(no subject)

[figment]

[Poll #1354915]

Comments

[wiredferret.livejournal.com]

We did tiny bottles of bubble-stuff, so people got to use them as they sent us off. My sister did bookmarks, but if I never have to emboss anything again, it will be toooooo soon.

[pants-of-doom.livejournal.com]

I like bubble stuff. I'm not really sure what else people do for wedding favors.

[purple-cow-0206.livejournal.com]

Edible favors are my favorite :D

[windelina.livejournal.com]

I like favors that are something other than food/candy or tschotkes.
Things I've liked in the past:
- a little plant
- a small picture frame
- a mix cd

[sioneva.livejournal.com]

I like edible favors or ones that have some significance - we had handpainted Christmas ornaments that looked nice as ornaments and matched our (winter) theme. A lot of them disappeared, so I'm assuming that people liked them!

I'm always a big fan of the edible kind, though, and probably would have gone with those if my aunt hadn't offered to paint the ornaments for us.

[redbird23.livejournal.com]

We didn't give any, and if anyone complained it didn't come back to me.

[faeryguinevere.livejournal.com]

seconded!

[lexinatrix.livejournal.com]

Ditto. Then again, the Vegas wedding helped with that. The local reception was after the fact, and non-traditional.

At the wedding I gave folks a deck of cards and 10 dollars in poker chips for folks to use at the casino.

[buccaneer.livejournal.com]

Save your money. Put it in food, or flowers, or even better (best!), your savings account!

[fayde.livejournal.com]

I personally hate the Jordan Almonds - but know people who like them. I guess I have a pet peeve about wedding favors because a) the wedding party spent money on them and time b) they are a token of appreciation for us coming to witness you vows of love and so c) we are supposed to cherish them as gifts and symbols of love. I guess I feel you shouldn't have to do a) and there should be no obligations about b) and c).

However that doesn't always seem to be the case; which leads to me keeping a small container of bubbles that never got used from the M's wedding until. Which I think I still have - conveniently enough in a wooden box I got at another wedding that I didn't know what to do with.

We gave chopsticks. We meant for people to eat their food at the reception with if they wanted to. Some people took them, some people left them - which meant some people got more than one set.

I guess to sum up: If you give something, either give something disposable (like candy or one time use things that can be used at the wedding like sparklers) or something useful (like chopsticks or decks of cards) and know that even if you fill each and every one with loving care and craftsmanship, you will find quite a few left behind at the end of the day, so don't worry about it too much.

[kittenmint.livejournal.com]

THIS! Something Candy/edible or disposable (friend had a super small wedding and had miniatures of the wedding cake made and gave those out - this is a little over the top for anything bigger than a 25 person wedding) OR something useful (small plants, bookmarks, chopsticks) but don't give out something to give something (like bubbles).

I know someone who did book marks that doubled as the place markers for the seating arrangement, which I thought was clever. Someone else I know (second hand this one) used them as the center pieces, and I believe they gave out fake roses or something (not so hot on the roses, but love the idea). Something like labeled candles decoratively arranged with a little sticker or something with the wedding date and names or something in a vase that mimicked a vase of flowers. Decorated chopsticks would be an awesome idea for this one as they could be arranged in vases.

However, don't do something to do something - save the money in that case!

[jmanna.livejournal.com]

Unless it's something that can be eaten right away, used right away (Bubbles) or is really useful (cd of your fav music) don't. Most of the times, I chuck the crap later. But I'm am a militant declutter.

[evaluna68.livejournal.com]

Depends what they are. I am generally a fan of, say, chocolate (I am pretty much never going to complain about people giving me chocolate), but if there are no favors, it's not like I am going to run around whining about it. If you're trying to save money, this to me would be pretty much the first thing to cut.

[dangerdhotrod.livejournal.com]

i liked it when some friends getting married had disposable cameras at every table at the reception with a note to take all the pictures on the camera and there was a box that you were supposed to put the camera in when you were finished.

this ended up being more a gift for the bride and groom but i got to see the pictures later and they were really great. it was just fun to take the pictures though.

is that a favor? it seemed like it.

i liked the sparkler idea cause then you can have everyone light them at once with the lights off or something for example during the first dance say and it would look really cool.

my 2 cents

[getyourgeekon.livejournal.com]

I agree with a lot of what everyone else has said. I've been to a few weddings that had typical favors and those got thrown shortly after. A few didn't have favors, and I only noticed just now when I really thought about it.

