I am one who greatly favors edible favors. I see brides put so much thought and effort into different favors and then half of them are left behind at the reception. Appeal to the broadest audience you can. If you have a lot of guys - they could care less about a candle wrapped in tulle and pretty ribbon. NO offense to anyone who did this! JMHO
My current fave (have to be honest and say this is what we are doing at daughter's wedding) is the Candy Buffet from Martha Stewart. The only Martha thing allowed!
We are setting up a table with different bowls, vases, pretty containers and each will have a different candy in it. We will have pretty personalized bags (I REALLY thought Chinese take-out containers were cool, but she said no!) and each guest will make their own favor. You can go on weddingchannel.com or theknot.com and do a search for candy buffet and you will get some great pics. Good luck.

I agree that someting edible, or at least consumable in some way, is better than just another little knicknack. I have no interest in a photo frame, candle, etc., with someone else's names and wedding date on it.

We did custom fortune cookies, since my DH proposed to me in a fortune cookie. A nearby company makes the cookies and will put fortunes in them with either generic love/wedding-related sayings, or whatever custom saying you'd like. So we ordered ours with a little wedding blessing on them. They were inexpensive, and the guests enjoyed hearing how they were connected to the wedding (the best man included a note about DH's proposal in his speech).

Here's what I would NOT do: spend an eternity making, sewing, painting or otherwise tying up valuable pre-wedding time getting all crafty. Favors are one area in which you have quite a bit of ready-made ideas and materials handy.

And I couldn't agree more about appealing to the broadest possible audience. Your male guests (50% of the attendees) will probably not go into raptures over little bags of potpourri, scented candles, flower seed packets, embroidered hankies, etc.

To Nanaof2, I liked your suggestion of candy buffet but I went into the two sites you mentioned and even Martha Stewart's but didn't find any pictures. Do you have any specific information?

Kay, I'm so sorry, my instructions were not nearly specific enough. On the Wedding Channel, you must do the search from the talk forums. On theknot.com, click the tab at the top called "talk", then on the left side is a search bar - type in candy buffet and you should be good to go.

I don't know, I think handmade favors are cute. I've been to some weddings and it's always the same thing- little sachets of jordan almonds or some other candy. I always leave them on the table because we don't really eat candy. I'd much rather have a bookmark (which I got at one wedding, thought it was a great idea- had a poem about love on it) or something I could potentially use.

I'm a gardener and if I ever get married I just might give everyone a piece of my garden. Then again, it depends on how many people we have at the wedding!! But a tiny terra cotta pot with a sachet of seeds it in and instructions on how to grow them- that's a different idea. I'd like to think that most of the people there would remember it because it's so different. And best of all, the seeds are free for me.

Those tiny terra cotta pots are about 15 cents at the craft store here. And even if you don't have a garden, you can buy seeds online or in stores for a dollar for a few hundred.

Here is a link that might be useful: My website

The candy buffet first ran in the Winter 2001 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings. If I remember, there was a long Guide w/ contact info for all the candy, and even the vases. If your library doesn't have a copy, you can order your own from the company for $5.50.

And there was a "Good Things for Weddings" special collector's edition in 2004; not sure it it's still available.

Basically, the pic shows two little girls standing at a table on which there are big (and I mean big) oversize clear vases of different sizes and shapes, and a clear glass bowl. There is white candy in each vase, a little wooden scoop in each vase, and a pile of glassine envelopes to put the treats in.

You might be able to rent the vases or bowls.

There will be a Guide w/ sources in the December issue, if you want to get their white candy. But there are lots of candy sources in the world, too

www.economycandy.com
www.fudgekitchens.com
www.cocoabon.com
www.indulgesomeone.com

Here is a link that might be useful: order a back issue--it's the white one, Winter 01

Here is a thread with pics and resources for the Candy Bar.

Here is a link that might be useful: Candy Bar Thread from the WC

Wendy! How are you? Over on WC I am "Hermom". Hope your planning is going well.

Hi Nana/Hermom... funny how 'friends' can cross paths on the information highway! :)
Planning is going well for us (a little on the back burner until after the Holiday's)... hope all is going well for you!

I actully am a pro to personalized favors, WE are doing a CD with the songs we are dancing to at the wedding and all of hte songs we claim as favorites over the 7 years we have been dating. Each song is dedicated to a person or an event most of which is shared by all the guests who will be at the sedding...
I have CD favors form other weddings and I kept them and listen to them often. Its not that much time to burn CDs and make labels for them, but the guests feel like we put some effort into their favor and not spent a bunch of money on something that they can eat in 2 seconds and not ever remember again. I don't remember any of hte edible favors i had at weddings but i do remember the saops, teh candles the CDs and the various little stuff, becasueI kept them or put htem into a scrap book...its just my oppinion that personalized non edibels are better.

For the weddings of both my daughter and my son the favors were personalized pens...the pens had the names of the B&G, the date, and a small "saying" (DS's was "Our love forever true" and DD's was "A cord of three strands" -- from the Bible).

There are several sites online to order them from and there are a wide range of styles and costs. You usually have to order a minimum # -- usually the minimum ranges from 50 to 250 -- and, of course, the more you order the cheaper the cost is per pen. (We ordered ours from Pens Xpress and paid about 35 cents each, with a minimum of 250.)

I've posted this suggestion before, and I don't think too many people here were all that impressed with the idea. But, at least at these two weddings, the guests loved the pens -- we got a lot of positive feed-back. As is true of any kind of favor, there *were* guests that didn't take the pen/favor, but there were some guests at both weddings who wanted -- and went home with --several pens.

We had personalized bookmarks and small champagne flute holders with personalized ribbon bows, fillied with jelly beans that matched the color of the bridesmaid's dresses. They seemed to go over well.

I pretty much leave behind any favor that's not edible. Excepting the wedding where the couple gave out champagne flutes filled with something edible, and the only reason I took that was becaue five other members of our family gave me theirs, so I was able to get a set.

Of course, this is personal. Others may like little soaps or picture frames or whatever, but I don't use smelly stuff and I choose my own decorative things based on my decor. And I don't need knick-knacks to remember the wedding - I remember the way the groom looked at the bride or the beautiful flowers, or the amazing salsa band.

An idea that is kind of unique is a scratch-off lottery ticket and a shiny penny in a glassine envelope...who knows? One of your guests may win a jackpot! A saying like Lucky in Love or some such thing could be cute....and the guys would like it!

I'm with the edible-or-none crowd--and DH and I went with none. I don't need little knick-knacks or picture frames or CDs of music that other people like, or cheap pink wine in a bottle with a screw-off top.

I'm sure that really bothers some people. But it's the truth and lots of people feel this way. Heck, save your money. Grown-ups don't need party favors.

How about matchbooks that have the names of the bride and groom as well as the wedding date? Even if the guests don't smoke (and hopefully most don't), everyone can use matches to light candles or incense.

We made our own favors, that were really simple -- bought a bunch of Dove chocolates (heart-shaped), cut out little round pieces of tulle, and tied together a little bag of the candies with a ribbon that had our names and the date on it. Simple (I and a few friends put them together in a few hours), and very inexpensive.

For DD#1 we bought a large bag of Hershey's Kisses and wrapped 3 in pieces of tuelle, ribbon and added card.
DD#2 was more crafty. She bought small silver picture frames. She dried and pressed pansies and arranged them in the frame with each guest's name and used them for table place cards. The guests took them home as their favors.

I agree with the edible favors. I has a 2x2 box each with a large truffle and a pretty bow tied on it. Each place setting at the tables had their truffle in the center.