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I'm making sugar cookies. We have all the ingredients on hand for the most part so the cost will be quite low to us. What about making chocolates?
Is there a specific reason you want favors? We are also on a tight budget and have decided to skip favors so that we can spend $ in other areas.
Mine were less than $1 per person. I did test tube favors filled with reeses pieces. You could do plenty of candy favors for less than $1/person. Just buy a favor box and fill with candy. The Dollar Tree Direct online sells little boxes in bulk, or you can buy them at Michael's or other craft stores.
well this is my favor. i will give only one per couple and this is the breakdown
the jars where 2.99 for a package of 4. the ribbon i bought it in clearance at michaels at .25 cents the roll. and the cookies are so simple so i think it will be 1.75 to 2.00 the favor. and im making 30
i also saw a favor here with a lottery ticket and a penny in a pretty envelope.
25288_379577739783_508554783_3522443_1.jpg (26.6 KB, 54 downloads) 1 year old 
We did these cute favors (served as place cards as well-so bonus on saving $ there) filled with personalized m&ms in our wedding colors. The personalized m&ms were expensive, but you can buy just colored m&ms at Michael's for $5.99/7 oz bag less the 40-50% off coupon, and it doesn't take much to fill each box. (I am selling 34 of the favor boxes/place card holders for $5 +shipping if you're interested.)
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=15819294
(+ you can use the 20% off stackable coupons if you order in-store)
You can also make Oreo truffles and package them in truffle boxes with ribbon for probably less than $1 per. I also made these for the chop plates at our wedding and bought the supplies at Costco.
http://www.weddingbee.com/2008/12/23/truffle-recipe
Good luck to you!
thanks bees! i dont have to worry about place cards. my reception wont be that formal. people just pick where they want to sit so that saves money there. ive seriously considered nixing the favors altogether but since my brother is getting married in oct and i know they will have favors at their wedding i dont want to deal with the questions of why didn't i have favors. i know i know...it sounds childish but trust me....thats a whole other story and kind of a sore subject when it comes to my moms side of the family...sooo um yeah. lol. ive been seiously considering the cookis though! seems really easy!
I think the bees had really good ideas about the edibles. But if you are tight on a budget then I personally don't think you should do the favors if 1. it's stressing and 2. it's costly. We are not doing favors because we are giving them food, and desserts, and dancing and music and ect. So my guest don't get favors, call me selfish, but we are on a tight budget too! lol that's just my take on that.
jordan almonds in an organza bag (bought from michael's with a coupon) would be cheap. You could put a note with them about how they are a traditional (italian I think) wedding gift. I heard that they have a meaning too but haven't looked that closely into it so I don't know.
I really like edible favors. I see that your wedding is in June, what about little single servings of ice cream. At my local grocery store Ben & Jerry's flavors are $1.00 I believe for single serving containers. You may be able to find cheaper single's if you look. That would fit your budget, the season and be super cute. Oh and if you got simple flavors you could have toppings as well.
I know this is a bit unusual, but I had post-its made as our favors. I had 250 made so I ended up paying $0.89 per post-it pack. Cheap!! I'm also adding a little box filled with candy. They'll be tied together ith a ribboon. I wanted something different and practical. usually at wedding we go to the favor is a magnet shaped like a bride and grrom with a ribbon that has the date/names on it. YUCK!! who uses that? I hate to admit this, but I forget it at the botom of my purse and then I always throw it away. What a waste. Food favors are always a hit, so you can go wrong with a big cookie in a bag or something like that. good luck!!
I think I am going to skip favors all together, but the only thing I am really considering is doing a mix CD with music from the ceremony, our first dance and other songs that are meaningful for us (like concerts we have gone to together, etc) with liner notes explaining the meaning behind the songs.
