Weddingbee boards

My soon-to-be-bride and I are letterpessing cards explaining that in lieu of favors, a donation has been made in the memory of her grandmother and my mother towards the National Kidney Foundation and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. That way the money spent goes to a good cause, and the loved ones we wish were there will be there in spirit.

I actually am one of the few people who DOES notice favors, apparently.  Although, I too am with everyone else with the getting rid of keepsakey things.  It may be nice for YOU to have something with your names and wedding date on it, but your guests have no use for them really.  I am in favor or edible favors or things people can use.  We are doing coffee mugs filled with an assortment of tea bags, hot cocoa mix, apple cider mix, and cappuccino mix.  I'm hoping people don't think it's stupid.....but I thought they'd like something to warm up with since the wedding will be in cooler weather.  I guess I'll be a grouch now and say I hate when favors are obviously cheap....my sister in law gave everyone a single tealight candle.......you can get a bag of one hundred of those for a few bucks.....that was just so obviously cheap that I thought i'd have rather they hadn't even bothered because it seemed obvious to me that it was just to get it over with.  They weren't even scented or anything!  I think a favor should say "Thank you....really, I mean it!"  You can easily do it cheaply with a candy treat without being so cheap as a 5 cent candle.  Good luck!

I wouldn't notice if there weren't favors. For our wedding, I used the paper I had leftover from making my invites to make bookmarks explaining that we'd chosen to donate to charity in lieu of favors. In a way though, I'm still hoping that people will use the bookmark! I like the idea of our guests having something they'd use and that would remind them of us, but it wasn't something I was willing to go out of my way for since most will probably toss them.

If you don't like the idea of favors at all (understandably) then don't stress over it, especially if you're doing OOT bags, etc. Your guests might appreciate not having one extra thing to take home with them. 

I am with RyanT - my fiance and I made cards indicating we were making a donation in lieu of favors to Doctors Without Borders, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and the ASPCA.  I think people will appreciate that just as much (if not more because they will feel charitable via you and your FH!) than something they will either eat within a few minutes or not ever use  - my one exception is if they have rice krispy treats but that's because I love those!

I think the donation suggestions are a great idea though there will definitely be some guests who will be a bit miffed by it. (But that's their problem.) There are some great volunteer groups, food relief, nature and wildlife organizations, and green groups. 

I debated what to do about favors. We could have bought some silver-plated fortune cookies for less than $2 per piece, but I hated the idea that it will just tarnish and get thrown in a drawer somewhere. Food was an option but I have a few relatives with food allergies and know a couple a people who don't like chocolate. Since the FI and I love to travel, I came up with a theme-related yet practical solution. I scoured the Internet and found some quality, leather luggage tags for only $2.50 per piece (bought direct from manufacturer). With one-third of the guests coming in from out of town, I think they'll be quite useful.

We won't engrave them because who wants to have another person's wedding info on your tag. We intend to use these are their escort tags to direct them to their dinner tables. Also attached will be a card letting them know how to share photos after the wedding. It's multi-purpose and useful!

It's really going to depend on what kind of expectations you and your guests have (finding a happy medium). I also need to take into account what works for my parents since they want to show thanks to all the relatives and family friends attending.