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Archive for the ‘Gifts & Favors’ Category

Wine wedding favors at your wedding will really keep spirits high on your special day! There are many things you can do with a wine theme to make your favors decorative, fun, and memorable.

Wine Charms

These little metal and beaded or enameled charms are designed as a set, but each one is unique. The idea is that when guests at a party put their unique charm around the stem of their glass, they’ll be able to find it again if they put it down. These are a fun item to include as a favor, and they’re pretty too!

Wine Glasses

Today’s personalized wine glasses are available in fine crystal. You can order stemless wine glasses or glasses with traditional stems. You can even have all sorts of logos and designs or monograms printed on them. Some companies will even print your own sketch onto glasses. Think about what you’d like your wine glasses to look like and find a place that will print your desired design.

Your Own Vintage

Know someone who makes wine in small batches? You can still find artisans who will make you a limited batch of wine that you can have bottled in your own bottles. This is a truly unique favor. If you can’t find a vintner to make you this favor, you can order a quantity of a vintage that’s only available in your town or area.

Personalized Labels

Wedding labels for wine bottles are another great idea for a wedding favor. You order the labels and then adhere them to the vintage of your choice. This can be a really unique gift and can also work with miniature champagne bottles. Non-alcoholic or sparkling wines also make a nice favor.

Wine Cork Candles

These darling little candles come in the exact replica of a wine cork. Guests can pop them into an empty wine bottle when they get home and have a lovely candlelit dinner.

Cork Screws

Cork screws are available in every shape and design imaginable. Choose one that goes with your theme or celebrates a landmark or famous spot in the area you’re getting married in. You can get these in sets with wine stoppers as well, where you can present each guest with a complete set they can use at home.

Wine Stoppers

Lovely glass, resin, or metal wine stopper favors are beautiful and useful. You can find them with all sorts of designs from the silly to the elegant. They’re not only pretty to look at, but guests can use them at home when they want to store a half-finished bottle of wine.

Wine Cork Place Card Holders

Combine the favor with the place card holders. These faux wine cork place card holders come with slits to slide your place card and table numbers into. Guests can find their names and then bring them to their tables to take home at the end of the night.

Wine Glass Gel Candles

These candles will truly fool the eye. They look exactly like a glass of red wine. They are really wine glass favors with gel wax poured into them. They look charming on the tables, and after the wedding, guests can take them home as a keepsake.

Go Grape

Think about incorporating grapes into your favors. You can give coasters that have a grape motif or pewter grape napkin rings. You can find painted plaques, magnets, glasses, favor boxes, and more all with a grape design. You can also carry the grape theme over into your centerpieces. Have artificial or real grapes draped in a basket with other fruits and some candles. Or drape them around a candelabra. It will look stunning with your wine-themed décor.

More articles on Wine or Vineyard Wedding Ideas:

• Plan a Vineyard Wine Themed Wedding
• Vineyard and Wine Wedding Ideas
• Wine and Pink: Inspiration Board

A groom will definitely want to give his Best Man a token of his thanks. A gift for the Best Man should fit within your budget but also be as personal and thoughtful as possible. It’s a nice touch to give the other groomsmen gifts as well, although slightly different from the Best Man’s.

