The Top 10 Favors I Never Want to See Again
Beware! This is a ranty post.
As the recipient of many, many, many wedding and shower favors, I feel the need to speak up about the bad ones. Don’t get me wrong here - I’m not being ungrateful for the sentiment of thanks that a favor represents. What I’m talking about is when the favor is poorly executed or that feels so much like an afterthought that it’s offensive (i.e. “Thanks for coming. Here’s an after dinner mint for your trouble.”). Some favors are just way overdone. Some have dubious legal origins. Some are just destined to end up in the garbage.
My Top 10:
1. Jordan almonds (especially wrapped in tulle). I know these have long been traditional wedding favors because of the bitter-sweet symbolism. I can dig that. However, the truth about Jordan almonds is they’re horrible. I have never, ever in my life heard of anyone saying “Oh man, I just got the worst craving for Jordan almonds.” The teeth-shattering pastel-colored coating isn’t tasty. The almonds are merely “eh”. Why bother when there are 10 million other sweet treats that are far more yummy? Plus, lots of people are allergic to tree nuts.
2. CD favors. I get the appeal. You have the music. They’re easy DIY projects. You wanna share your favorite looooove songs. Rock on. However, the legal foo surrounding unauthorized distribution of music is troublesome. But what really bugs me is crappy song selection. Sure, you love these songs but it’s unlikely that your 100+ guests will share your exact taste in music. Of the 6+ wedding favor CDs I’ve received, I’ve only kept 1. The others got a one-way pass to Garbage Can City, baby. That’s a lot of work, money and materials to just be thrown away.
3. Spoons with chocolate. There are two types of these. The first is spoons dipped in melted chocolate. The other, is a Hershey’s kiss placed in the bowl of the spoon, wrapped in tulle with a cutesy poem. About the dipped spoons: I guess they’re ok for the guests that drink coffee and want chocolate in it. For the rest of us, sucking on plastic spoons to get some chocolate isn’t all that interesting or appetizing. About the Kiss spoons: Just give me the candy. Don’t put more unused plastic products into the universe and, pleasefortheloveofjeebus, stop it with the cutesy poems!
4. Bubbles. They’re waaaaaay overdone, messy, and not all that fun. Can you think of any better way to thank your guests? No? Just skip the favors, then.
5. Seeds and plants. I want to love these. Truly, I do. For green or garden weddings, I think they’d be awesome. Why don’t I ever want to see them again? Like many guests, I will never plant the seeds and I will likely kill the plants. You just wasted a couple of dollars and perfectly good seeds/plants.
6. Framed pictures of the bride and groom. I’m not sure what to think of couples that do this. Narcissistic? Overbought on their engagement shot package and trying to find ways to get rid of the extras? For guests that know you REALLY well (re: your immediate circle of friends and family), this is probably ok. For the rest of us, what the heck are we supposed to do with your picture because it’s sure not going to be displayed in our home or office?
7. Scented candles. I loves me some candle-y goodness (Illumination$ is my friend in a big way) but, like most people, I’m pretty particular about the scents I like. (Lavender, I kid you not, makes me hostile.) Sitting in a reception hall with 150+ highly scented candles (of any flavor) is nauseating and I’m not all that sensitive to that kind of stuff. If you’re gonna do candles, go unscented. Gracias.
8. Bath salts/bath bombs/handmade soaps. Completely inappropriate for a wedding favor and kind of offensive. (Not to mention the scent-factor.) Toiletries are best suited as personal gifts or as shower favors unless your wedding guests are particularly stinky and need a really big hint to wash themselves.
9. Lottery tickets. Ugh! A waste of paper and your hard-earned dollars.
10. Edibles of poor quality. I adore edible favors. They’re one of the best favors you can give - if the quality is good. If you’re going to make edibles, please use ingredients that are at least of passable quality. If you’re giving pre-made goodies, give stuff that’s actually tasty. Your local supermarket likely has fresh, quality ingredients and goodies if you can’t afford artisanal products. Always check expiration dates. And, please, be sure to taste your favors before you decide to give them away. In recent years I’ve received waxy, bland chocolate truffles, cookies that were sickeningly salty and infused olive oil that was rancid. Ewwwww! A little quality control goes a long way.
