Custom dog tags - bad form?

jena.n.ross

Fi has an uncle who does a lot of high dollar party planning in Manhattan.  

He's got all kinds of suggestions, and I find it so hard to just say, nope, don't like that.  He's got this idea about purchasing rice-paper parasols, and adding a tag with our wedding info on it, stringing them from the ceiling, then handing them out as the favour.  Okay, A)I can't find nice pictures of this online. the logistics of pulling them down one by one.. gah, headache. c)Really, who wants a parasol in someone's wedding colours (autumnal hues, but still) embossed with someone else's wedding crap? I would guess that at least 80% would go to waste (garbage, left at the reception, etc).

His other idea... making silk 12" square cushions (the ceremony is in an outdoor chapel with hard benches), attach a handle, and use custom stamped dog tags on the handle for favours.  Okay.. really, who wants a 12" silk foam cushion.  

So, mostly a rant, but also I'm curious: I feel like novelty dog tags are extremely disrespectful to our military personnel.  Thoughts?

mags0607

All of this seems like a terrible idea to me. I think non-edible favors are a waste to begin with, and i really don't like the idea of novelty dog tags to begin with. This would totally be NMS.

AlexiaANDRobert

I don't necessarily think it's offensive, but agree that favors are best when edible.

SarahPLiz

My little sister has an emergency (RoadID) dogtag, because it looks cooler on a college aged kid then a medic alert bracelet. In case of emergency, someone needs to know what meds she is on and who to call.  But I think at the very least, dogtags should be utilitarian, the same way they are in the military. They are not supposed to be a fad.

I think your uncle is grasping at straws to come up with the best favor ever, and only coming up with useless stuff. Now a plastic coushion that I could re-use at a football game would be nice, but I doubt that stadium seats are in your wedding vision.

evabee

I don't necessarily think dog tags are disrespectful, but actually kind of morbid. I cringe whenever I see FI's tags because I know that the purpose is to identify him if he's unidentifiable, to get a priest to him for his last rights, to get blood to him if he's bleeding.. to notify me if he dies. I just don't think it's a "party favor" kind of thing.

Good luck! Sometimes it's so hard to turn down the ideas brought to you because someone genuinely wants to help.

temerityjane

I was going to say EXACTLY what evabee said. It's not that they're offensive, but Buddy has dog tags to serve, essentially, as a toe tag should something happen to him when he's deployed. I know that for a lot of people, it wouldn't carry those connotations, especially young people, but I think older people (for example, my mom has her father's dog tags) would feel a little bit that way.

Morfudd

Yeah, I'd vote "morbid" more than anything, as well as "potentially upsetting for veterans" in more of a "not wanting to be reminded of the horrors of war" way rather than a "offended" sort of way.

andysgirl2011

My boyfriend is a marine and I wear his dog tags.  I think the only time someone should wear dog tags is if it has something to do with the military.  At the Marine Corps Birthday Ball last November they gave out dog tags as party favors with the Birthday Ball information on it.  I kept it but everyone thought it was lame...and that was the marines.