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Party Favors: Origin, Old Standards and New Ideas, Part II

Click Here for "Party Favors Part I."         Click Here for "Wedding Favors Say Thank You."

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. . . AND MORE
1- Candle Favors: tea lights, mini-tapers, votives
2- Personalized CD of the special songs played at your wedding, decorate the cover with a color photocopy of the two of you, or a label with your names and wedding date
3- Bookmark, home and personalized or store bought. Any number of styles and materials.
4- Magnets in any number of sizes, shapes and materials, personalized, perhaps with your photo
5- Wind Chimes with personalized tags
6- Miniature Bridal Gowns
7- Decooupaged glass plates
8- Bud vases imprinted with a special poem, names and wedding date on the bottom
9- Personalized Pens
10- Personalized Post-It-Notes
11- Mini Silver Salt & Pepper Shakers
12- Stained-glass sun catchers, made or store-bought, in any number of themes, "finished" with a ribbon
13- Caricatures of your guests drawn on-site, can be framed and distributed to the guests at, or at the end of the reception
14- Mini-disc video of your wedding highlights
15- "Polaroid" pictures can serve as decoration on a "photo tree." Instant photos are shot of each guest, or couple, as they arrive at your reception. Once all the pictures are taken, each photo is tied to a "tree" that is placed in the room and "plucked" from the "tree" as guests depart
16- Digital photographs taken each couples (or single) at cocktail hour, "developed" and printed on site, put into key chains bearing the bridal couple's name and wedding date (left on the guest's plate during the reception)
17- A poem or poems you have written or collected that express your thanks, made into a scroll, tied with ribbon and put on each guest's plate
18- A small book of poetry with your names and wedding date inside front cover and personalized (calligraphy?) to each guest
19- Scratch lottery tickets (there are special wedding-specific ones available) line of them for weddings
20- A tattoo artists to apply non-permanent tattoos
21- A hair-braiding stylist to do braiding
22- Cookie cutters. Attach a sugar cookie recipe and/or a small package of cookie mix
23- Homemade jelly or jam in a pretty jar with a personalized label.
24- Stained Glass Sun Catchers with a wedding theme, finished with a ribbon.
25- Chocolate Lollipops, homemade, in a baggie, finished with a ribbon and a bow.

CONTAINERS
1- Different sized and shaped baskets
2- Coffee mug (imprinted or note attached)
3- Miniature champagne bottles
4- Watering cans to keep a garden theme
5- Clear or colored glass bottles
6- Teacups of different patterns (perhaps filled with a plant)
7- Heart and other-shaped boxes
8- Boxes made of pewter, silver, crystal, etc.
9- vases
10- Mint tins

WRAPPING
1- Tulle (comes in different colors, can be bought on a roll or in circles)
2- Cellophane (shiny material in a variety of patterns and colors, can be used with matching curling ribbon)
3- Fabric
4- Corrugated Cardboard to wrap breakable items

TYING
1- Personalized Ribbon
2- "Ordinary" Ribbon ( different widths, textures and colors)
3- Raffia

ENHANCEMENTS
1- Silk flowers, shells, or candy hearts, hot-glued to the center of a bow
2- Layering . . . wrapping two or more different colors of tulle or tying with two different colors of ribbon

And finally, some new ideas and new spins on an old ritual . . .
Consider making your wedding a time for sharing your joy and bountiful blessings, with others in need. In lieu of party favors, create (some charities offer this for a fee) a scroll that says "thank you" and indicates that the money for favors, in honor of each guest, has been used as a donation to one or more charities. The number of good causes is endless and the choice is yours.

A bride wrote to us and explained how she and her fiance incorporated charity into their wedding. "We are donating to two charities; one he choose, one I choose. We are then printing postcards with our new address that say 'Keep in touch!' on one side. The other side will have the logo and short blurb about the charity we gave to in the others family name (so my charity will be donated to in HIS family's name and vice versa) along with a short blurb about why we choose it. That way, his family learns something they may know about me as I'm welcomed into the family and vice versa and two great charities benefit!"

In keeping with the feeling of giving, consider discussing left over food with your caterer and arranging to have it donated to a homeless shelter. Wedding flowers can be given to a nursing home, woman's shelter, hospital or other not-for-profit and when the party's over consider donating your wedding clothing to a charitable organization that will make them available to those less fortunate.

Whatever road you choose and however money you spend, the prime objective should be to make this a fun-filled, entertaining, process through which you can express your personality and the things that are special to you.
Click Here for "Party Favors Part I."
Click Here for "Wedding Favors Say Thank You."

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