Best / Worst Favors

SonaliPop · May 2010

What favors are you giving? What favors do you hate?

(Can you tell I have favors on my mind?)

I hate half of the ones I get. I really would prefer if people made a charitable donation instead of giving me a chocolate box or Indian sweets that are so sugary, I swear my teeth are falling out. I'm happy enough to go to the wedding and be included in festivities, I don't know if I need anything as a favor. And I have seen some awful ones!

SonaliPop · May 2010

Well, wait - to be more clear...I am grateful for any favor given to me, but some taste so much out of my range of capability with sugar, that it's hard for me to enjoy them.

Just had to clarify there.

trueleo818 · May 2010

I dont even know what to give out as favors for my US wedding and Sri Lankan. im screwed. what do you have in mind?

SonaliPop · May 2010

No clue. Soooooooo lost.

Hinaj · May 2010

true love - I think it doesn't haven't to be culturally dependent. Do what you feel like doing. Edibles are always easy and safe becasue people will usually eat chocolate.

Favors I hate: Things that are not going to be useful to me. Like personalized luggae tags, why would I want the B&G's initial on them while I am traveling. Anything personalized tend to not go over well, because people leave them behind or they throw it away. And its just a waste of money. Do something your guest can appreciate. Also, I don't want a card on my plate saying they have donated to so and so charity on your behalf, because you are just killing trees. As much as I don't mind the contribution the bride and groom made, I don't need a paper that will also go to waste.

Favors I like:

1. Edible stuff, because I can eat it. I love chocolate so I am not going to say no. Something useful and creative is fun too. Like giving out photo coasters (maybe with brdie and groom picture in it) but at least the guest can take it out if they choose to. There are many stuff that are fun that people can do.

Sonali check out the favor board, and read some posts, there is a wide variety of posts and what other brides are using.

What am I doing? For the Shaadi, we are having a box filled with edible goodies. Some traditional stuff, that are cultuarally needed like dates and other stuff, and we are also putting in some lindt chocoaltes, milk and white chocolate to be exact that matches our colors of the day, red and gold. We are also putting in almond jordans in there as well. I think that is all so far.

For the reception, since we have already done the edible favors, we will be doing something non-edible. Maybe something that has a nautical theme. I saw these cute candles, that are in a cute shade of blue which our colors are blue and pink and has sea sheels in the bottom of the candle which makes it for our reception on a ship. LOL. Or Photo coaster. We can't come up with a decsion yet.

Can you tell I have thought too much about this?

Sonali, another idea would be to do a candy buffet and put some boxes there so guests can eat them too and take them home if they want. You can do desi sweets as well as American candies.

raangoli · May 2010

We love the idea of a candy buffet/bar. We are big candy people ourselves and this way if people want, they can take. If they don't, they dont have to. And there will be a wider variety of flavors for people to choose from, so hopefully there is something for everyone.

Of course, I hope that the first aunty doesn't load up on 5lbs of the candies and there aren't any left for the rest of our guests...

Hinaj · May 2010

Hahahahh!!!! that is hilarious raangoli!!! and it could very well be true. Do keep a look out. You always have those guest that will do something inappropriate. LOL.

raangoli · May 2010

Hina - you know there is always the one aunty or uncle (or sometimes both!) that do things like that. And you're left wondering "what the heck just happened?"

Yeah. Just keepin' it real...

Jeff and Deepthi · May 2010

I think the chocolates are great.. That's normally what I get when I go to a wedding. I got a cookie cutter once and while it was great I really never used it. Someone gave me small salt and pepper shakers that never got used.

The best was probably a CD with random love songs.. Both american and indian. It was actually great and I kept in my car for a long time! It got taken out at my car accident and I haven't put it in the new car, but I think I'm going to be doing CDs and candy combo.

kavita85 · May 2010

I know it is an etiquette faux pas, but I really want to do a donation to an orphanage my friend started in India. She has done a lot of great work and helped so many people. We wouldn't advertise it, but just keep it quiet and not say anything. We're feeding our guests a ton of food throughout the wedding and reception, including rasmalai and cake...I don't think they will miss a favor. If I didn't do the charity donation, I would definitely choose something edible. Candy buffets never get old with me!

HisBelovedOne · May 2010

Favors I like: candles, trinket boxes, coasters, etc.

Favors I dislike: luggage tags, things I can't use.

Edibles are hit or miss. There are some food things I just can't stand. Too sweet, usually.

