Unique Wedding Favor Ideas
Wedding favors are one part of the reception that really lets your personalities sing out. If it's an elegant wedding, you might show your love for tradition with tulle bags filled with Jordan almonds.
Or if it's a casual, fun-loving wedding, your sense of whimsy might emerge in personalized bottles of barbecue sauce, or lottery tickets in glassine bags.
Many brides still want to stick with the white gown, the veil, and the giant four-tier cake. But favors? There, many of us are willing to go all-out to find something really unique. We want the favors that seem like they were invented just for our wedding ... alone.
Unique wedding services. For example, hire an artist for the reception to draw caricatures of your guests. Or a photographer to snap pictures of the guests, in couple and family groupings. Or try renting a photo booth: it could be even more fun! (Expect to pay from $1500 to $2500 to rent a photo booth — but you can also expect it to stay busy all night).
More unique services. Hire a barista to whip up fresh espressos and cappuccinos for your guests on the spot. Rent a chocolate fountain (about $400 plus $3 per guest — pricey, but unforgettable. Make sure there are lots of cute cocktail napkins nearby to control drippage). Or rent a commercial cotton candy-making machine (avoid the smaller ones; they tend to malfunction more).
Or go with a fresh donut bar. Have caterers dole out these fresh sizzling treats next to trays of sugar (powdered, cinnamon) for dunking in. Set up delectable toppings like chocolate sauce, lemon sauce or raspberry jam.
Services verging on the bizarre. How about a cigar roller to roll fresh cigars(male guests may appreciate this the most). Or easier but just as thrilling, hand out personalized cigars. For an outrageous affair, have a henna artist apply intricate tattoos.
- Customized lip balm.
- Personalized decks of cards.
- Chocolate-covered espresso beans in tulle or organza make a unique and delectable favor. Mmmmm.... And espresso bean batteries are the height of hip.
- A candy buffet is sweet and fun, but a retro candy buffet gets them talking.
Customized
sodas. Try here for a cool retro look, unusual flavors and good
pricing. Or brew and bottle some of your own wedding 'spirit': private-label
beer or wine favors. (Make
sure your reception venue will let you serve homemade wine or
beer.)
Personalized "Promotional" Items.
Want unique? Expand your vision way, way beyondthe 'wedding favor' marketplace and check out the sites the big boys use for personalized gifts. All you need is a monogram or an artistic friend who'll make you one. Then you can order monogrammed electronic "BuzDice" (for a Las Vegas wedding), sparkling Fiber Wands (for a New Year's wedding), bubblegum cigars, Slinkies®, golf tees or coffee mugs.
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- "Plantable favors" — compact combos of cotton, flower petals and wildflower seeds which hang prettily from a ribbon, but can be planted in a flower garden.
- Foil-wrapped chocolate long stemmed roses.
- Mouse pads personalized with a photo of you-know-who.
- Personalized match boxes tied up with a pretty ribbon and a small batch of sparklers. Lottery (affordable) or Broadway (extravagant) tickets in glassine bags.
- Try temporary tattoos for weddings with the couples' names and date. How very Brangelina.
- Swizzle sticks of glittering rock candy (crystal-clear for the most elegance, or in colors matching your own), tied with a personalized ribbon, make for unique favors. Consider pairing these lovelies with Mikasa trinkets, if your budget permits.
- Southern Belle? Your guests will sink their teeth into individually-wrapped moon pies.
Sports
fan? Hand out personalized wooden bats(cheaper
than you'd think, if you shop around!), or "can Koozies"
sporting your favorite team's logo. - Like to fish? Favors don't get more unique than the "Miracle Fortune Teller Fish," which come in cute little red packages. Place them in your palm and they twist and squirm from the heat; check the final shape against the package and learn your "fortune."
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- Wine charms make unique favors your guests will treasure.
- "Cootie Catchers," or Fortune Tellers. These oh-so-fashionable favors have been making a splash even at formal affairs. Print your own on heavyweight parchment, with an elegant script. Or do something brighter and wilder. Start with this template.
- Weather: Personalized umbrellas for a rainy climate (fill the umbrellas with candy for a sweet surprise). Or flashlights if the ceremony's outdoors and scheduled for evening. Personalized sunglasses are great for tropical destinations or outdoor weddings.
- "S'more kit" in a designer favor box with s'more recipe attached. (A fun, easy and definitely unique favor.) Or cotton candy in pretty boxes, for a fairy tale wedding.
- Krispy Kremes, Two to a Box. A unique favor with small risk of leftovers.
- Silver pizza cutters.
- A coupon for a popular store or restaurant, such as "one free ice cream at Baskin Robbins."
- Simple but extravagant ingredients in a bag or small bottle (alfalfa honey, macadamia nuts, olive oil, maple syrup) with gourmet recipe attached.
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- Gourmet-flavored popcorn balls in tulle are as unique as they are cheap.
- Personalized mint tins.
- Toys: engraved and personalized silver-plated yo-yos. Or kazoos. Or how about novelty personalized pens? Memorable, and practical.
I’m getting married in July and my fiancee and I really want to use the cheap plastic souvenir cups from the bar we went on our first date to as our favors in some way. I keep trying to think of something to fill them with that won’t drain our budget. They’re typical souvenir cup size (24 oz maybe?) so it needs to be something that will fit into the cup but won’t look cheap (i.e. a handful of M&M’s would look ridiculous in that big cup). Any help you can offer would be much appreciated!!