Homemade truffles and a mixed cd of the couples' favorite music are a few that I enjoyed from the weddings I've been in. But, there are a lot of other great ideas suggested above!

[sinister-dr-x.livejournal.com]

i like things that i will actually use and look back on, like decks of cards, etc. candles that melt in my car or jordan almonds i can't eat vex me so.
although someone above mentions gift boxes. i have received awesome gift boxes at several weddings actually, and it's a little tough because i don't need them, but won't throw them away because they mean something special. i dunno.
give shot glasses, they can't be that hard to purchase in bulk and affix tacky see through labels of your wedding insignia.

[fayde.livejournal.com]

I assume (hope) that by tacky you mean sticky and not ugly...

[ethel.livejournal.com]

I think the most original and touching favor idea I saw was small packets of wildflower seeds, with the instructions to plant or spread them somewhere and then see the flowers as a symbol of the couple's growing love.

This works well except for those who have no interest in gardening or no space to plant in, but still it was a lovely sentiment.

(I had both space and an interest but still left them as I don't care too much for planted wildflowers.)

[eiregirl.livejournal.com]

My brother had an outdoor wedding in the summer and gave out simple paper fans, which came in handy to keep cool, and something I still use once in awhile.

[maever.livejournal.com]

I love them (but I'm a wedding dork), but realize they can cost a pretty penny.
The last wedding I went to did bubbles (for the send off) and had personalized water bottles with little tags on them that were thank-you notes. It was was an afternoon wedding on a hot June day in Indiana, so they were much appreciated... and their wedding and reception had a sorts of handy recycle bins for their disposal, plus a sticker on the bottle itself saying something to the effect of "make the bride and groom happy and recycle me".

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

I do love favors. It's like being at a hobbit birthday party, because all the attendees are getting presents.

That said, you should do or not do whatever's required for your sanity. :) I think you've figured that out, though.

[r0ckc4ndy.livejournal.com]

I love favors, and I actually don't end up throwing them away in a week - instead, I keep moving them around my house forever because I can't throw things with sentimental value away and then I end up burried in them and THEN I throw them away. I should probably have checked other.

[elfie-elfie.livejournal.com]

At my sister's wedding, they gave away 4" tall pine seedlings. A nice sentiment, but the list of guests was not the tree-planting type nor possessed of the property to plant them on. I learned from that, and at my wedding, gave out little baskets of ticklish mimosa seeds. The lesson there is that they were exceptionally difficult to sprout (keep them warm and IN THE DARK).

But I was also a bit grumpy about the number of things we handed to the guests - not parsimonious, but conscious of the total uselessness of these little items. So the bottles of bubbles went over very well, but the twig baskets with seeds and miniature flower pots? The bookmarks with our names and wedding date on?

Give ONCE, I say, and only what can be used. My wedding was outside, too, but May is a cool month in Toronto. If we'd taken the money spent on the seeds and baskets and bubbles and bookmarks and blah-de-blah, and put them towards personalized umbrellas, that would have been amazing. :-)

Honestly people were more stoked about the pierogies and microbrew than the favors.

[katana-girl.livejournal.com]

We gave everyone little packets of Jelly Belly's which turned out to be good as they were late getting dinner out.

Granted they were a last minute thing, bought in bulk from a Target, only in flavors I liked (since I would be eating any leftovers) and shoveled into the frou-frou baggies.

[kaulis.livejournal.com]

I like them in principle, but I feel compelled to keep them. This is great for things which are useful, like chopsticks or wooden boxes, and cumbersome for things which are just "pretty."

Jordan Almonds, though they have been done to death, have the advantage of being edible, so they solve their own problem.

favors

[gomi-no-sensei.livejournal.com]

I actively dislike them because they make me feel guilty. I actively do not want any more objects, but when someone gives me something I feel obligated. And I know they cost money for the people and probably a lot of effort even though I am sad they're there. I would pay money not to have them be there.

I am a dude of opinions.

[half-double.livejournal.com]

Edible or otherwise consumable, that you also like, is the way to go. We did little packets of green tea in paper containers that had our wedding "symbol" on it. Seemed to go over pretty well, plus, when a couple people didn't take them, we got to drink the leftovers!