favor ideas....

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Favors: Top Tips for Fabulous Favors
Here are 7 inspiring favor ideas to help you get creative with your own gracious gifts.

1. All About Almonds

There's a reason Jordan Almonds are the quintessential wedding favor: They're steeped in tradition. You can learn more about this favorable treat by reading all about Jordan Almonds, but how are your guests supposed to know about their significance? Be sure to attach a little card with a note explaining the almonds' meaning:

Jordan Almonds for Thee
Five sugared almonds for each guest to eat
To remind us that life is both bitter and sweet.
Five wishes for the new husband and wife --
Health, wealth, happiness, children, and a long life!

2. Match Don't Mix

Whatever your favors may be, pick packaging that matches your wedding colors -- and your table decor. Visit a neighborhood fabric store for ribbons to match your wedding-day palette (if you have one, bring along a swatch of your table linens) and personalize the gift with a monogrammed sticker or unique favor label

. Special Seating Cards

Looking for something a bit more memorable than tented, paper place cards? Make your favors and your escort cards one in the same. From mini picture frames to Christmas ornaments, tag your favors with each guest's name and table number and place them on the escort table.

4. Pair Up

If you wish to give more expensive, high-end favors but need to find a way to skim the fat, give one gift per couple by placing the favor between their two dinner plates, and tagging it with the couple's names. For your single friends, stick with one gift per person.

5. Have a Heart

More couples are forgoing fun, foodie favors for charitable donations. But you want to make sure the charity is legit. Research your chosen charity to find out how they spend donations -- and make sure you receive a receipt for tax purposes. Find out more about many charities to support at IDoFoundation.org or JustGive.org.>> Learn more about charitable favors from real couples who did them.

. When to Give

If favors aren't a part of your tabletop decor, pass them out to guests as they are leaving the reception. Put the favors in small shopping bags with pretty tissue paper and have a waiter hand one to each guest. In cold weather, the coatroom attendant may hand them a bag with their coats.

. Clean Your Cans

Looking for a festive favor that'll never go out of style? Try homemade jams and jars filled with penny candy. But be sure to sterillize the containers before use. Detergent residue may cause unexpected flavors (yuck). First, wash the empty jars with hot water and detergent. Then, soak them for several hours in a solution containing 1 cup of vinegar per gallon of water.

Favors: 46 Fabulous Favorites
With these 46 inspiring favor ideas you'll be sure to send your guests home in style!


Whether it's playful, sentimental, or simply elegant, give guests something to smile about. Make a lasting impression with a favorable favor. Here are 46 fabulous favorites from which to choose.


Seasonally Inspired

Timely elements can make your wedding-day theme echo your natural surroundings.
1. Place handmade Easter eggs, dipped in decorative colors, in mini Easter baskets filled with raffia instead of plastic green grass.
2. Crowd an entire table with miniature watering cans full of fresh spring blooms.
3. Add a handful of saltwater taffy to tiny tin pails adorned with a sand dollar or starfish magnet for a summer wedding on the water.
4. Hand out sparklers for an outdoor Fourth of July celebration. Guests can enjoy illuminating the night once the sun goes down -- and lighting up your grand exit.
5. A welcome basket with water bottles, sunscreen, and even a pair of flip flops is perfect accompaniment to a waterside wedding.
6. Caramel apples wrapped in cellophane and with personalized leaf-shape tags attached are a perfect treat for a Halloween celebration.
7. A pair of scented taper candles (pumpkin, perhaps) or 'A Perfect Pair' pear-shaped candles are ideal for a fall affair.
8. Marrying around the winter holidays? Give Christmas ornaments in ivory, silver, or gold, tied with a velvet ribbon or adorned with a belly band that reads, ''Tis the Season to Be Married...'
9. For guests attending your winter wedding, slip a frosted snowflake cookie into a glassine bag tied with white satin ribbon.
10. We love candy canes wrapped in red-and-white ribbon and tagged with 'How Sweet Love Is ...'
11. Count down to the start of the New Year by leaving little silver bedside clocks at each place setting.
12. A Valentine's Day wedding calls for miniature hand-painted, heart-shape boxes with a single delectable truffle tucked inside each.
13. Or send guests home with a scoop of Hershey's Kisses wrapped in red foil, resting in silver ice-cream scoopers.