What a cute idea Sarah, I love it!
This is maybe off the wall, but thinking “bar”, what if you filled the cups with unshelled salted peanuts, or chocolate or yogurt-dipped mini pretzels, or half and half? (To go OTT you could even get the pretzels dipped in white chocolate tinted to match your wedding colors.) Just a thought! Also, you could make these so cute on the counter — get inexpensive skewers (like for shish kebab, cheap at the grocery store). You can print out adorable personalized pennants on any color paper, cut them into triangles and glue to the skewers. hth!
OR … crackerjacks would be cute! Or any kind of popcorn (maybe caramel corn?)
You gave the idea about popcorn. About 6 years age when my son got married did some things with popcorn as table settings for ones to enjoy, but ordered a popcorn that had a light drizzle of white chocolate with a touch of lavender to go with her colors. They were Danielle”s Chocolates.
Went over great and was talked about for years. Even ones that did not like popcorn could not get enough of it.
I think they have small gift sizes now.
BettyJo@IdeasInIron.com
How about putting a ‘bag’ of m&ms in there or your favorite candy bar? Maybe you can have the wrapper personalized if you can afford it!
I love this website!!! I’ve spent the past 24-hours at least just looking around for ideas (even though I’m not exactly the most eager wedding planner)…thanks for helping me to get more excited about it!
I, too, wanted to do photo favors for my guests–my reception is in PA (near New Hope area), and though I’ve contacted a few places, I’m having difficulty finding a service that is affordable. Does anyone have any suggested vendors for the area?
He is a Tony Stewart NASCAR fan. I am surprising him with a grooms cake that will be made to look like his favorite race car. The grooms table will be decorated with a black & white checkered table cloth & I think I have decided on the center piece for each of the tables at the reception to place a cup of some sort fill them with NASCAR fans. I am trying to come up with a neat wedding favor BUT CANT think of anything ??
My finace and I havent really started any serious planning yet, but I was wondering if I could get some ideas on a theme. I have been married before and he hasnt, but we have kind of joked around about the idea of somehow including our mudding trucks into our wedding. It is by far our favoirte past time to do together. We don’t want to do the hole recepition hall thing and be all fancy, but at the some time we don’t want it to be trashy. Any ideas you could suggest for us to keep in mind would be great. Thanks
I am planning a purse theme wedding since i have a huge purse fetish. Any ideas for favors,centerpieces, etc.
Janessa … great question. We’ve got some ideas for you here. Anyone else with ideas is WELCOME to add them … come on over!
Does any one have ideas for hot air balloon favors? we are getting married IN the hot air balloon and having a seperate reception. We would like to tie the theme together and make it extremely memorable.
I know this isnt the favours but how about getting your guests to write tiny little messages on a note and tie them to helium balloons to release during the evening. Or even put a self addressed envelope on them so who ever finds it can let them know how far the balloon got. Kids would especially love to get a letter from a pen pal so to speak - no names have to given or a post office box could be used.
Teresa,
you can get fish net and put a helium filled balloon in it and attach it to a very small gift basket and fill it with whatever you want. Just an idea, hope its not too corny.
Like here
My mother inlaw wants the fairy princess sort of affair but my partner and I wanted fun and unique, any ideas? I was thinking of naming each table a different looney tune character and then the favours being a character chocolate ie the character of the table on a chocolate for each guest at that table. but I want a fun way that the guests can distinguish the table any ideas? I have looked every where for 30cm+ figurines that are cheap but can only find the collectors items. I am in Australia.
We havn’t been able to find looney tune characters for our tables and the chocolates were going to cost newarly $1000 to be made so we are now thinking of naming each table a different chocolate bar from our child hood then the gifts will be little boxes of minature chocolate bars. What do you think? too cheap and nasty?
for my wedding this june, i’m giving our guests personalised mini CDs with songs on them from the day (first dance, etc). the CDs will be printed with our names, the date of the wedding, a track listing and perhaps a picture of us!
Naomi , The Cd is a great idea ,however , because of copyright laws I would strongly advise against it.
Always looking for unique ideas–my son and wonderful future DIL are getting Married Mar 31, 2007——and I am helping with ideas and budget——-I am also helping with wedding favors for another wedding in Aug–Bride from St Louis fiance from Texas—thinking about custom label barbeque sauce with the mini cowboy hat around—still playing with that one (he is giving all his grooms men nice cowboy hats as gifts)–or choc stae of texas/and choc St louis Arch??? Any ideas?? Have you ever seen decorated battery operated white paper laterns as centerpieces?? what do you think?? planning on hanging white paper laterns over dance floor? I have heard about the candy bar with the colors of the wedding?? How is that set up and who do you contact?? Martini fountain? how does that work?
Your site is great and I love your ideas—-I love the idea of a monogram wedding?? any thoughts??
I am looking for Unique favor ideas for my wedding… Something not too costly but something no one else has… any suggestions? if so let me know
Favors for a wedding at a place where there are a lot of lighthouses in June?
kathy- how about sand from that beach in a small corked bottle print labels on your home printer with date, location etc., or small rocks same idea, or you could hunt down some old sails off a boat and make mini bags filled with the sand from the beach, stamp a black and white lighthouse on each one.
I can’t remember the last favors I got at weddings, but I’m sure they were expensive. So here’s what I’m doing: hiring a photographer that takes a formal pic of each guest and then hands out 5×7s at the end of the evening. Not the kind of favor that will get left behind.