Favors from India

Rainbow17

I heard you can get nice wedding favors from India that are also really cheap.  What did you get for wedding favors, how much did they cost, and where di you get them?

rsmehta

I just came back from India last week and did most of my shopping.  I initially had a hard time finding favors that I liked because the amount of money I was able to put towards each one wasn't amounting to a gift that I liked or found useful for my guests.  I felt like if I was going to spend that much money on something (because it all adds up in the end even if each individual favor is cheap), I really wanted to it at least be useful or unique so people didn't end up just throwing it away.  What I ended up deciding on were these beautiful scarves/shawls for just the ladies.  I figured that men and kids don't really care about favors and this way I can spend a little more and buy something nice that cost more.  They're bright colors and have an Indian look, but can be accessorized with almost any outfit. I plan on having the bridesmaids hand them out either at the ceremony or the reception (haven't decided yet).

What I really wanted was to donate to charity, but my mom vetoed this, as she felt that we needed to hand something out to the aunties...

rsmehta

Oh I forgot to mention cost..they cost 200 rupees each, which is a little more than $4.00 each.  I bought them in Bombay

MrsBM

This topic is very popular...we should sticky this thread and combine with the other threads that have been posted ...anyone know how to do that?

TravelMal3

I am with you guys on the fact that the favors have to be useful to the guests.  Otherwise, the money is better spent on other hospitality for the guests. 

I am trying to spend $3 per favor.  I want to get a salt and pepper shaker set for that amount.  Preferably ceramic.  Maybe I'll find something unique in New Delhi and maybe not. 

If I don't find something useful within that price range, I am doing $3 NJ lottery scratch-offs with a penny and a note with our wedding monogram stating, "We have been lucky in love.  We hope that luck is with you tonight" or something similar.  And a fresh new penny to go along with it for scratching.  I think that will be fun/interactive.

Not sure what would be better honestly....

andamu

I'm skipping favors, I think.  The only think I'm doing is that we're using glass bangles as napkin rings and people will be able to take those home.

AquarianDragon

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_south-asian-weddings_favors-india?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural Wedding BoardsForum:430Discussion:094ecf07-176c-4b6f-bd82-36305b099256Post:8dabe848-ae03-415b-853f-e76400cb1976">Re: Favors from India</a>:
[QUOTE]It was a wall decor - strings with hand painted wooden elephants and bells!Posted by BellsnRings[/QUOTE]

<strong><font color="#000080">Do you have a photo somewhere? I'm planning for our decor/theme to be centered around the elephant. FI's dad and one of FI's cousins are going to India this month (Mumbai and Banglore, respectively). Maybe we can get either his auntie in Mumbai or his cousin to look for us.
</font></strong>

SimRoy

HI Ladies...

I agree most favors really do end up in the garbage.  People usually don't care for them in  my opinion.  I am going the no favor route and doing the candy bar set up w/ the dessert station.  It seems to be popular these days and can be a lot of fun and not expensive which is the best part.  : )

Sim

temurlang

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_south-asian-weddings_favors-india?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:430Discussion:094ecf07-176c-4b6f-bd82-36305b099256Post:84cb7cb8-733f-493b-a4d7-9253bb0377ea">Re: Favors from India</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Favors from India : Do you have a photo somewhere? I'm planning for our decor/theme to be centered around the elephant. FI's dad and one of FI's cousins are going to India this month (Mumbai and Banglore, respectively). Maybe we can get either his auntie in Mumbai or his cousin to look for us.
Posted by AquarianDragon[/QUOTE]

I think it's one of these, probably the string:

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<a href="#" title="Click to view a larger photo" onclick="return gSiteLife.LoadForumPage('ForumImage', 'plckPhotoId', '70196d2f-8f4c-4c03-9614-ee000a422266', 'plckRedirectUrl', gSiteLife.EscapeValue(window.location.href));"> <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/images/store/0/6/70196d2f-8f4c-4c03-9614-ee000a422266.medium.jpg" alt="" /></a>

Both are common items in Rajasthan, and our door hanger has elephants and swastikas (which totally freaks out my Eastern European relatives) instead of the peacocks and plants.  I don't know if non-Desis would use that.  The strings come with a few different motifs, elephants being a popular one.  They are quite inexpensive (in Jaipur a really nicely made one is still under $2) and we have given them as gifts and people like them.  They're exotic and don't take up space.  I
would expect you can buy it in Mumbai, but I don't know about South India.

neetuandsachin

i am not doing favors (making a donation to my father's charity in his memory in my guests' honor instead) but when i was in delhi i found these super cheap carved wooden boxes that were stuffed with fresh loose leaf tea! they were in many of the giftshops in janpath and the salesman was asking for 100 rupees each (about $2.25) but i got him down to 50 rupees each (just over $1).  i've got to imagine it would be a bit bulky to carry back a ton of these depending on how many guests you have but they were really nice and also had gold embellished elephant designs on the woodwork.