Foodie Favors

Shake it up, stir it up, and serve it up with gifts that blend well with all tastes.
12. Package a collection of family recipes in a small box with your names and wedding date printed on the back.
13. Send guests home with mini wine bottles of the same vintage served with dinner and adorned with a personalized label. Spend a little extra and top off each bottle with a silver or crystal wine stopper.
14. Hometown goods such as locally baked cookies, maple syrup, candies, or anything sweet that originated in the city where you'll wed always make memorable favors.
15. Send guests home in sweet euphoria with a jar of honey from a local farm, pinned with a personalized tag inspired by James Taylor: 'How Sweet It Is To Bee Loved By You.'
16. We're big fans of adding labels to slim silver canisters of nuts that say 'Nuts for Each Other.'
17. For DIY favors, hand out Chinese take-out boxes stamped with your new monogram, and let guests fill up their own with sugary sweets of their choice -- from Old-fashioned button candy to colorful gumdrops to gourmet jelly beans -- from a penny candy cart.
18. With artfully decorated jars of jam you can 'Spread the Love' to family and friends.
19. 'Mint to Be Together' labels on breath savors will inspire some smooches.
20. Lobster crackers (find them in sleek silver or vibrant red) are both functional and fun.
21. Chocolate-chip cannolis can be passed around on sleek silver trays.
22. Gourmet chocolate-covered coffee beans packaged in cool polka-dot or striped tins will give guests an end-of-the-evening boost.
23. Mini cupcakes -- made to look like a part of your wedding cake -- are the perfect treat.
24. Heart-shape cookie cutters are adorable and functional and are gifts that will last a lifetime.


Floral Favors

From potted plants to peonies, thank guests with a favor that will live on for years.
25. Fill tiny terra-cotta pots with lavender or another favorite herb. Secure nametags to the pots and the favors can double as place cards.
26. Give perennial flower bulbs that can be planted in a garden or in a pot resting on a windowsill.
25. For a beachside wedding, fresh flower leis are beautiful and festive.
27. Fill a basket with individual packets of seeds, like forget-me-nots or your favorite bloom. On the outside, attach a thank-you note, your wedding vows, or the lyrics to your first dance.
28. Fill mint julep containers with the flowers that symbolize your love. Attach a small card explaining its meaning (for example, Red Tulips = Declaration of Love).
29. Paper folding fans in floral patterns will keep guests cool during the ceremony and are easy to slip into one's purse or pocket on the way out.
30. Give guests colorful clusters of miniature floral-scented soaps wrapped in tulle to match your primary wedding colors.19. 'Mint to Be Together' labels on breath savors will inspire some smooches.



Timeless Treats

Keep it classic with traditional favors that transcend trends.
31. Classic Jordan almonds (also known as dragees) can be wrapped in tulle or patterned fabric, or presented in small white boxes or glassine bags.
32. At each setting, rest small fabric-covered journals from your favorite stationery store. Write every guest a thank-you note on the front page.
33. True romantics might opt to give guests a copy of Shakespeare's Sonnets or a book of favorite love poems. Custom-create a bookmark to add a personal touch.
34. Small silver picture frames engraved with your wedding date can double as place card holders.
35. Leave notes at each place setting explaining that a donation has been made in guests' names to a favorite charity.


Kitschy Cool

With creative and nonconventional favors, we give kitsch a new name.
36. Send guests home in a state of relaxation with engraved meditative stones that are packaged in boxes decorated with a meditative mantra (e.g. 'Love conquers all').
37. Burn CDs of your wedding-day music or favorite tunes and create a personalized CD cover.
38. Give guests scrolled astrological readings tied with sheer ribbon (ask everyone to write in his or her birth date on the RSVP cards).
39. For the couple that loves to travel, send guests (and their bags) home with personalized luggage tags boxed and tied with an 'On the Road of Life Together' ribbon.
40. Give each guest a few stems of calm-inducing herbal incense, like jasmine or lavender. Tie the bundles with raffia and then around each napkin for a pretty place setting presentation.
41. Choose drink coasters that fit your wedding style -- martini coasters for a '40s-style wedding, twig coasters for a garden party.
42. Give guests 'Magnetic Attraction' magnets-from silver hearts to vintage fun to the locally inspired, like lighthouses or bridges.
43. Make some noise! Maracas are so festive and sure to enliven even the liveliest of parties. Perfect for a beach wedding or any party with Caribbean flair.
44. Kites aren't just for kids. Splendid for causal waterside weddings or romantic park parties, small kites can be a sophisticated, and trend-setting, party favor.
45. Personalized color pencils (some even come scented) are fun and festive.
46. Lottery tickets are ideal -- give your guests a chance at good fortune!

-- Allison Micarelli