• Consider the Best Man’s personality. Does he like to ski? Eat out? Go to concerts? You can easily gift him with lift tickets to his favorite ski resort, a restaurant gift certificate or tickets to an upcoming live performance. Make sure the gift matches his likes or the sentiment will be lost. After all, this is supposed to be the man who is closest to you so you should finely tune your gift to his tastes.
• Anything engraved will be most welcomed. If you both went to college together, you might get him a picture frame with your college logo and have it engraved with his initials. Of course, include a photo of the two of you. You can also do personalized beer mugs, stemless wine goblets, or pewter cups.
• Executive gifts are always a good idea. A nice clock for his desk or an engraved letter opener or pewter pencil cup are also thoughtful. A leather desk blotter embossed with your alma mater is nice too if college is where you met. An exceptional nice ballpoint pen, such as a Waterman, is a nice idea. And you can have it engraved.
• Video games. If  he’s a video game nut, as many adults are these days, get him an upscale game that he doesn’t already own. Get the latest Nintendo release or an accessory for the Wii that just came out. He’ll be very excited to have the coolest new toys.
• A weekend away with his wife is perfect. No doubt your Best Man will love a fully-paid stay at a posh hotel or a weekend bed and breakfast package. Just make sure it’s good for a time that he’ll be available to go.
• Best Man cufflinks. If your Best Man is a die hard Yankees fan, you can get him cufflinks made from actual wooden seats from Yankee Stadium. Or get him cufflinks with your school’s logo. There are some really high end cufflinks that are affordable. Think about his hobbies and cufflinks are sure to be available in that style.
• Is he a golfer? There are many golf-related items you could gift him with. Give him a gift certificate to a round of golf and a meal at the clubhouse restaurant. Or get him personalized golf balls or a new golf bag.
• Maybe he's a handy man, a hunter, or someone who would make use of a pocket knife with tons of little tools inside. You can opt for a personalized pocket knife with the Best Man's initials on it. It'll be something they use and hold on to for a long time.
• Add on to his gym membership. If you know he always works out at a certain gym, buy him additional months of his membership. You know it’s a gift he’ll really use.
• Think outside the box. This is your best friend. What are some of the things you two did as kids or in college or as adults that stand out in your mind? Did you guys go backpacking through Europe? Give him a reminder of the trip such as a leather photo album filled with photos.
• Gift certificates to book stores are a nice idea. If he’s an avid reader, also include a new bestseller book or a subscription to a magazine that you know he doesn’t have.
• Best Man Cigars are traditional. If he’s a cigar aficionado, get him the best cigars you can afford or a new humidor that’s personalized with his initials.

For more bridal party gift ideas:

• Cheap Bridesmaids Gifts
• Monogrammed Bridal Party Gifts

There is no shortage of charming calla lily wedding favors. If you have chosen this classic flower as part of your wedding theme, you will have no trouble finding elegant favors to provide your guests.

Your best friend in searching for budget-friendly yet attractive calla lily favors is an online shop. The selection will be more extensive than a brick and mortar store and you can order easily any time of the day or night. Moreover, though, it makes for one less thing you have to run around and do is always a help.

Live Bulbs

A darling idea for a calla lily favor is a live bulb. You can order the bulbs in bulk online and wrap them in tulle and ribbon for each guest. When they plant the bulb and again when the flower blooms, they’ll think of you. This is a great eco-friendly idea that ensures no gift goes to waste. Plus, you’re beautifying the planet!

Wine Accessories

Hip brides are finding that wine accessories are a big hit with guests. You can find calla lily corkscrews, wine charms and wine bottle stopper favors. Each with a different calla lily design, they’ll fit right in with your décor and look great on your tables. And guests will be happy to have something they can use. You can also find wine glasses and champagne flutes with the lily etched or printed on them.

Bookmarks

There are a number of choices available in calla lily bookmark favors. Everyone loves a bookmark and again, giving something useful is always a good idea. Every time your guests see that darling bloom popping out above their page, they will think of the great time they had at your wedding.

Capodimonte Sculpture

Capodimonte is a type of porcelain sculpture highly prized for its beauty. The calla lily is an especially popular design for such exquisite handwork. You can offer each couple or each guest a single capodimonte calla lily stem and bloom in a special box or you can offer a trinket box with a sculpted calla lily on it.

Soaps

A nice touch is to offer calla lily blossom soaps. You can put some out in the ladies room at your reception and then have them wrapped in tulle as favors to take home at each place setting. There are petal-shaped soaps and also whole blossoms you can select from.

Place Card Holders

Set out a sea of calla lilies on the sign-in table where guests will look for their table numbers. There are a number of lovely choices when it comes to place card holders with calla lily designs. Each one is a treasure on its own and guests can bring them home at the end of the festivities.

Mini Cakes

Lately, the rage has been to offer guests mini wedding cakes to take home. The two-tier minis can be boxed in a calla lily-themed tin and the cakes themselves can be ordered with icing lilies. This is a charming way to let guests enjoy your theme at home.

