Wedding Favours - Ideas please!

[bride2be19]

Posting for traffic and to ask for your ideas please!

Getting married later this year and want to give our guests favours that they won't just leave behind or bin as soon as they get home.

Can't be alcohol based (venue rules). Happy to spend £5-£6 max, less if poss!

The more minimal the better to be honest. It's got to be small enough to fit at least two of them in the sort of tiny handbag people take to weddings. Men tend to have a bit of a casual attitude to them (unless they are immediately edible), it is only women who bother to hang on to them.

At the last two weddings I've been to, everybody has got up to mingle after the meal or to wander about outside, and returned half an hour later to find that the caterers had cleared the tables and disposed of everything, including loads of the lovingly-created favours which had been left lying around.

We did charity pins in memory of loved ones who weren't there. A lot of charities do them specially as wedding favours...added an explanation of the meaning of the pin on the back of the place setting.

We saved jars from pesto, small jams, olives etc for ages until we had enough. Cleaned, sterilised and filled with homemade tablet then sealed with plastic as you would with jam. Over that we got fat quarters of different vintage style flowery fabrics and cut out circles using zig zag shears, bit of ribbon round the top and a tag for each guest also acted as their name for place setting. Jars were "free", fabric about a tenner and seals etc a few pound plus whatever it cost to make the tablet- was lucky my dad made that for us. Probably did all our favours for under £50 for a wedding for 100 people.

We didn’t do favours but donated the money to a charity which was very relevant to a close relative who was terminally ill and put a note explaining this on the table menu card

We gave each guest an RSPB bird badge. £1 each and they have literally hundreds of different ones so everyone got something individual, plus it felt better giving £100 to a charity rather than to eBay. We didn't find any left behind and I know at least some guests kept them because I've seen them pinned to coats/bags etc over the last two years! However, I also hand-tied miniature bunches of lavender that I'd cut from the garden and dried. Turned out to be a colossal waste of time, they all got left and one guest pointed out that lavender is considered bad luck (plus now I have a newborn I can't believe I spent time I could have been sleeping tying stupid herbs together with twine). Congratulations on your wedding!

We did Cancer Research pin badges. Each one came with a little card explaining why we had donated and IIRC they had our names on the cards.

There is a backstory to the sugared almonds tradition which I like so it was one or the other for me.

I had some charity pins for a charity that supported something close to us, we made a donation online and had the pins on name cards with a bit on the back.

I went to one that had Lego polybags as wedding favours which was cool.

OP it was very thoughtful,I got gin

rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F282958540791

Something like this that can also be a keepsake.

We did seeds and scrabble letter cuff links for the chaps using their initial. Made them ourselves, really cheap.

I honestly don't notice if someone doesn't have favours. When they do, I often think they are annoying to cart around the rest of the wedding ...

The best favours I've had (that aren't left behind) are things to be consumed at the table - a good one was mini bottles of brandy made by the brides's grandfather and rules to a drinking game to be played with them during the speeches

I also went to a wedding where each guest had a book (individually chosen) with a note inside to that guest. They were all taken (or I didn't see any left, anyway!).

So really personal, or usable there and then.

Ones I have left behind (intentionally or not) include seeds, fridge magnet with a picture of the couple on it and biscuits ...

No offence to those pps that had seeds as favours ... But at the time we lived in a flat with no windowsills or outdoor space. Nowhere to grow them!

We did cupcakes that doubled as placecards - names/initials iced on top. My reasoning was that everyone's usually starving by the time they sit down at the table and we were having speeches first so at least there was something to eat! None were left behind. I think most people ate theirs fairly promptly.

I was on the Royal Mint site & saw their lucky penny card. www.royalmint.com/gifts/coin-gifts/good-luck-copper-penny-card/
Struck me then that it would easily be copied if someone spoke nicely to their bank for shiny coins and added a scratch card.

I did a keyring from a charity though and if doing my wedding again I'd probalay do something like this shop.alzheimers.org.uk/weddings-and-celebrations/Wedding-table-card-with-Silver-pin-badge-x-10. Obviously it's a charity close to our hearts but lots of the charities do similar things.

We chose our favourite charities,donated to them and gave the pins on the placecards with a note about the donation and why.

I really don’t understand the ‘it’s a nice touch’ aspect.

No one notices if there isn’t one

I think more & more people really don’t want pointless tat (sorry). Unless there’s something that means something to you & your guests why do you think putting some blowing bubbles or sugared almonds on the table is ‘a nice touch ‘

I agree entirely incrediblysad

We did love hearts in a personalised wrapper. Went down a treat! And dead cheap - bought both on eBay.

I went to one recently and they had soap for favours. It was presented as a wedding cake, with different layers. The couple cut it and it was then put into little boxes for people to pick up on their way out.

I’m going to do Cherry Brandy miniatures that I’m making, with a carton of homemade fudge and a small pot of homemade bramble jam in a miniature hamper for my daughter. She wants us to pop in a charity ring for Plan International who work to prevent forced and child marriage.

When me and DH got married, we made a donation to cancer research and the wedding favours were the turquoise ribbon pin badges. My mum had ovarian cancer (thankfully now in remition) so it felt a bit more meaningful.

We gave lottery tickets, I can't remember the exact wording we put on the envelope but it was something cheesy about luck.

I know my cousin won £10, not sure if anyone won the jackpot!

Honestly don't bother. Unless you're having a free bar, then I'd put the money behind the bar. People will appreciate that way more than something they will likely leave or throw away.

If I was a wedding guest I would be delighted with a charity donation and card or pin badge to explain why. I'd be pleased with seeds or edibles too. Candles, scrabble letters or trinkets I'd leave behind, and you'd have to be a miracle worker to come up with personalised stuff that anyone would genuinely want to keep.

Concentrate on having a lovely day and letting your guests have some fun as that's what makes people remember weddings best. Most people consider a wedding good if they've been fed well, had a laugh and the bride and groom look happy. No-one really remembers the favours unless they're hideous, and then they become a memory for the wrong reasons.