ErinAt the end of your wedding night, it is not unusual to send guests home with a wedding favor – something small to remember the night and to thank them for celebrating your marriage. Wedding favors can range from small mementos to cute desserts to well, anything really.
It’s best to avoid useless wedding favors that will just gather dust on a shelf or get thrown away. If you’re unsure what to send your guests home with, try out some of these simple and useful wedding favors.
Unique Wedding Favor Ideas
Many wedding favors are, well, useless. Sending guests home with a rock engraved with your wedding date isn’t the best option, as they’ll probably just leave it on a shelf or in a drawer for a few years before discarding it.
Instead of giving your guests something cute that they don’t really want or need, send them home with something fun, useful, and unique! Check out our favorite wedding favor ideas for your big day.
Sweets
Candy, doughnuts, cupcakes – you can’t go wrong sending guests home with an extra sweet treat. Pack everything individually for travel, and guests can choose to save them for later or enjoy them on the ride home.
These can also be customized depending on what you’re willing to spend (or create on your own). You can create or order custom labels, tags, or bags for your sweet treats for a special touch.
Check out our favorite custom candy containers and wrappers for sweet treats on Etsy!
Popcorn
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If sweets aren’t your thing, give guests cute bags or boxes of specialty popcorn! Search online or look for a local popcorn shop in your area and add customized labels that fit with your wedding style and mention your names, dates, or some other message. Guests will be glad to have a snack for the end of their night or later that week!
Etsy offers plenty of cute popcorn boxes, bags, and customizable labels. You can get just the labels or bags and fill it with popcorn from your favorite local shop, or order bags pre-filled.
Mini Champagne Bottles
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Keep the party raging on with a mini bottle of champagne. This is a simple favor, easily used and generally appreciated. Pick your favorite brand, or customize labels with the date of your wedding or your names for extra cute points. This idea could work just as well with beer, coffee, etc.
Etsy offers plenty of custom wine and champagne labels to match your wedding theme!
Candles
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A candle is an easily customizable choice for a wedding favor. Choose your favorite scent, perhaps something fitting with your theme or the season of your wedding, and you can save the date on the candle or customize with a romantic quote. This is a useful gift for any guest, and once burned they can choose to save it as memorabilia or toss it, so it doesn’t take unnecessary space in their home.
Garden Seeds
Especially fitting for an outdoor wedding, garden seeds are a useful and cute wedding favor. Choose plants that are easy to grow in different levels of light or weather, like lavender, basil, or a low-maintenance flower.
Etsy artists offer plenty of cute seed packets that you can customize for your big day!
Handmade Soaps
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Artisanal soaps are a popular choice for wedding favors, as they are easily personalized, can be inexpensive, and can be used by all guests. Pick your favorite scent, color, and personalize the soaps with the wedding date, bride and groom names, or other romantic images or words.
For those who are extra crafty, these can be homemade, or they can be purchased from a local small business or ordered online.
Check out our favorite soap wedding favors on Etsy!
Flowers
You most likely can’t take home all of the flowers from centerpieces and bouquets anyway, so send them home as a wedding favor. One cute way to do this is to provide small vases or metal pails (depending on the aesthetic of your wedding) so that guests can pick their own flowers and create mini-arrangements of their own to take with them.
This ensures that your flowers don’t go to waste after only one night, and you can get more value for the cost of your wedding flowers!
Get mini planters and fill them with wholesale flowers, or use these pails to let guests pick from your centerpieces!
Mugs, Wine Glasses, Shot Glasses
Customize a coffee mug, wine glass, shot glass, pint glass . . . whatever best fits the theme of your wedding or what you think would be most appreciated. This gift is cute and useful, and guests can enjoy the memory of your wedding with their coffee in the morning or their wine in the evening.
Succulents
In the same vein as flowers or seeds, succulents are a fun and simple gift for guests. Succulents are increasingly popular decor, and they are easy to maintain since they require little care. Customize the small pots with the date, the bride and grooms name, or something else related to your wedding.
Buy customized succulents on Etsy or get them in bulk and add custom labels!
Local Flavor
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Depending on where you get married, there may be a local delicacy or treat that works well as a wedding gift. For example, if you get married in Vermont, a mini jar of maple syrup would make a lovely gift!
