In the beginning, wedding favors were given at parties hosted by European upper classes with enough wealth to give pricey gifts to their guests. The French referred to early wedding favors in small, elegant boxes as bonbonniere. These fancy boxes were usually make of gold, crystal or porcelain and filled with expensive candies. Eventually people of lesser means gave small gifts to their guests as wedding favors.

Almonds were given to guests for more than a millennium. In the Middle East, five almonds represents health, happiness, fertility, longevity and wealth. Today Jordan almonds are often given as wedding favors and represent the joining of bitter and sweet in marriage.

Wedding favors became a widespread tradition during the sixteenth century. The small gifts given as wedding favors vary based on the couples’ culture, interests, budget and wedding theme. From homemade wedding favors to elaborate gifts, there are many ways for the happy couple to express thanks to their guests.

Today wedding favors are coveted keepsakes guests can’t wait to receive. Usually wedding favors are distributed next to each place setting so guests know to take them home after the party. Sometimes wedding favors are distributed in a certain area of the reception. Either way, wedding favors also double as decorative accents at your wedding. Whether used at each place setting, grouped in the middle of the table as a centerpiece or situated on a table of honor, wedding favors are always a highlight at receptions.

If you are on a budget, there are many ways to offer attractive wedding favors without going broke. You can make your own wedding favors with personalized ribbons, tulle, candles and Jordan almonds. You can also use place card holders that double as wedding holders. A lovely place in my heart bud vase and place card holder directs guests to their seats and doubles as a treasured memory of your big day. Swaying calla lily pearlescent place card and photo frames can be taken home to and used to display a photo of the bride and groom.

Most modern wedding have a designated theme. Popular wedding themes including Las Vegas, fairytale, nautical, cultural and seasonal. Celebrate the season of your love with wedding favors that reflect the time of year. At an autumn wedding, your guests will appreciate fall in love leaf soap petals in a clear box with ribbon and tag. Another attractive autumn option is an apple of my eye mini candle in gift box with ribbon and tag. For spring weddings, butterfly garden gift baskets with wildflower seed packets are simply perfect. Your guests can plant the seeds when they go home and remember your special day as the flowers bloom. In the winter, your guests will appreciate a snowflake bottle stopper in a shimmering gift box.

Many girls dream of being a Cinderella princess bride and marrying Prince Charming at an elegant manor. If you have a fabulous fairytale wedding, give your guests a happily ever after carriage candle. Other fantastic fairytale wedding favors are a crowning moments tiara photo keychain or a castles in the sand castle tea light. Your guests will love having their own royal wedding favors to remember your fairytale day.

At nautical weddings, couples get married on the beach or in a boat. Celebrate your nautical nuptials in style with delightful themed wedding favors for all your guests. Include shining sails silver place card holders near each place setting so your guests know where to sit. Put small candies in a palm tree favor box with multi-dimensional detail as wedding favors. For a destination waterfront wedding, palm tree cookie cutters in a beach themed gift boxes are a treasured keepsake for your guests.

Love matches any wedding theme. Romantic wedding favors are a thoughtful way to thank your guests. Love notes sticky notes in a nostalgic dispenser gift box with a dainty heart charm are useful wedding favors. Hugs and kisses from the mister and misses scented soaps are sure to appear in all your guests’ bathrooms.

Show how much you appreciate your guests by giving out thoughtful, beautiful wedding favors at your reception.

You can get ideas for wedding favors from your friends, family, magazines and websites. Look around to see what other couples are using to get ideas for wedding favors. Your wedding favors can be as simple or elaborate as your preferences and budget determine. Select thoughtful ideas for wedding favors since they represent thanks to your guests for their attendance and support.

Personalized wedding favors commemorate your day with your names and date on a ribbon, card or sticker. With personalized wedding favors, guests always remember the event the gift was from because your names are on it. An easel-back heart-shaped aluminum frame is a great favor because guests can use it to display a small photo of the bride and groom. Love bug candles are a whimsical way to add the couples’ names to a fun favor and flair to a garden wedding.

The theme and location of your wedding gives you the greatest ideas for wedding favors. Maybe you dreamed about meeting Prince Charming for years and imagined yourself as a Cinderella princess bride. If you are wearing a ball gown and arriving at the wedding in a horse-drawn carriage, include this fairy tale feeling in your guests favors. Give out Cinderella chariot shaped candles as favors so your guests always remember your princess moment.