Tags: bad wedding favors, Favors + Gifts, favors that suck, wedding favors
April 2nd, 2008 at 5:12 am #clare domenech
What a miserable so an so… lots of people might disagree and find some of those items a lovely gesture. I’d be thrilled to get a lottery ticket or candles or many of the other gifts people might generously give me. Maybe next time you get something that isn’t up to your standards you might think about giving it to charity rather than binning it.
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:39 am #Marisa
I wouldnt have posted but have to counter the previous post because I have big issues with lame favours as well. Consequently, I have decided to veto the whole favour thing all together. I despise kitsch and figure it is money better spent on something else to not have favors. One person’s treasure is another’s garbage so you can’t please everyone with a little trinket of thanks. Our thank you to our guests is a nice sit down meal, some good music , pretty decorations hopefully a fun night so who wants a little chocolate bar with my name on it that I spent one month stressing about. One added cost a future married couple can do without.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:14 pm #MN
Interesting feedback…
I’m wondering what ppl think about the idea of making favours that are personalized…
we’re having our wedding in Whistler, mountain bike park is a big part of our lives, so we were going to have our favours be “fake” Whistler passes, with our photos on them (the stereotypical “bad” ID photo) and a message, along with their name.
We were thinking we could then use them as a part seating chart thing as well - that is, if we bother to have a seating chart. We’re thinking of having people mingle.
Is it narcissictic to give out favours with our photo on it? We’re both really non-formal people, goofy, fun-loving.
It’s not something “useful” but a fun momento perhaps?
May 20th, 2008 at 11:48 pm #Rose
MN. I think your idea is cool. I went to friend’s wedding who had a sports theme (their favorite team) and the seating cards were done as tickets to the game, with a ‘table’ (and ’seat although they just used #1 for all the seats). I thought it was awesome and have kept the ticket since then it was so cool. If your passes have a photo of the two of you together, people may put it in a scrapbook or photo album or something.
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:36 am #Michele
Here Here! I completely agree with DIYBride!
If you really want to have favors, go with something edible and delicious of course.
I’m doing a candy buffet so that our guests can pick and choose candy they want and those who don’t want any, can opt-out. Unfortunately for my hips, I will love to take home any leftover goodies!
May 31st, 2008 at 10:04 am #Tania
Our wedding isn’t till next April, but the favor thing was a bit of an issue for me. I agree with the original post. I didn’t want to spend our money on things people would just turn around and throw away. I know cause I too have tossed a few away.
I chose to do hand painted wedding glasses of different shapes and sizes. They will each read “Live * Laugh * Love”. Since we are having a tropical theme wedding I am attaching wine charms that have hibiscus and beads.
For the place cards I am making memo note clips that will have a flower shape and their names with table #. The memo clip will simply be a blue block with the wire inserted coming out into a swirl. They will be able to take the memo clip home and place a photo or memos where their place card once was.
I too will have a small candy buffet for the candy lovers like myself.
Nothing will be too girly, manly or theme like. None will have dates either. This way they don’t feel like they cant use it for those reasons. They are all everyday items that can be used again.
June 14th, 2008 at 3:58 pm #eileen
i love your idea of the memo block is there anyway we can contact each other i can get directions or see a pic of them…….my daughter is getting married june/09 and i love that idea…. thanx
July 29th, 2008 at 9:20 am #chelsea
We were not initially going to do favors. I wanted bubbles at the wedding in some way, shape, or form, simply because I’ve loved bubbles since I was little. My FI hated the idea, since it’s so overdone. My aunt just happened to have a ton of bubbles leftover from her wedding (no one used them, but the wedding wasn’t exactly organized), so I snatched them up, and tied ribbon and raffia to them. Instead of giving them out as favors, though, we’re going to have our guests blow bubbles as we walk back down the aisle together as husband and wife. For favors, we’re handing out bottles of rootbeer for people to drink on their way home. It’s cute, because it’s our favorite drink, and we’re not allowed to have alcohol on the premises. It’s practical, because if there’s some left over, we’ll drink it! (I ordered some free business cards with an Irish blessing printed on them that I’m going to attach to the necks of the bottles to make it more personal.)