Wedding Favours: Part 2 - Ideas for all budgets

For those of you who want to know what I did for my wedding favours go and read Part 1 first, for those of you who didn't go and read part 1, it has a little story about the tradition of how favours came about, so go read that!!

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My favours were perfect for my wedding day & I am very happy with them. But being totally in love with weddings I have since come across a few other ideas I would have loved to use. Please remember when shopping for your favours £4 may not sound like a lot but if you have 100 guests then it just became very expensive & you just lumped yourself with a pretty hefty thank you gift bill. Do not forget your budget! I will include a variety of items for all budgets here so hopefully I will cover something for every one!

1) Personalised Magnets - I love magnets, my fridge is covered in magnets with quotes on them, or from places me and my husband have visited. If relatives go away they often get us a magnet and it always ends up on my fridge! So I think something like this would be really cool and I know I would keep it pride of place on my fridge to remember the wedding I attended. This little gem was discovered on www.etsy.com and is being sold by iLoveTrinkets. For 25 of these heart design wedding favour magnets it is $22.50 which works out at about £15.17. Postage to anywhere outside the US is £8.73 so that's a total of £23.90 which is less than £1 per magnet. Which I think is just fabulous! The shop owner states on the page that these can be made in any colour to suit your theme & obviously are customisable with names/dates. For the same price you can have these as buttons... which I think is what we call badges? Cute, I love these! Also worth mentioning iLoveTrinkets also sells Bridal party badges, customisable keyrings, pocket mirrors and more. The feedback on this shop is 98% which seems like a pretty good sign that these items are good quality & well liked.

2) Notepads - The practical girl in me loves a little notepad I can put in my purse or near the phone to write down important messages or things I shouldn't forget to do. Even better if that notepad was from a wedding and was personalised with the Bride & Grooms own message or their names? Maybe it's just me but the practical gifts seem so cool. This particular notepad is from www.confetti.co.uk which my big sister introduced me to when I was planning my wedding. They have so much information, hints & tips, as well as an awesome shop filled with wedding supplies. This notepad comes in Red, Purple, Saffron Yellow, Tangerine Orange, Watermelon (Pink), Caribbean Blue, Bright Green, Indigo Blue. They are customisable. The minimum you can order is 12 & they must be ordered in multiples of 12. If you order 12 they are £4.29 each, order 24-36 for £2.98 each, order 48-60 for £2.08 each and order 72+ for £1.69 each. Postage & packaging varies on how fast you want your item & how many you order. I do really like these and I like the fact it's cheaper for the higher quantities which may save you a bit of cash if your wedding is on the bigger side. 

3) Personalised Wine Glass - This isn't for the cheap budget although you may be able to shop around, the only way I imagine you could do this very cheaply would be if you could buy glasses from wholesale, or via ebay & engrave them yourself. Although to do this you will need a glass engraver which unless you already have one will cost you. If you have the budget that you can afford the expense of having them engraved or going online to purchase them then I think this is pretty cool. You could put sweets in them as an added extra but the glass would be more than enough as a momento. This glass is from www.fabgifts4u.co.uk. It's £9.99 per glass and they are customisable. Even if you can't afford to do this as a favour for all your guests it's a nice touch for your bridal party/groomsmen to say thanks.

4) Sweets in a unique/cute container. Any sweets or chocolates will do, heart shaped chocolates, sugared almonds, smarties, mini eggs, marshmallows, what ever takes your fancy. Go to a wholesaler, check out you local market & don't forget to check www.ebay.co.uk and www.amazon.co.uk for some cheap deals. Be careful you don't get caught out with shipping costs though. Below are five containers for your sweets I think are adorable. The price & the link to where you can get them.

Metal Favour Basket - £1.99 each for 1-9, £1.49 each for 10+ - Confetti.co.uk

Love Heart Filled Sweet Jar (approx 100g of sweets in each) - £2.99 each - Etsy.com from DreamFavours

100% positive feedback on this shop owner. Sells other colour & sweet variations, different favours, gift tags & stationary.

Personalised Heart Shaped Metal Favor Box - £21.29 for a set of 24 - http://www.lightinthebox.com

'Eat, Drink & Be Married" Bags - £10.00 for 12 - www.notonthehighstreet.com 

Laser Cut Rose Style Lantern - £0.50 each - www.favourfairy.co.uk

5) Practical Gifts. There are so many avenues you can go down with favours. One of the ideas I am really loving at the moment is the practical side. There are so many different things you can buy, like the notebook above. Or take a look at these three ideas I though were very cool.

These lips are toothpaste squeezers. You put them on your tube of toothpaste to help squeeze all the excess down the tube. I found these on www.lightinthebox.com. They are usually £8.52 for six, but currently have 60% off so are £3.40 for six. I think this is so different that I just loved it, it's not something people would ordinarily think to buy and everyone wants their wedding to be unique.

These are Heart shaped purse hooks. You place them on the table & hang your handbag/purse from them instead of sticking them on the back of your chair or on the floor. Ok so this is obviously more of a gift of women, but once again quite a novel gift. I found these on www.confetti.co.uk and they are between £3.39 & £2.38 each depending on how many you purchase.

Keyrings are always useful, and everytime someone takes their keys out they will remember your day. What's not to like? I particularly love these as they are butterfly shaped, but look around. Personalise a keyring with the Bride & Grooms name & the date of your wedding. Or maybe a personal message to your guests? These particular keyrings are from www.weddingpartyhost.co.uk and are £1.66 each.

6) Charity Donations - If there was one thing missing from my day it was a contribution to charity. If there is a charity you are particularly fond of, personally connected with then why not go to their website & see if they have an item you can purchase from them (such as a badge or keyring) where your guests will get a small gift & the charity will get your pennies. I won't post any links here as I think charity is a very personal thing & you should pick your own charity that means something to you.