Think artisanal honey, jams, hot sauce, or locally distilled spirits. Anything special to the locality makes a great gift, especially if you host a destination wedding.
Use these personalized labels and stickers from Etsy to add a personal touch to your local favors!
Hand Sanitizer
In the COVID era, hand sanitizer is the perfect wedding party favor. Guests are sure to use hand sanitizer, and a small pocket-size version is perfect to leave in the car or in an everyday purse! Personalize your hand sanitizer party favors with your names and wedding date, or pick a scent that matches your wedding’s theme!
Check out these cute and customizable hand sanitizers on Etsy!
Sunscreen
If you’re hosting a tropical themed wedding, a beach wedding, or a destination wedding, a mini bottle of sunscreen is a great wedding favor! For a sunny outdoor wedding, guests may even use it before they leave the event. Sunscreen is a useful wedding favor that everyone can use. Customize the bottle with your wedding colors, names, the date, and with a scent to match your theme.
These mini sunscreens from Etsy are customizable, and they come in various cute tropical prints!
Hot Chocolate
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For a winter wedding, a small hot chocolate kit is a great wedding favor idea. You can find small hot chocolate kits in cute mini mason jars, test tubes, or other nice packaging. They typically include hot chocolate mix, mini marshmallows, and other added flavorings of your choice! Let your wedding guests enjoy a nice warm mug of hot cocoa the day after your wedding with this unique wedding favor.
Personalized Matches
An affordable wedding favor that guests can actually use is a matchbook! These are easy to get personalized, so the cover can feature your wedding colors, names, and the date. Guest are sure to take advantage of these useful wedding favors. Combine this idea with a candle for a slightly bigger wedding favor!
Customized Bottle Openers
Order custom bottle openers or corkscrews – everyone needs these from time to time, so they make a great wedding favor! Engrave the bottle opener with your wedding date or names. You can even get these in keychain form, so guests always have a bottle opener on the go.
These simple bottle openers are affordable and make for a unique wedding favor idea!
Deck of Cards
If you and your fiancee love card games, or if it fits your wedding theme, a deck of cards may be the perfect wedding favor! Most people keep a deck of playing cards in their home anyway, but they can easily get lost or you may lose cards in the deck.
Send your guests home with personalized playing cards. To save money, you could also get generic playing cards and place them in a custom tin – that way you can still personalize the gift without breaking the bank on custom printed cards.
Donations
For the charitable couple, one option is to scrap wedding favors entirely and put that money towards a good cause. You can let guests know that the cost of their wedding favor went to a specific cause that is close to your heart, and you can even make the donation in guests names.
Use these cards from Etsy or make your own!
Coffee Beans
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Coffee lovers will enjoy a fresh set of beans! Coffee beans are a great for a fall wedding favor for a couple who loves their morning cup of joe. Get local beans or specialty beans that match your wedding’s theme! If you’re feeling generous, you could give guests coffee beans and a mug to enjoy it in.
Essential Oils and Diffusers
You don’t have to buy guests an electronic diffuser – there are simple clay essential oil diffusers that make for cute and unique wedding favors! Include your favorite essential oil and don’t forget instructions for guests who may not understand how to use them.
Some essential oils are toxic for pets, so be sure to look into this and let guests know if this is something that can’t be used around cats and dogs!
Mints
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Guests will love a wedding favor they can actually use, like mints! Keep your guests’ breath fresh all night with your favorite mints with personalized labels that match your wedding’s theme. For an extra special touch, you can even get heart shaped mint tins. This creative wedding favor is both useful and affordable.
Chopsticks
For the couple who loves a sushi date, chopsticks make the perfect wedding favor! If your wedding menu includes Japanese or other chopstick-friendly food, you can even let guests use their chopsticks as their cutlery during the wedding reception. Otherwise, give them out at the end of the night. You can get customized chopsticks, or just personalize the sheath they come in!
Final Thoughts
Use these unique wedding favor ideas to send your guests home with something fun and useful at the end of the night! You don’t have to break the bank on wedding favors – you can make lovely, affordable wedding favors with many of the ideas on this list.
DIY your wedding favors to save some money and for a fun project! Keep in mind that while favors are a nice touch, they are not 100% necessary. If they fit in your budget, try some of our affordable ideas above!
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