I attended a wedding recently where I refused to take home yet another wedding favor. I think the bride and groom are great people, and I was honored to be invited to the wedding, but I just don’t need more stuff. Especially themed stuff that would otherwise go straight in a closet and into a garage sale. Although, refusing to take home the favor brought up another conundrum - would the favor be used by someone else or thrown away?
Make a donation your wedding favor
Pool all the money that would otherwise be spent on favors and make a donation to a cause that’s close to your heart. The favor part of the budget can range from a couple hundred dollars to a couple thousand dollars - this can make a big impact on local, national or international charities.
One of our local homeless shelters says a meal costs them $2.62. Take $250 of the wedding favor budget and you’ve bought dinner for 96 people. Or $250 could buy 10 backpacks filled with school supplies for children.
Let your guests know where the favors are going by making an announcement at the ceremony, and maybe on the invitation. Put the money to work, rather than towards another tchochke, knickknack or bauble.
April 27th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Very good idea! Why hadn’t we thought of that 5 yrs ago…?
April 28th, 2008 at 5:37 am
Yeah, I wish we’d done that too.
Weddings are incredibly self-centered, and My wife and I fell into the same trap that everyone else falls into - we just thought of the wedding and ourselves and didn’t think outside of that. If we could do it over, that’s the first thing I’d change.
August 25th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
I am a bit confused about Do your guests - and the world - a (wedding) favor at BluePlanetWedding.com
October 3rd, 2008 at 6:05 am
[…] 7. Keep the favors simple - five sugar-coated almonds is very traditional Why its frugal: Enough sugar-coated almonds for 75 people should cost about $30-$40 (depending on where you get them, of course) Why its green: Food is always a good choice for favours - there’s less chance of waste (kids tend to eat all the leftover favours). Knickknacks tend to accumulate (and accumulate in landfills) and aren’t appreciated by everyone. Some bakeries and cookie decorators will do combined placecards and favour cookies. There are a lot of other options you could consider, like donations. […]