7) Lottery tickets or Scratch cards - Go down the corner shop, or local supermarket & purchase one for everyone. Your guests might not win anything or they may win a few bob & be very happy with you! Either way it's a bit of fun & will cost you about £1 a person. Don't give these to children, if you go with this option buy an alternative for your under 16 year old guests. If you have the budget for it, why not present your tickets/scratch cards in a decorative envelope?

This ivory & gold envelope is from www.thelastdetail.co.uk usually £0.50 each,but they are currently £0.35 each.

8) Bubbles - No matter how young or old you are bubbles are always fun. Why not give your guests bubbles in addition to your favours. The following are all from http://www.thelastdetail.co.uk/product-list/668-bubbles.html

£6.29 for 24

£6.99 for 24

£5.59 for 24

£6.29 for 24

Check out www.confetti.co.uk, www.etsy.com, www.ebay.co.uk, www.amazon.co.uk, or any of the other websites I have mentioned above for other varieties in shape or colour. There are a good variety of bubbles on the market, but whatever you do, don't go to Poundland!! I was seriously disappointed with the £1 for 6 champagne bottles they did. 

There are plenty more ideas out there for you. Soaps, salt & pepper shakers, cuff links & compact mirrors. If you shop around it is likely you will find something that suits your budget, theme and is a gift you would be happy giving to others. I could quite happily sit here and post picture after picture of favours I love because there are so many traditional, unique, practical, edible & just plain cute gifts out there. So shop around and remember Google is your friend!

Follow me if you enjoy my blog. Comment below with any ideas you have seen & loved or any feedback on my blog. Or if you like Click Here to send me an email with any thoughts or questions. Don't forget to let me know if there is something you would like me to discuss on my blog, I would love to hear all your thoughts.

As always thanks for reading xox

Wedding Favours: Part 1 - Our Favours

Wedding Favours are a tradition started by European Aristocrats. Sugar used to be rather expensive, so the rich would put sugar, sugar cubes or other confectionery in side trinket boxes (usually covered in precious stones) and give it to the wedding guests. It was a bit like a peacock flashing it's colourful feathers, only think rich people waving their cash around saying look how rich I am! As sugar got less expensive more people started to take on the tradition of presenting their guests with a small gift to thank them for being a part of their special day - Interesting little background for you there! Hehe!

It can get expensive buying even a little gift for so many people, but if you shop around & get creative you can do this on a budget as I did.

Part one of my exploration in to wedding favours will be me sharing & discussing the wedding favours from my wedding:

As Butterflies were the running theme in my wedding, with red & gold being the main colours, I was very excited to find these little beauty's on my old friend E-bay. Butterfly Favour Boxes - I went with gold as I already had a lot of red decorations on the tables & ribbons on the chairs. I purchased them on E-bay for £2.40 (including p&p) for 10. I purchased 70 in total to make sure I had plenty, that if any were damaged I had replacements etc, and that came to £16.80 in total. The seller I purchased them from doesn't seem to have these in stock any more, but I have checked and these are readily available in other colours if you wanted to purchase them. The come flat but are very easy to assemble.

Inside I had a little scroll & a heart shaped chocolate. Next to my boxes I placed bubbles, because every one loves bubbles, especially me!

The bubble wands were another e-bay purchase. I paid £18 for 70 of them. This may sound a bit steep, but I first purchased little champagne bottles from Poundland & I couldn't open them. When I eventually managed to open one, the bubbles didn't work & the liquid went all gloopy on my hands. The budget bride was caught out going for too cheap an option so second time around I made sure I spent a little more, and it was worth it. Besides it works out at £0.26 per wand which is great!

The heart chocolates were actually a freebie. I used my nectar points to purchase a £20 amazon gift card. (I have linked the websites so you brides to be can go & get yourself a nectar card and check out amazon) It was £5 for 50 chocolates, so I purchased 100. I can't remember exactly how much postage & packaging was, but I think it was around £3 as I had £7 left that I used to purchase other wedding type things. I don't really use my nectar card a lot, but I get points if I provide my gas & electric supplier with readings every month. I made sure I did this every month & before I knew it I had over £30 of nectar points. Normally I would be lazy & forget to provide readings, or let the points sit there, forgetting to use them. But if you have a nectar card or similar points style reward card then use it. It's basically free items for you.

The scrolls were another e-bay gem. Now don't get me wrong, you could easily make these yourself if you bought some paper, ribbons & took the time to type them up, add some pretty pictures etc. But honestly I had already taken on a lot of DIY projects. This would have been one thing too many to add on my list. As mentioned in my 20 things to do once you say yes Blog Post you have to be honest with yourself and know your limits. So I cheated and had someone else make them for me! I purchased them from http://stores.ebay.co.uk/personalised-weding-scrolls-gifts (Hessianback) I don't know if the exact variation I had are still available as they seem to have cute little flowers wrapped around them instead of bows now. Honestly though the flowers are probably better, as the ribbons were a bit fiddly to tie. I paid £5.98 and £1.70 p&p for 60 of these. I have kept one for me & hubby to put in our memento box & honestly I am just over the moon with them. I think they are just such a novel & cute way to say thank you, and for £7.68 you can't really go wrong. So that was my favours.

Stay tuned for Part 2 which I will put up on the weekend for you all. In Part 2 I have decided to compile a few little ideas for you, and being the lovely little helper I am I have taken things ranging in price range to suit all budgets. I may be a bargain bride, but I know not everyone enjoys scrimping & saving as much as I do! I will discuss some ideas I have seen, linking websites you can find these ideas & will discuss ways to save money for those of you on a tighter budget.

As always, thanks for reading! xxx