Wedding favors may seem like a recent trend, but the first gifts for guests—solid silver trifles arranged by Italian nobles—may be about 1,300 years old! From there, the generosity of the nobility began to catch on, and couples from every class and country began to thank their loved ones with a token of gratitude on their wedding day.
Between the buffet and the venue, you probably can’t afford to ply your wedding party with bespoke solid silver statuary. Luckily, modern wedding trends have shifted away from extravagant gifts and toward thoughtful tokens, many of which do double duty as functional components of the reception. The most popular favors of 2023 range from edible to decorative, so you’ll have plenty of treats to choose from when it’s time to shower your guests with a bit of love.
With so many other wedding planning tasks competing for your time, how do you know where to begin when choosing and making favors?
We’ve created this brief guide to the hottest favors of 2023 to make the process easier for busy brides-to-be. Read on to discover the fresh favors your guests will fight over at the night’s end!
Consider Consumable Favors
A consumable favor isn’t necessarily something you can eat—but it could be! They’re often practical, functional, and aesthetically pleasing, from tasty treats to cute candles. Essentially, it’s any type of favor that can be “used up.”
Here are a few of our favorites:
- Scented candles
- Handmade soaps
- Bespoke old-fashioned hard candy
- Mini jam or honey jars
- Crunchy snacks with cute custom labels
- Packaged ingredients for s’mores
- Macarons or other sweet treats
- Loose leaf teas in custom tins
- Candy apples
Guests love a consumable favor because it feels less like an imposition. Many edible favors vanish before the party’s over! They’re low maintenance, easily re-giftable or sharable, and don’t take up space for long.
Making Consumable Favors
The key to a cute and enticing consumable favor is the packaging. For a better price, order in bulk, but avoid the “wedding tax” by handling the packaging yourself at home. Leave the crafting or baking to the professionals.
Packing favors involves two components: the package itself and the label. Consider cellophane or print-at-home boxes. If you have a Cricut or similar device at home, you can easily cut the pieces for unique favor boxes.
Consider designing your labels in a design program or online using a resource like Canva. You can often download label templates from online marketplaces like Etsy. Print them onto label paper and use scissors or your cutting machine to separate them.
From there, all you have to do is assemble your favor, your package, and your label, and you have a custom consumable your guests will adore.
Put Your Wedding Favors to Work
Many elements that make your contemporary reception unique take up space, from floral arrangements to seating cards. What if your favors were also your escort cards, eliminating clutter and ensuring everyone is in the right seat? One of our favorite wedding ideas is to put your favors to work by giving them a “job” to do.
However, that doesn’t mean your favors have to look like escort cards! You can gift guests any object that can display a name and table number. You can even use one of the consumable favors above and ensure your favors are functional and appealing to your guests.
Here are some of the trendiest functional favors:
- Mini-succulents with info on the pot
- Mini bottles of wine or champagne with info on the tag
- Ornate tea cups with info on the tea bag
- Seed packets with info printed on the front
- Tree ornaments with info on the back
- Drink coasters with seating info printed on them
- Keychains with info printed on them
As guests arrive, you can aesthetically display your favors. Imagine ornaments or keychains hanging from a pegboard on an easel at the venue’s entrance. How cute would it be to set up your favors as a succulent garden or a mad tea party, so guests have to hunt for their unique seating card?
Making Functional Favors
The most challenging part of arranging functional favors is planning. You’ll want to ensure you communicate your seating needs with the venue far in advance. Try to secure an accurate schematic of the table arrangements as early as possible so you can map everything out with enough time to craft your creative favors.
Planning and accuracy are essential if you’re custom-ordering favors with the information pre-printed. You don’t want to end up with a box of custom coasters with the wrong information on them!
If you can’t finalize your seating arrangements until the eleventh hour, consider preparing your favors in advance and adding a tag or label as the event approaches. A toothpick flag in a flower pot or a sticker on a seed packet are easy last-minute touches that still look great. You may even be able to write directly on your favors with a chalk marker once the seating chart is official.
Ensure your guests understand that the favors are doing double duty. You may want to provide signage explaining how your escort “cards” work and add a note that explains the favors are for keeps!
Trendy Favors for All Types of Weddings
Wedding aesthetics run the gamut from black-and-white “cool girl” weddings to full-color, sparkle-studded rainbow affairs. Whatever your style, many options for wedding favors will look perfect at the venue on your big day. Start with one of these popular choices and let your imagination run wild as you embellish and make them your own!
We know brides are busy. That’s why we’ve loaded the Wedding Details blog with posts about every aspect of planning a wedding, from entrees to etiquette. Check out the rest of our wedding tips for more thoughtful suggestions like these!
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