A beach wedding is an awesome alternative for informal couples who don’t want to fuss with formalities. Wear comfortable clothing, set up relaxed tables and sink your toes into the sand during a beautiful beach wedding. Although the beach itself is memorable enough, favors will remind your guests of the great time they had at your waterfront wedding. A classy favor is a silver plated starfish wine stopper so your guests relive the occasion every time they close a bottle of wine. Give out mini beach bags filled with candies or mints. A wooden deck chair candle holder with a fragrant candle is a lovely beach wedding favor.

The seasons define the ideas for wedding favors, too. Often candles are given as affordable, attractive favors to wedding guests. Candles shaped like fall leaves are a magical memory of an autumn wedding. Snowflake candle holders with scented tea lights commemorate a winter wedding. In the spring, miniature natural bird nests will keep your guests talking about your wedding favors for years to come.

Unique hobbies and preferences of the happy couple can be reflected in creative ideas for wedding favors. Is the groom more likely to play golf than plan a romantic dinner for two? All your guests will be amused by a miniature golf bag holding a personalized golf ball. Do the bride and groom spend all their time working out together at the fitness club or backpacking through trails? Give out healthy snacks for your guests in mini athletic bags or mini backpacks. Do the bride and groom like to gamble? Is the wedding held at a gambling venue? Give out mini slot machines or personalized bride and groom hounds’ playing cards as wedding favors. Are the bride and groom computer geeks? Express your technological savvy and love with mouse pads that announce “we clicked”.

Functional ideas for wedding favors are used by guests for years to come. A measuring tape key chain stating you’ll go the distance for love is a lasting, useful keepsake from your wedding reception. Bride and groom keyboard dusters clear dust off computers and remind your guests of your wedding day.

Look for ideas for wedding favors all around you. Your favors can be as simple as Jordan almonds wrapped in tulle and ribbon. Decorative candles and personalized ribbons are traditional wedding favors that work well for all wedding themes. Flip through bridal magazines and surf the Internet to check out ideas for wedding favors to help you plan your own.

Your creative ideas for wedding favors provide lasting memories of your special day for your guests.

If weddings are the sweetest thing to happen between a couple, then why not spread the sweetness or better yet, “box it” (then adorn it with colorful laces or add a no-nonsense ribbon) and hand it personally to the special people gracing the most special day in you life. Edible wedding favors would be a surefire hit among the guests. Who doesn’t love to eat, anyway? Who would say no to foods? Most of your guest must have each a sweet tooth, so a box of choco truffles for example would delight them to the end.

Chocolates reign supreme in the list of all-time favorite wedding favors. They can come in various sizes and in the most imaginable shapes. You could have chocolate shaped like wedding bells or wedding coins or a big chocolate-shaped heart with you names on it (awww). Chocolate candles, anyone? You could also have some fruits be covered with chocolate like strawberries. Some of your chocolate give-away may have peanuts in them like almonds or hazelnuts or it may come in other variants like dark, white and milk chocolates. Ever heard of choco lollipops? How about candies with chocolate fillings in the inside? What a sweet wedding it will truly be!

Of course, you do not have to solely rely on chocolates since there are other options for your edible wedding favors. For the foodie-lovers, here are some simple tips:

1. Support the local industry.
That is, go for home-made specialties like brownies or cookies or whatever your town’s (where you and your better half hail from) popular produce be, like for example carrots (then go for carrot cakes) and apples (bake apple pies!) then involve it into your wedding. If the wedding would take place in a coffee-growing region, then go for packed locally roasted coffee or coffee-flavored desserts and pastries. Ever heard of espresso fudge brownies? If you happen to be raised in a wine country, then go and let your guests bring home a “bottle of your childhood” and make a toast for it.

