Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Weddings

Chat to other Mumsnetters on our Wedding forum.

Wedding favours

34 replies

Doggymummy86 · 20/06/2021 15:09

Hey future brides,
What’s everyone’s thoughts on wedding favours ? I’m really not sure about them - if I was to go down the route of favours I wouldn’t get anything personalised (I hated them when I’ve attended weddings).
I’ve been looking at some ideas but there’s nothing really grabbing my attention.
What did you all do ? 👰‍♀️

OP posts:
MikeWozniaksGloriousTache · 20/06/2021 15:22

Edible or nothing imo. They’re a waste of money tbh, no one really cares that much about them. The only thing we’ve ever had (non edible) that’s made it home with us was at a friends wedding our names at the table were little caricatures they’d had made from photographs.

Bksjshsbbev2737 · 20/06/2021 15:28

We didn’t do them; I think they’re a waste of money and just go in the bin when you get home

pizzaobsessed · 20/06/2021 15:28

Waste of your time and money

Wildgoose84 · 20/06/2021 15:31

We had little succulents/flowers in individual pots which were part of each table centre piece. Then at the end of the day we encouraged people to take one or as many as they wanted. Three years on people send me pics of how their plant is doing!

Starlitexpress · 20/06/2021 15:31

Waste of money and never brought one home. Even edible is hard, don't want chocolate that's melted, allergies are a nightmare and nothing fits in a small clutch bag!

GreyhoundG1rl · 20/06/2021 15:32

Nobody wants this stuff. Especially not personalised.

Castlepeak · 20/06/2021 15:39

We had a December wedding and did tree baubles. I’ve seen them on the trees of many of our guests so I would call that a success.

Doggymummy86 · 20/06/2021 16:07

I didn’t want to be a “party pooper” not doing them but your all on the same wave length as me.
I’m having a June wedding, so chocolates or editable will probably melt and I never thought of allergies 🙄
I was also thinking along the lines of during the toast that people take a shot with us but then some people don’t drink etc.

Thanks ladies you’ve made my mind up … weddings are expensive enough so don’t want to waste more money with just tat

OP posts:
Slimmingstar · 20/06/2021 16:09

We are having lots of live potted plants and flowers as decoration. Guests can take them home at the end of the day if they wish.

GreyhoundG1rl · 20/06/2021 16:35

@Doggymummy86

I didn’t want to be a “party pooper” not doing them but your all on the same wave length as me. I’m having a June wedding, so chocolates or editable will probably melt and I never thought of allergies 🙄 I was also thinking along the lines of during the toast that people take a shot with us but then some people don’t drink etc.

Thanks ladies you’ve made my mind up … weddings are expensive enough so don’t want to waste more money with just tat

Well done 👍
Lemonyfuckit · 21/06/2021 08:39

I was investing thought in the wedding favours as it's just something you 'do' and my mum and DP said why waste the money? It's really not necessary and I came round to their way of thinking, as things were looking £3-£4 a favour. However we then thought of copying something some friends did which actually was a lovely idea (and not personalised so not twee, and about £1 per favour) - little packets of wildflower seeds - you can get different mixes but lots of them are designed to encourage more bees (and butterflies if you want) which can only be a good thing. So we're going with that, and I'm very happy with our decision.

Lemonyfuckit · 21/06/2021 08:41

Sorry, just read you've already decided against having favours, which is completely and utterly fine. I can't say I've ever come away from a wedding thinking 'well that was a great day but such a shame there were no favours....' Grin

AmperoBlue · 21/06/2021 19:37

We were married on the Cote d Azur. So instead of a guestbook we had postcards for each table with a different Rivera town ;Antibes, Nice etc . so these were our table “ numbers”. We had pens engraved with the wedding place and date to write why we had chosen the guests for each table.
Obviously the pens doubled as favours - I thought they would be vaguely useful. It was quite a cool wedding location so even though they were personalised and cheesy, they were still fun to have.Guests took them
all.

I also had a basket of glittery flip flops so people could take them if their shoes rubbed or they wanted to run down to the beach that night.

thebookworm1 · 04/07/2021 19:05

We decorated tables with small plants guests could take home and the meal was a picnic with lots of items the guests could take home, including the basket. We did one per family.

delilahbucket · 04/07/2021 19:18

We haven't done them, but the place names are all little wooden ones which people can keep if they want. They are small enough to put in a pocket or purse.

tinytoucan · 04/07/2021 19:28

This was a while ago, but I made small shortbread biscuits and put 2 each in little organza bags. I knew nobody had allergies as I’d asked when organising the food.

Having said that, I completely agree you don’t need to do favours and I think if they aren’t there no one will notice.

Cheapskatewedding · 04/07/2021 19:28

I wanted to get little wild flower seeds, pretty cheap, and something most of our friends and family would love
But also edible or drinks are normally a hit! My friend did a donut wall seating plan, everyone was starving by that point and it went down really well.

jendifer · 04/07/2021 19:30

Def not bothering due to cost and faff!

pinksquash13 · 04/07/2021 19:42

I would also say don't waste your money.

However, ones I've enjoyed have been glass jar of sweets, scratch cards, donation to charity (we got a pin badge), little bottle of booze, flower seeds.

Verbena87 · 04/07/2021 19:56

The only ones I remember/took/liked were...

  1. beautiful sugared almonds in France. They were really yummy. Not in bags though, there were just big bowls around to help yourself if you fancied.

  2. a couple who had clusters of little potted succulents and cacti as table centrepieces and told us to take one home if we’d like one.

professionalnomad · 07/07/2021 16:29

We did mini glass bottles of homemade cordial. Perfect on a warm day!

LouMoo13 · 07/07/2021 16:34

We did a charity donation in memory of certain family members. Everyone got a charity pin badge. But equally it's money that doesn't need spending...

SummaLuvin · 07/07/2021 18:05

My two cents is don't bother. I didn't when I got married, having worked in a wedding venue I saw time and time again the vast amount left behind on table and it really put me off. It wasn't dependant on how 'good' the favour was either, wonderful homemade jams, personalised coasters, hangover kits, tea towels, some great stuff left.

The spend for the bride and groom is high, but per guest it is low so they don't really get anything special, but it's a fair amount to add onto the wedding budget elsewhere.

There are success stories like further up this thread, but my experience is that's the exception to the rule. Also, these couples may have bought 100 plants or baubles and hear about them from 10 guests, which is still lovely, but not a high rate.

My advice is if you feel you should, make it immediately consumable, those always had the most success that I saw, people arrive at the table and scoff the chocolate, very little waste.

Lastly, on these threads I always see people recommend charity pins. Don't bother with the pin, just donate the cash amount, most people won't wear the pin (these were also left on tables alot) and the charity keep more money. £100 cash donation = £100 cash for charity. £100 pin purchase = £40 cost for pins £60 cash for charity.

whitepeonies44 · 07/07/2021 18:17

I agree. Party favours aren't necessary. I think nowadays couples are way more practical about wedding planning.

We had cake pop favours at my wedding because my MIL made our wedding cake and offered to do cake pops for guests.

SummaLuvin · 07/07/2021 18:21

Just in case anyone is here looking for inspiration to best one I saw at the venue was by a chocolate obsessed couple. Each table was named for a different Cadbury chocolate bar and favours were a full sized bar to match the table name. It was nice as everyone ate the chocolate and got guests chatting as they were swapping and bartering - but then I'm not sure if it was those particular guests that made it work, not the favour itself.