The Wedding Scoop Guide To Picking The Perfect Wedding Favors

Wedding favors are mementos and souvenirs that remind us of the wedding event of our dear friends and loved ones. One glance, and everything comes back into memory, from the beautiful bride walking down the aisle, to the bride and groom’s exchange of vows, to the fun-filled reception.

Memories and good times can be fleeting, but they are always worth remembering. Creating a memorable and unique parting gift and souvenir involves careful thought, creativity, and some advanced planning.

Our in-house art and design specialist and wedding design assistant, Rallye Ibanez, presents a lovely guide on some of the best wedding favors for your esteemed guests. We’ll cover important factors for creating them and making sure the special people present will remember your special life moments with a smile and a happy thought.

What are Wedding Favors?

Wedding favors are small tokens of thanks and appreciation for guests and attendees of an exclusive event. The practice stems from traditions in the Greek and Roman era, around 8 BC to the 6th Century A.D. Celebrators gave flowers, food items, or other tokens of gratitude for attending the event, usually a wedding or a family celebration.

These traditions continued well into the Middle Ages (5th to late 15th century), during which celebrators gave away items to other people present, including non-guests. Lavish giveaways also became common in this era among the wealthy families and royalty.

Today, wedding favors of all types, including out-of-the-box creative ideas, have become the norm. Many are practical, some are edible, and some are expensive, custom-made, or elaborately packaged items. They always reflect the ideas, themes, and sentiments of the event.

How do you choose, create, or assemble these beautiful tokens of appreciation? Here are some important factors to consider. Often, many great ideas come from pre-planning and personal styles or preferences.

Base it on Your Wedding Theme and Style

Wedding themes and color combinations are a great source of inspiration for your wedding giveaways. The location and the current season of the wedding are also great factors that influence your giveaway options.

You can style your wedding favors based on the themes and color palettes you chose for your wedding. Going for a rustic, artsy theme? You can create Boho-style, handcrafted, practical items or packaged items such as coffee, candies, cookies, organic soap, mini scented candles, food items, or small art pieces. Well-curated bouquets, small potted plants or succulents, and even seeds are also amazing and memorable mini-gifts.

You can also create packaged Himalayan salt, gourmet hot sauces, or cute snacks in dainty little keepsakes. You can also use DIY, handmade, nature-based items, or anything organic.

Practical and Useful Wedding Favors

Practicality and usefulness go a long way when crafting amazing mementos for your wedding giveaways. This guarantees your souvenirs will last way beyond the special date.

These useful, handy, and lovely trinkets are memorable and practical, such as decorated custom mugs, bottle openers, small notebooks, pens, cute potpourri bottles, foldable fans, customized hankies, small wallets with press-engravings of your guests’ names, colored pencil sets, incense, parasols, designer keychains, awesome ref magnets, luggage tags, flip flops, and many others.

Your partner’s and your personal style and creativity are great influencers of these mementos. Couples have made mixtapes, or even burned CDs with their favorite songs, adorned with custom, personal art and notes, written by the couple, with thanks and appreciation.

Also consider eco-friendly and sustainable items. They are also practical and live on in meaningful use, and do not create plastic waste or contribute to increased non-biodegradable material.

Reusable items, such as practical everyday-use accessories, are great. Earth-bound or based items, such as plantable seeds and food in eco-friendly packaging, and other organic and non-plastic giveaways, are very welcome.

Season and Location-Based Giveaways

The season and location are also incredible factors that can give you great souvenir ideas. Spring and summer bring happy outdoor moments. Plants, seeds, flowers, lemonade mixes, foldable fans, and sunglasses are just some of the best giveaways that mark the occasion, and its seasonal setting.

Autumn is great for giving away potpourri and incense, scented candles, bottled oils, wine, or organic food and snacks. Winter time calls for scarves, hot chocolate mixes, small blankets, personalized Christmas ornaments, or gourmet coffee beans are great options.

If you’re on location, such as a beautiful beachside wedding on an island, a lovely garden in one of your luxury homes in Europe during spring, or a stately mansion wedding in upscale New York or Boston in fall or winter, something local and amazing is a great wedding favor. Local handcrafted items, fruits, artwork, and useful mementos that last are great gift ideas.

Unique, Out of the Box, and Lavish Options

Now we tackle the more extreme but fun territory of wedding favors. If you and your couple have DIY skills and creative ideas, not to mention lots of time to do it, go for it. Remember to also consider adding practicality because these projects can be time-consuming.

DIY decorated packaging for the simplest gifts elevates the style. Some DIY-made or personalized items are awesome and can even save you money. It’s also a more personal and intimate souvenir crafted by the couple.

Creative souvenirs provide unique and memorable experiences for your guests. They make your wedding even more memorable. And yes, it’s something that no other premium, mass-made item can match because of the personal touch.

Out-of-the-box gift ideas are now very popular and show the creative side of the designer or the couple. Some of them include special printed shirts with gorgeous or crazy, humorous, or fun designs. Some couples have given away hangover care kits for the day after the reception partying.

Toys and action figures have also found their way to many wedding favors. Customized game toys, puzzles, and other interactive toys have become popular. Small perfume bottles that guests can choose from, with customized guest names, are also popular mementos. Personalized wedding coins in a memorable little box display are exquisite collectibles too.

Also, a mini-basket or a six-pack of craft beer, or a bottle of special wine with a great design, are also awesome. Custom art and or sketch artists are also another memorable way to impart a great wedding souvenir.

Consider Your Budget When Planning

Before taking care of the wedding favors, track your budget and allot enough to cover the number of guests in your confirmed guest list, plus a few more extras. This way, you will have a working budget for your mementos. It will also have enough extras for important people who cannot be there or are too far away to attend.

Create a list of the best getaway options that suit your wedding theme or personal preferences. This will help you choose, based on the final budget, and adjust your spending.

Do you have an extensive guestlist? Check your budget and also take note of affordable and practical giveaways. They are easy to source and will be realistic in terms of meeting the budget, with enough time to get them ready for the event.

Final Tips

Presentation and packaging elevate your wedding favors. Beautiful boxes, decorated mason jars, or unusual holders also become souvenirs of their own.

These elements of presentation and packaging maximize the aesthetics of your giveaways. Your items can be simple, affordable, and practical gifts that look stylish and high-end with a lovely table and personalized decor that fits your wedding theme or reception.

A welcome table at your reception with a beautiful set-up for guests already creates a great impression. Small bars that customize your giveaways with the guest’s name are a memorable experience that leaves you with a usable, practical gift item.

Don’t Overthink It!

Your giveaways can be lavish, super creative, memorable, and usable long after the event completes. However, it’s important to be realistic in sourcing them and packaging them, and not to overthink them too much. It’s just one part of your wedding, and the most important thing is the gratitude and appreciation behind every souvenir that your guests will remember.

Your goal is to give a memorable gift that guests will remember and reflect on you as a happily married couple. Do not overplan it to extremes if it means too much time and effort, which can affect your schedule. Most importantly, have fun and make it fun as well for your guests.