2. Let them know about your favorite stuffs.
Actually, let them have a taste of your favorite foods. Do you love blueberry cheesecake? Then have them in mini-sizes and distribute at the wedding reception. Do you love going to the movies? Then go for buttered or caramelized popcorns and put them in plastic bags with a crazy message like, “Thanks a bunch for popping into our wedding! We knew you would make it!” If you or your better half whips up one of the most fantastic macaroni salad in town, then place some in cute bowls and cover it with aluminum foils. If either of you likes experimenting at the kitchen, then why don’t you treat your guests to a sample of your spaghetti or fried chicken done in your own original recipe you have concocted and mastered all these time. You dig jams? Then buy colorful bottles in different shapes or forms and place the jam there with a matching lace or ribbon on the lid. You love colors? Then purchase an assortment of candies and jelly beans. Stuff them on socks (especially if it’s a December wedding) or on boxes.

3. Restore their energy.
Weddings normally last until the wee hours of the morning (even until the rooster crows and the sun’s all up), and what a sweet and smart gesture it would be if you would make them bring home goodies excellent enough for breakfast. Contact your favorite bakeshop for fresh-from-the-oven doughnuts or the local shop for some invigorating tea. How about sumptuous granola to revive you after all the snapping and turning and twirling in the dance floor? Your guests—your respective families and friends—would all appreciates your thoughtfulness.

Put in mind that these edible wedding favors can be personalized to fit in to your personality and to the theme of your wedding. As a matter of fact, they can even appear as “things” or “objects” (Remember the suggestion for chocolate candles?) until you get a careful scrutiny of them. Just inject the right creativity.

A friendly reminder, though for the guests: rein in on your excitement and reserve your appreciation later by not eating the wedding favors right at the wedding itself. There are still lots of raiding to do at the buffet table.

The tradition of giving wedding favors came from a belief that a bride and groom would be lucky. Anything that the couple touches could be considered as a lucky charm. Through giving of gifts to wedding guests, it is believed that the couple would be able to pass their blessings to those people.

Wedding favors in different parts of the world

All wedding favors are initially homemade. This was the time when mass production isn’t introduced yet to the industry. Many brides would opt to pass on their good luck by preparing small gifts in the form of almonds that are commonly wrapped in elegantly made fabric. In the Middle East, the tradition is to give 5 almonds to represent longevity, wealth, fertility, happiness, and health. Today, a special kind of almond known as Jordan almond became one of the most traditionally given wedding favors. They are usually wrapped in delicate fabric.

Most gifts would most probably be dependent on the materials available and on the culture of a particular place. In America and Europe, women would crochet bags or make small boxes that can hold nuts, fruits or candies. Up to now, crochet items still gives an elegant feel, especially for country themed weddings. Today, the bride can use her creativity and imagination to think of ideas that she can put on a token to show appreciation to wedding guests.

Modern Homemade Wedding Favors

The tradition of creating homemade wedding favors had been continued nowadays due to some brides who want to reduce their wedding costs. Even with the power of mass production, many people still opt to create their very own wedding favor as a form of self expression. Homemade creation of wedding favors allows opportunities of personalization that can explicitly show the uniqueness of an individual. Retail stores would have limited or no capacity at all for personalization.

Be Resourceful

Homemade wedding favor can be a challenging task and could give labor intensive endeavors. Talent, imagination and time are the only capacity limitations of making your very own homemade wedding favor. You can choose a variety of materials on a craft store. You can choose any materials that you want as long as it fits the theme that you have in your mind. Simple and small bud vases can be painted and designed into a nice wedding favor. Candles can be carved or painted with personalized designs. You can also use birdhouses as a base product in building a mini wedding chapel that would resemble a real wedding chapel. You can also use photos of both the bride and the groom in specially designed picture frame. You can virtually use anything you want, that you think would be a good material to the wedding favor you have in mind. Be as resourceful as you can.

Technology and Wedding Favors

Desktop publishing software, personal computers, and simple quality papers could imitate products that can only be can only be made by professional printers back in the years when technology hadn’t boomed that much yet. You can add simple poetic lines to a beautiful background for a more unique bookmark and framed work. Placards can be decorated with the names of the guests themselves. Just choose the font that you like and apply it on the said wedding favor. Software programs and copywriters can work hand in hand in delivering CDs and DVDs that can serve as a memorabilia for each guest. These private CDs and DVDs can contain events prior to the wedding or during the wedding day itself.

Food

Another excellent wedding favor would be to bake goods for your guests. You can give cookies, cupcakes, chocolates or other kinds of candies or pastries that are personally made and designed by you. This can be created in a simple home kitchen and accessibility of materials that can be used here would be easy. You can just buy at the nearest supermarket.