I think if money is really tight- skip the favors! However, you Can do cute cheap favors. I bought 100 small white boxes to hold red swedish fish (Huge bags for cheap at Sam's Club!) at Wal-Mart for $16 (2 packages of 50), although I have occasionally seen them on sale online for a bit less. I then bought 8 sets (a dozen per set) for $2.50 per set of star shaped cookie cutters from Oriental Trading. Third, I bought 50 yards each of navy blue and red baker's twine on sale on Etsy for $2.99 to hang tags I will be making in OpenOffice (a free microsoft word type program). I'll be cutting them out with a pair of fancy scissors I found at Good Will for $0.99. I expect to use 25% or less of the baker's twine on this project (the rest is slated for other things like my invites, programs, etc.)
In Total:
Boxes: $16
Candy: $8 (for 2 huge bags)
Cookie Cutters: $19.92 (free shipping)
Twine: ~$1.12 (25% of the cost of twine & shipping)
Paper: Free from my dad (a now ex-paper mill employee. Stupid economy!)
Fancy Scissors: $0.99 (even though I bought them long before I got engaged!)
TOTAL cost for 100 favors: $46.03
Cost PER favor: ~$0.46
You could skip all the elaborate stuff and just do cookie cutters from OT with nice Thank You! tags attacked with regular ribbon/twine/thread/etc. You'd probably be able to bring the cost even further down! But, alas, I like to make things far too elaborate and complicated. Its why my DIY invitations are a year in the making! Also, I have a nautical theme for my wedding, so I'm able to adapt things like the cookie cutters, originally meant for Christmas, to my theme (starfish anyone?). If you can be flexible with your ideas, you could find some really cheap, but nice things to give people from OT! :) Good luck!
find your favorite poem, maybe a verse or two that describes you and your FI, or a quote that you live by, print it on nice paper and buy cheap frames (small ones from dollar tree/99 cents that are 2 for $1)for guests. Or just laminate it after you cut it out and place on each guests' seat. If you choose to laminate it, you might even be able to make it more like a homemade bookmark, and the cost would be only printing and laminating. This is more sentimental than practical, doubt very much that they will keep it, but if it is a poem or verse or quote that you treasure and it touches them, they may keep it.
@magenta - awwww those turned out awesome! what kind of cookies did you end up going with?
we are using mini playing cards.. just cause we like it being a bit useful and FH insisted that we actually do get favors because he likes getting stuff like it at weddings otherwise I woudlve skipped them.
You can find packs of 2 from the dollartree.com and so it ends up being .50cents a favor.
insert music from mcdonalds commercial....ba da ba ba ba im lovin it!!!! you all rock! we had actually really considered doing personalized shot glasses as favors and the website i had found for them they would be around $1 a person. i used to be in the navy and he still he. we had thought about putting something about drinking like a sailor with a pic of an anchor on them....does that sound tacky? is it something that has a smaller possibility of ending up in the trash? i collect shot glasses so its something i would love to get from a wedding but i guess im starting to second guess some of the small things like this.
@ guffee, To be honest, I have been to a wedding where the favor was a shot glass, and I have no idea where the shot glass is now. But if you like it go with it!! =) I just hate wasting money.
we did cookies (sugar and chocolate pixies in seperate bags tied together with twine)- we baked at my mom's house and used her ingrediants so i have no clue how much the cost ended up being, but it couldn't have been much, and we ended up doing them months in advance, even packaging them, and freezing them. we used clear bags that you can get at walmart or michaels, i think it ended up being $9 for 100 bags. i made my own favor tag with cardstock that i already had, a costum stamp that i used for lots of other things (but you could always just print it out on your computer), and a punch. here's a picture my friend took, haven't got the pro pics back yet.
@tonya2010....thats kind of what i figured would end up happening if we went with the shot glasses. i considered the seed packet idea for all of about 10 min and then realized that probably on a 1/4 of the people there would actually appreciate it. i starting to lean more and more towards the cookie idea....ive got a ton of cookie cutters so i could really have fun with it i think.
@artbee....that looks really pretty!!! you did an awesome job! i was a little leery of the cookie idea because of having to wait until it got closer to the wedding. i didn't even think to freeze them!
