.
We had a candy bar. We had baggies and ties, so guests could take candy home, but most of it was eaten during the reception!
Myself? I wouldn't do anything with one mason jar. I wouldn't go out of my way to use it to drink when I have a set of glassware. Kuzi- maybe. But we have one already that only gets used occasionally... and I don't really want something that has a random wedding date written on it.