Flowers for the Flower Girl

You’ll want to make sure to carry your theme out in a gift to your flower girl. She’ll love a special silk-wrapped basket she can take home that’s filled with calla lily shaped chocolates or real petals. And for the ring bearer, have him carry a pillow with your rings attached to a stem of a real or silk blossom. (Send him home with chocolates too!)

Don’t forget yourself!

In addition to the themed favors you can provide your guests, you can carry your theme into other areas of the wedding as well. You can have a unity candle for the head table with calla lilies on it, cake servers with calla lily handles, even a garter belt with a tiny embroidered lily. Your cake topper can be a porcelain calla lily or a couple holding calla lilies. There’s no limit to the details you can add.

More Calla Lily Wedding Ideas:

• Calla Lily Centerpiece & Bouquet Ideas
• Calla Lily Themed Wedding Ideas
• Calla Lily Wedding Ideas
• Calla Lily Wedding Cakes
• Calla Lily Ceremony Accessories
• Calla Lily Color Schemes
• Calla Lily Wedding Inspiration Board

Who hasn't dreamt of getting married with her feet in warm, white sand with dazzling blue water forming the perfect backdrop? Seaside weddings are romantic, whimsical, and casual. Maybe the sound of the surf even helps calm brides' and grooms' nerves. A seaside blue color scheme provides a breath of fresh, seaside air whether or not your wedding is anywhere near the beach. Here are some ideas for bringing the ocean into your big day.

When choosing a seaside blue wedding, your accent color will be very, very important. A very trendy, refreshing combination is blue and orange. This isn't usually a combination we see, but for seaside weddings, it is light, airy, and incredibly fresh.

The colors are reminiscent of tropical skies and seas and luscious, juicy fruit. How does this look in a wedding? Imagine the bride wearing a sparkling white dress, tied with a brilliant blue sash. Her bridesmaids wear knee-length blue dresses with white sashes. White accents can also be added at the neckline and hemline for contrast. Bridesmaids could also wear a lovely orange-coral dress with blue sash. The flowers are tropical and lovely: the attendants carry bouquets of yellow, orange, and red flowers, while the bridal bouquet is a colorful combination of all of these gorgeous, vibrant tones.

The colors can be incorporated into your cake: a blue fondant cake with orange roses, delicate gold scrollwork, and white beading will look elegant and fun at the same time. A white cake can be decorated with bold Hawaiian style orchids and flowers or a lovely, sophisticated white eyelet cake can provide a nice contrast to the vibrant blues and oranges of other details.

A combination of seaside blue, yellow, and navy blue is also very elegant. The contrast can be dramatic in centerpieces, and yellow always imparts a very fresh feel. For instance, you can arrange a vase or box of bright daffodils adorned with a dark blue and white striped ribbon. The addition of fresh lemons makes the perfect table accessory. White and yellow daffodils look great tied with a seaside blue ribbon, and a dash of navy or light blue will add a fabulous touch of contrast to the bridal gown.

Seaside blue and green are another beautiful combination, and you can really play up the seaside theme with multiple shades of smooth sea glass in your centerpieces, floating candles in blue-tinted water, and ethereal paper lanterns. Tint your cake pale blue or green and adorn with sea grasses, starfish decorations, shells, or simply a classic strand of pearls. Perfect favors for your guests are small blue-green boxes of salt water taffy, bath favors or beach candles.

To play up the casual feel of a beachside wedding, have wedding flip flops made for the bridal party, add a sash to a simple slip dress, put vases of white sand with starfish and seashell accessories on your tables, or simply use children's beach toys for a fun, playful feel. No matter what accent color you choose, pillar candles wrapped in raffia, hurricane lanterns, blue glass, shells, and other accessories will provide a breezy beach feel that you can dress up or down to suit your preferences.

Whether your beach wedding is on the sand or a thousand miles away from the coast, you can create a warm, inviting, and refreshing atmosphere that you and your guests will enjoy.