@magenta....i meant to say something to you earlier...your little cookie jars are adorable!!! love it!!
ok i just talked to my FI. its decided...we're doing cookies!!! he even had a great idea to find a cookie cutter in the shape of an anchor to homage to the navy since thats how we met!!! man i love him!!!
I am personally not doing favours!
But you could do a cookie cutter filled with chocolate. I have only seen them at christmas time but you could get bulk cookie cutters from walmart or michael's and then temper the chocolate and fill them up. The guest would be getting a treat and a cookie cutter!
@daydreamwanderer those cookies are a recipe i have for chocolate shortbread cookies, this was only a test. i wanted to try the cookie cutters. i will definitely try the recipes your gave me
We are doing personalized tins filled with jellybeans. They turned out to be a little less than $1 person+ a little labor for 200.
@ future mrs martin....thats a really cute idea! i've actually never seen that before.
@ CaMoFoJo-Bro....the jelly beans are really cute too but im a lil odd because i dont like jelly beans....my FI tells me im weird for it. lol!
What? No jellybeans? I'm not a huge fan, but they come in so many colors! lol.
I'm not sure if anyone's suggested these yet, but you can do these pretty cheaply:
Tiny olive oil bottles (buy one huge bottle, and divide it among lots of little ones)
Spices: Either a trio of three, or one mix (like cinnamon and nutmeg)
Honey, a la Mrs. Mouse! So cute.
I like those favor ideas because people would probably use them.
@ Future Mrs. Martin - what a GREAT idea!!! I've never seen anything like that before. It's really good to keep in mind for ANY kind of little present for someone. Thanks!! :)
i just found an anchor cookie cutter online. it was a little more than i wanted to spend on one cookie cutter but all the other ones i found online i didn't like...heres the link...im really excited about it :)
http://www.aunthollycookiecutters.com/servlet/the-241/ships-anchor-copper-cookie/Detail
its almost 6in tall by 4 in wide so the cookies wont be tiny and i can just do one per person....and i can enlist the help of my 9 year old sister and make it a fun day of baking :)
We're donating to a charity that we're both very involved with. We have a card that says that we're donating to the charity in our guests' names in lieu of favors. It's a way to save on the waste that favors create (people leave them behind all the time), while helping a good cause!
@guffee: I would make a test batch and freeze them for a week or so to see how they hold up, store, unfreeze, and taste afterwards. You want to run your test for however long you think it's going to be between the baking and the wedding. I wouldn't want to be making cookies the night before the wedding - and I'm a HUGE BAKER! I'd be too stressed. So, do a test run to make sure they come out ok. It would be awful if you put all that energy, creativity and time into them, only to have your guests complain about stale cookies! You'll probably want to test frosting options too. (Of which for sugar cookies, I find best to let sit out overnight to let the frosting set before boxing/packing them up. Good luck!
@guffee congrats on finding your perfect favor!
For other brides looking, I saw these in the spring 2010 issue of Martha Stweart Weddings and LOVE THEM: dahlia bulbs wrapped in tissue paper! Beautiful, useful, and eco-friendly!
dahlia.jpg (15.5 KB, 33 downloads) 1 year old
foxygen85, those are so cute! gotta love Martha!! lol...
I was just commenting about this on a different post...
We are doing a spiced wine/cider mix in cone shaped cello bags. From what i have already bought and still need to buy - the bags are costing us about 50 cents each.
Since your wedding is in the summer, hot chocolate or cider might not quite fit, lol.
What about a lemonade or other drink mix?
@ Querida...thats a really neat idea...i had never heard of doing the spiced wine mix! that should be big hit at your wedding! ive actually decided to go with cookies in the shape of an anchor since we met in the navy...it also fits right in with my colors of black and white and my wedding is kind of themed around the kiss in times square photo.
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i looked through the diy section on favors and there really wasn't anything that caught my eye. i was wondering if any of the bees out there had any ideas? our budget is getting REALLY tight for this wedding so im trying to cut costs as much as possible. im trying to keep the favors at $1/person. VERY hard to do....or at least it seems that way to me. just trying to pick your brains for ideas. even if you dont know the step by step process for accomplishing it.