From the beginning of wedding planning, I have been against doing favors. Frankly, I just don't understand the point of them. I hate hearing people say things about how we "owe" our guests favors, and how it really shows them that you "appreciate" their attendance.
Bullshit.
Come on. Admit it. They're stupid.
Let's review some of the favors we've received over the years:
- Ceramic roses. Where are they now? In a landfill somewhere, that's where. In fact, they went to the big black hole/giant mountain of garbage about 12 hours after that wedding.
- Shot glasses with the couples' names on them. Sure, they're useful. But we have about a dozen other shot glasses. Therefore, we wouldn't have died if we hadn't received shot glasses.
- Rock candy. Yummy, but we also had an abundance of cake and a chocolate fountain with all of the fixings at that wedding. Did we need rock candy? No. We ate one of them. The other one sat in our snack cabinet for two years. We finally chucked it a couple of weeks ago.
- Personalized M&Ms. Sure, a tasty treat. But there's no way in hell we enjoyed them as much as you paid for them. Those bitches are expensive. They're M&Ms, not gold.
- Coozies with the names and date on them. Again, cute. And totally fit the personalities of the couple. But they are up high in a cabinet somewhere in our kitchen, and I can honestly say we've never used them.
- A ceramic candlestick with some kind of ugly bow on it. Another donation to the landfill.
- Photo coasters. These, we actually did take home and we love them. Each person got a pair of them, so between the two of us, we ended up with four. We put a different picture of Tessa in each of them. We break them out fairly often. They are probably the only favor I've actually really enjoyed.
The fact of the matter is, we've been to weddings before where there have not been favors. And we certainly haven't been looking around screaming "WHERE IS OUR FREE CHOTCHKY? WHERE IS IT?! NO FAVORS?! HOW DARE THIS COUPLE! DO THEY NOT APPRECIATE US AT ALL?!?"
I don't say these things to offend anybody. Sure, favors are a nice gesture. And if you have the money for them, by all means... include favors in your wedding planning.
Ultimately, we have decided (begrudgingly) to do favors. Just because we can. And I'm going to be the first to admit that they're nothing special, not necessary, and not memorable. But they're affordable, and I've come to the realization that a lot of people do really like favors. Let's face it: People like free stuff. Period.
What we decided to do is pretty much fail proof. Chocolate. We're going to buy chocolate in bulk--probably Hershey's Nuggets, along with some Hershey's Kisses--at BJ's, and put several pieces in little organza bags for each person. I'm going to have monogram favor tags made by an eBay seller, and we'll attach them to each bag. Bing, bang, boom. Done.
Here are the organza bags I ordered from YourOrganzaBag.com. They were $20.35 for 180 of them, including shipping. I ordered 60 light blue and 60 white. They came in pretty quickly. Not only that, but I was pleasantly surprised about the color of the blue. I thought they were much lighter. When I opened the package, I found that they're actually much closer to the aqua blue we're using. Awesome!
We'll probably wait another couple of weeks until we buy the candy. I don't want to have it sitting around the house in danger of melting as the weather gets warm. Also, I haven't ordered the favor tags yet, so it's kind of pointless. We're still waiting on 63 RSVPs, and I'd like to have a more accurate count before finalizing the favors.
At the reception, we'll put a bag of chocolate at everyone's place setting. The smart ass in me wants to include a note: "To our guests--Here is your $0.40 token of our appreciation. The dinner, drinks, dessert, and music we're providing mean nothing. This candy? This is a true sign that we are grateful you could be with us this evening. Yes, this. Nothing else."
I kid, I kid.
16 comments:
I could not agree with you more! Your post cracked me up! I think favors are totally useless and a waste of money. I'm ashamed to say we considered the coozies and shot glasses, and I'm so thankful now that we didn't go down that wasteful route. They are fun to get creative with, though, with all the cute baggies and boxes and ribbon and such. We're not having anything defined as a "favor", but we are having a candy buffet and providing little baggies, so it's essentially the same thing you're doing.
This was by far the funniest post I have ever read. You nailed my exact sentiments. Amen, sista!
I think SOME favors can be worth it and fun, but usually not... I want a candy bar just because that fits my personality. I love chocolate and love candy and my whole family does. We are yummy people, haha. I think everyone would love it at my wedding... bags with our monogram on it and each person can fill it with whatever they want. It suits me and my finance.
Right on, sister! It does seem incredibly silly that the notion that we appreciate our family and friends rests on possibly the cheapest part of a wedding. Please! We are going even cheaper than you have! Hershey kisses scattered about the table...aaaaand that's it. Half of them will probably still be on the damn table at midnight anyway. Favors schmavors, girl!
Ugh. I cross-stitched 125 wedding designs and made them into Christmas Ornaments. I hate favors.
We are doing chocolate too! If it wasn't edible, I was not going to give favors.
I think you may be getting even more posts and requests for aisle runners soon. I don't know if you know but you were featured here: http://www.aisledash.com/2008/05/13/hand-painted-aisle-runner/
i enjoyed reading this post!!
personally i have mixed feeling about favors. on one hand i hate spending the extra money on favors b/c more than likely they are going to be wasted after the wedding.
but on the other, they are a nice touch to the b&g's big day.
the BEST favor i've received/eaten was at my cousin's wedding. She got married at the end of May a few years ago and they have chocolate cover strawberries!!! YUMMY! I wanted more. but you had to eat it there. you couldn't take it home.
i went to a wedding 2 yrs ago and there was so much crap on the tables for guests: choc bars, bells, mixed CD. it was WAY too much!
I think we're going to do the donation for our favor. that way the money isn't wasted on crap!
thanks!
My mom gave my sister and I favors from a communion dinner that we didn't attend. They are by far the ugliest thing you've ever seen. It's tulle with jordon almonds inside a glass candle holder with plastic hands praying together glued on the front. Well I threw mine in the garbage when she left. The next day I found it on my shelf. Well my sister had left it behind (since she didn't want it either). Since then, we've been hiding it at each other's houses. My sister just found it because she's moving. And now it's somewhere lurking in my house. So the lesson is: you can have fun with bad favors!
I loved this post. Favors are something I never quite understood either. You would think that providing your guests with a full course meal, drinks and cake would be enough to show your appreciation.
i always thought the favor thing was weird. i mean yes, the guests are awesome especially when they travel to see you but i don't think any of them want/need anything for it. the day is about honoring you & your relationship, not your guests.
i sound like the devil :D we're not giving favors
I totally agree. we were going to just donate money to a charity but his parents didn't like that idea (I know I know who cares) so we decided to go with scratch off tickets. I wanted food but we couldn't agree so scratch off tickets were the way to go. and who doesn't like a chance of winning money?! lol
We're not doing favors for all those reasons and more!
Love It!- Finally someone who understands.
I'm not doing favors either, unless you count some mints on the table.
I like some favors, but normally only want something sentimental from a wedding where I am very close to the couple, otherwise, I'm not keeping it.
That is why we have deicded to make wine for our favors. People who want sentimental can keep the bottle or whatever, and everyone else can drink it and then return it for 20 cents at the beer store (I am in Canada)
Enjoy the chocolate!
I know this is 2 years old but I love it! I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way! a dinner and alcohol and cake isnt enough?! plus entertainment! My fiance freaked though when I said no favors...so I'm doing a cookie buffet...yay (insert sarcasm!)
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