More Beach Wedding Ideas:

• Planning A Beach Wedding
• The Best Beach Wedding Locations
• Beach Wedding Bridal Accessory Tips
• Beach Wedding Favors
• Inspiration: Nautical & Sailor Style Wedding
• Beach Wedding Cake Ideas

Asian themed weddings are quite popular, and there are so many ways to create this theme for your guests in an entirely new way. The favors you choose will help set the mood and carry your theme throughout the day. Online sites are excellent sources for hard-to-find Asian wedding favors. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Double Happiness
The double happiness sign is very traditional for an Asian wedding. The symbol stands for wishes of life-long happiness for the bride and groom. Why not wish your guests well with a take-home place card holder in the symbol of the double happiness characters? There are also many other items that bear the double happiness sign. You’ll find everything from candles to boxes to bags emblazoned with the uplifting design.

Red Tea Light Holders
Because red is the color of luck in Asian cultures, you may want to include an elegant red votive holder at every place setting. They are available in many designs including an intricate gold scroll pattern that really looks elegant. You can either send them home with guests, or you can light them and have each table glowing with gorgeous luminescence. Nothing says romance like candlelight.

Mini Lanterns
There are many versions of miniature lanterns available. You might want to choose on that holds a tea light or one that is more traditional made of silk or paper. These are fun little favors and your guests can hang them when they get home.

Everything Elephant
The elephant is a symbol of good fortune in Asia. Why not add a few elephant touches for your guests? They can take home a darling ivory elephant votive holder or a wooden elephant napkin ring to remind them of the day. You can also print elephants on your cocktail napkins or matchbooks.

Sake Cups
There are sake cups available in just about every design you can think of. Find one that coordinates with your décor. You might want to include a dragon sake cup for the men and a phoenix for the women as these symbolize men and women respectively.

Fortune Cookies
These days you can get custom fortune cookies made to your exact specifications. There are companies who will make them with the fortune you choose or you can have your wedding date and your names printed as the fortune. You can also select the color and flavor of the cookie to match your theme or have them dipped in white or dark chocolate or sprinkles. There are also many silver and gold colored metal favors in the shape of fortune cookies. You might look for silver place card fortune cookies or golden chopstick rests in the shape of the cookie.

Cranes
The crane appears in Asian culture as another symbol of luck. You can purchase a ceramic origami crane for each guest or couple, or you could enlist a bunch of friends and create them yourselves out of paper. Either way, a crane favor to take home is a nice touch.

Coins
Asian coins make great take-home gifts. You can either string them on pretty ribbon and make a decorative ornament or bracelet or you can offer them in pretty favor boxes.

Brocade Favors
There are so many wonderful brocade items to offer your guests. You can choose silk brocade wallets or jewelry pouches for the ladies and ornately decorated boxes for the men to keep their watches or tie tacks in. They’ll look stunning on your tables.

Photo Coasters
Photo coasters are becoming very popular. They come in all designs and allow you to personalize your gift to your guests. You can include a photo of the bride and groom (an engagement photo works well) and assemble them ahead of time. Guests will appreciate the time you took to make this thoughtful present.

There’s really no limit to the favors you can find to coordinate with your Asian theme. From personalized water bottle labels and personalized candy wrappers to fans and parasols, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the choices available to make your day special.

More Asian Wedding Ideas:

• Asian Wedding Decorations
• Asian Themed Wedding Ideas
• Asian Wedding Traditions
• Japanese Wedding Traditions
• Cherry Blossom Wedding Theme - Introduction

More and more brides are opting for edible favors for their wedding guests.  And why not? Guests can take home a sweet treat that will remind them of your big day.  One of the most popular edible favor choices are gourmet iced cookies in various shapes such as three tier wedding cakes, hearts, wedding gowns, tuxes and more.  You can even get iced cookies that are imprinted with a photo of the bride and groom.

Recently, the Classic Curls Heart Cookie Favors from Cookie Gift Baskets were featured in the April 2010 issue of Brides Magazine.  The perfect "something blue" for your wedding, these heart-shaped cookies truly taste as good as they look.   A delicious almond flavor-infused shortbread cookie is topped with an aqua blue royal icing and then confectionery artisans pipe on classic, elegant white lace curls.  The extra large (about 5" across) cookies are shrink-wrapped, but you can get them wrapped in individual cello bags that are hand-tied with a matching satin ribbon for just 50 cents extra per cookie.  Cookies are priced from $4.25 and up with a minimum order of 12 cookies.