I'm not sure what we're doing for favors yet. It will depend on what our budget can handle, but with 100 people and a tight budget, they'll have to be inexpensive. We're thinking about filling little trinket boxes (I found some on www.indianweddingcard.com for less than $1 each) with Hershey's kisses or something.

trueleo818 · May 2010

Candy buffet has been in my mind for a looong time!
Is it common for the bride and groom to make donations to a charity?

mrs.khan · May 2010

I hate favors unless they are edible or a charitable donation. I think they are a total waste of money. <<insert debbie downer sound here>>

Hinaj · May 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_south-asian-weddings_worst-favors?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:430Discussion:0bf03dd2-2ff4-4b1a-909c-d8ff726509dePost:1b806b55-bcc5-4c08-95ab-e4397ada03dd">Re: Best / Worst Favors</a>:
[QUOTE]Candy buffet has been in my mind for a looong time! Is it common for the bride and groom to make donations to a charity?
Posted by trueleo818[/QUOTE]

It is up to you. Some bride and groom make a donation to a charity of their choice in lieu of favors.

trueleo818 · May 2010

got it! thanks hinaj

gryffindor · May 2010

We just had our wedding this weekend. We totally skipped the favors and donation cards for many of the reasons you all have listed. As far as I know, no one missed them. I wanted to do a candy buffet at one point, but my parents nixed that idea saying that aunties and uncles won't care much about theme colored jelly beans and Hershey kisses when there are bengali sweets and gulab jamuns right next to it. We have noticed at other wedding that aunties almost reach the point of fighting over taking home the floral centerpieces. So we worked our flower budget and designed the arrangements in such a way that we had an abundance of centerpieces so anyone who wanted one was able to take one home.

DR800 · May 2010

My favourite favour was a small jar of local honey made by the groom (the groom was a part-time beekeeper)- it was edible and personal! Anything edible is generally appreciated.

My fiance and I love to cook together, so we're naming our tables after herbs and spices, and giving the guests recipes that we love that contain their spice (i.e. people at the cumin table will get a recipe with cumin in it). And we're rolling the recipes around Ferrero Rocher chocolates for people who don't cook (and for aunties who will complain that we didn't spend any money on our favours...sigh). At least it's going to work out to be pretty cheap, because we don't have to spend money on chocolate boxes or bags.

vindaloo · May 2010

I went to a Sri Lankan wedding a couple of years ago that had pieces of traditional Sri Lankan wedding cake for the favor. They were wrapped up in little boxes, with a ribbon around it and a sticker with the couples' monogram & wedding date. There was also a little slip of paper inside explaining how the cake was traditional. I thought that was a really nice way to honor the bride's Sri Lankan culture and incorporate a useful (tasty!) favor.

trueleo818 · May 2010

Vindaloo,

are the cakes really that good??

HisBelovedOne · May 2010

You know, I never understood why people keep insisting that wedding cake is dry, dull, or otherwise unpalatable. I've been to many, many weddings, and the cake is always good. And the three bakers we've interviewed had spectacular samples.

Edited to ask a question: What Indian candies can be found in small pieces? The trinket boxed will be small (about 3 " long, 1.5" tall and 1.5" wide), and I need to be able to fit a smallish piece of candy in there. I was considering a Hershey's kiss and an Indian candy, but I don't know what kind of candy to look for. Any ideas?

Lil_miss_sha · May 2010

We're giving everyone pieces of traditional Sri Lankan wedding cake (it's similar to fruit cake but chewy with a fondant frosting) in batwas (small brocade silk bags) that are in our wedding colors.

We also looked at incense and leaf shaped plate to burn it over, inlaid stone coasters, and boxes of mithai. The traditional wedding cake won out.

Lil_miss_sha · May 2010

We're also thinking about doing a popcorn bar... It's a little twist on the candy bar thing and I'm from a town that holds a popcorn festival every year in honor of Orville Redenbacher and Garret's Popcorn in Chicago is some of the BEST!

jnsaini · May 2010

Hi ladies,
I contemplated a lot about edible favors, but then a coworker from my last job had given me this cute key chain (rajasthani style with jingles on it) and I remember how much I love that key chain I can always find the car keys so fast cause of the noise.lol
So i asked my sis to get these in bulk from india, she got some cute ones like elephants etc with jingles on that..we wont have our intials on them that is tacky, I want ppl to actually use them and I think in some cases ppl probably will

You can buy some online too.
-nicky

ESJ'sBride · May 2010

We did a wedding photobooth for favors. Guests got a little piece of themselves and it was more American than being culturally specific. It was something both my Indian side and his Latin side enjoyed. We put these cute frames around each table for our guests to display their photo strips in. In the end, my husband and I loved that we didn't sit for hours with a glue gun and the silly shots we got to see everyone take were hilarious to look at (we received a photo CD from the vendor at the end of the night)

Naush.Fahdi · May 2010

I also dont like things that are personalized or serve no function.

I made my own simple favor boxes with an "indian" touch, and filled it with chocolate, and the traditional almonds, sugar cubes, dry fruit.

Anybody looking for desi-ish favor boxes, I can make them for you for cheap;)

meghaks · May 2010

Ditto on the photobooth favor. We did that as well and had our wedding logo/date on it but of course the pictures were of the folks (so it was personalized so they would remember where it was from but a good memory that they can keep of themselves). We got to keep a copy in our guest book and they took the other copy. We even gave them a clear sleeve to carry them around in. It was a big hit since it's not that common yet, especially at Indian weddings. And it was not that expensive when you look at the per person cost of favors. But, as a warning, I had to sell it to my parents and my in-laws because it wasn't a "traditional" favor and they thought people would be offended/confused that they weren't getting sweets or ganesh statues. Indian people can be weird

. I'm glad I didn't add to the junk pile of wedding favors in everyone's home though!

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