Personally, I find that my favorite cookie favor shape is that of a wedding cake.  At Gourmet Cookie Bouquets, you can find personalized wedding cake-shaped cookie favors that are available in numerous patterns so that you can choose something that fits your style and color scheme perfectly.  Select from floral, polka-dot, striped, and classic curl designs and then add your names to one of the tiers for the ultimate personalized favor that your guests can eat.  If you prefer, you can skip the personalization altogether and go with a simple, elegant cookie cake design that features a white base and a white scroll work pattern like the gourmet cookies shown below.  Simply Stunning!

More on Cookie Favors:

• Types and Classifications of Cookies
• A Sweet Favor - Cookies!
• How to Make Homemade Cookie Party Favors
• Delectable Wedding Cookie Favors

One of the most elegant and traditional color schemes for a wedding is black and white so it is no wonder that this palette is one of the most popular choices for weddings today.  When it comes to choosing black and white favors, the sheer number of options can be staggering.  You can find personalized and non-personalized choices as well as traditional favors that are timeless classics and whimsical favors that feature zebra stripes or polka dots.  Just choose a favor that will convey your thank you sentiments along with your personal style.  I found this montage of my favorite black and white wedding favors that are available from Wedding Favors Unlimited. The damask wedding favors are definitely becoming popular, they're so pretty!!

For the traditional bride and groom, a damask or flourish-patterned favor is a great choice.  For example, the damask covered candle favors in the upper left hand corner of the collage or the black and ivory flourish-patterned boxes in the middle would be a classic choice.  The boxes arrive with the matching ribbon so you simply assemble and fill them with your favorite candy, mint or trinket for a stunning presentation to your guests.  My personal favorite in this color palette are the "Timeless Traditions" black and white photo coaster wedding favors in the lower right hand corner.   The 3.5" square glass coasters are packaged in sets of two and arrive with a white sheer ribbon and a center card that reads "For You".  The white floral pattern on the jet black glass background is beautiful.

No matter what favor you choose, your guests are bound to be thankful that you cared enough to give them a little something to take home with them!

Image Source: Black and White Wedding Ideas from Hubpages.com

More black and white wedding ideas:

• Black & White Wedding Cake Ideas
• Black and White Wedding Cakes
• Decorating for your Black and White Wedding
• Black and White Wedding Stationery
• Black and White Wedding Theme

If you've decided to have a sweet pink wedding with chocolate brown accents, then you'll need favors in the same color palette.   The great news is that there are a wide range of wedding favors on the market that incorporate this color scheme so you can choose something that fits your style and personality perfectly.  Give your guests a memorable gift to say thank you for sharing in your special day.  While I was poking around on the web for some of my favorite pink and brown wedding favors, I stumbled across this great lens at Squidoo which covers every aspect of a Pink and Chocolate Brown Wedding from the bridesmaid dresses to the reception centerpieces to the wedding favors, of course.    Below you'll find the amazing collage of favors from that lens.

Personally, I am a fan of either personalized wedding favors because they just have that extra special touch or favors that incorporate edibles such as jordan almonds or personalized M&M's inside beautiful favor boxes.  I love the latter because they are usually very affordable since you assemble the boxes yourself.

So if I had to choose 3 from the above photo, these items would be my picks:

1) The adorable neopolitan striped boxes in the upper left corner that feature a chocolate stripe, a pink stripe, and a floral stripe in the middle.  They are perfectly sized to hold a good amount of candy or mints and they come with the ribbon.  You just need to fill and assemble the DIY favor boxes to present to your guests.

2) The heart-shaped measuring spoons in a pink box with a personalized hang tag in the bottom row center. Each of the spoons feature a clever little saying like A Dash of Kindness or A Spoonful of Laughter.  They are the perfect personalized pink wedding favors!

3) The chocolate and pink polka dot wedding cake candles in the center of the collage.  I love these whimsical three tier cake candles and they fit the color scheme perfectly!

More Pink and Chocolate Wedding Ideas:

• Chocolate Brown & Pink Wedding Ideas
• Pink & Brown Wedding Inspiration Board
• Pink and Chocolate Color Scheme
• Chocolate & Pink Wedding Dresses

With a little imagination and creativity, you can put together unique, fun and affordable favors that utilize galvanized or painted tin pails.  Many online vendors sell these miniature pails that usually stand about 2" tall.  You can find them in either the silver galvanized color or in a painted white or pastel color.  They are a perfect container choice for casual events such as a spring, garden, or beach theme wedding.  Here are a couple of my favorite ideas for the pails:

Perfect for a garden wedding, the first look shown in the photograph utilizes a miniature metal watering can that is embellished with personalized ribbon (available in 27 colors) and decorative tin flowers (available in pink, orange and lavender).  Simply purchase the cans and then choose a ribbon and flower color that coordinates perfectly with your wedding.  Use a hot glue gun to create a look similar to the one shown in the photograph.  Fill the pails with a short stem cutting of your favorite flower such as a colorful Gerber daisy, rose, or carnation.

To create the second look in the photo, silver miniature metal pails were filled with 3 colorful lollipops chosen to coordinate with the event colors, along with a ring of satin ribbon and felt flowers (available in pink, blue, green, or lavender).  You simply use hot glue to hold the ribbon and flower in place.  The little handles on the pails make it easy for guests to tote their adorable little favors home with them.

The final idea that I love is for beach wedding favors.  In this case, white metal pails with handles have been filled with blue gummy whales.  The pails were decorated with blue satin ribbon and a miniature starfish that was glued in place.

No matter how you decide to decorate your pails, you can either place one at each individual place setting at the reception or display them on a table near the entrance/exit with a sign that clearly encourages your guests to take one home with them.   Pails are versatile so let your creative juices flow and you are sure to come up with a wedding favor that your guests will love!

Photos courtesy of the 2009 WeddingStar Catalog.

More beach wedding ideas:

• Planning A Beach Wedding
• Simple Beach Wedding Decorations
• Planning a Destination Wedding
• The Best Beach Wedding Locations
• Choosing Your Beach Wedding Bridal Party & Guests
• Beach Wedding Bridal Accessory Tips

Wondering what to do with a hexagon-shaped box? Wonder no more....hexagonal boxes can be used to create elegant wedding favors for just about any wedding theme or color scheme.  In the photo below, simple diamond patterned quilt favor boxes in a hexagon shape are used to create some fabulous looking personalized favors.

The upper right photo in the collage shows an affordable way to personalize your hexagonal shaped favor boxes.  Simply purchase custom printed ribbon in a color that goes with your color scheme.  Normally the ribbon can be imprinted with the bride and groom's name along with the wedding date.  Also purchase some simple favor hang tags that say something like "Thank You for Sharing in Our Special Day".  You can usually get about 25 of these classic thank you tags for under $5.  Tie the tag onto the box using the ribbon and consider using a little dot of hot glue to keep the ribbon in place on the box.

If you are having an autumn wedding, bring the fall colors into your favors through the use of ribbon and organic elements.  For the look in the photo, twigs from a local craft store (you could use ones from your yard too) were used along with a brown satin ribbon and gold organza ribbon.  Leaf-shaped paper cards were cut-out of green cardstock and hand-written with the word "Thank You".  You can also find personalized leaf-shaped cards at Wedding Favors Unlimited.  They come in 4 different colors including brown, green, and red making them a great choice for fall-themed wedding favors.   You can personalized them with your names and date or your monogram.

Finally if you are looking to add a little glitz and glamour to your wedding favors, you can use crystal dazzlers, mongrams and a flashy bow like the ones shown in the photo on the lower right corner.  Kevin and Amber used their initials on the box for a personal touch that wowed their guests.  These do-it-yourself favors are a more expensive, but highly elegant option.

Photo courtesy of the Weddingstar Catalog.

More favor box ideas:

• Personalized Wedding Favor Ideas
• Unique Bridal Shower Favor Ideas
• Affordable DIY Favor Box Ideas
• Treasure Chest Favor Ideas
• Think Outside The Box - DIY Wedding Favor Ideas