If you decide to provide guests with favors at your wedding, there is a multitude of ideas for what type of favors to choose. While many couples choose not to have favors at all, there are other couples who adore the tradition of giving favors. There are lots of fun and fabulous ideas for wedding favors. You can choose them in a more random way (just coming across something you like) or you can integrate the wedding favors into an overall theme of your wedding.

Another wonderful idea that has come about is making donations to charity in lieu of providing a wedding favor. If the favor you were thinking of providing is not very functional and you anticipate that it might just collect shelf dust if given to someone, the route of makng a charitable donation is an excelllent alternative. Individual wedding favors might cost anywhere from $1 to $10 a piece on average. If you make a donation for each guest instead of providing the favor, you might donate up to $2000 for a 200 guest wedding and provide a lovely note card at each table setting to explain the charitable gesture that was made on the guests' behalf. i.e., "In lieu of a traditional wedding favor, a charitable donation to [name the organization] has been made in your name." The possibilities for donating to charity are endless. Choose an organization that is dear to your heart (i.e., American Cancer Society, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Multiple Sclerosis Society, The Red Cross) and make the commitment to donate. If you do decide to provide an actual favor, there are other ways to link to charitable donations such as with each gift purchased on your wedding registry.

Whether you are trying to work with a particular color scheme or a particular season that matches your upcoming wedding date, there are so many possibilities.

• One creative idea is to offer a seedling that will grow into a plant when cared for.
• Candles and candle holders are a very popular idea.

• CDs with your wedding song playlist are a nice idea. You can hire a DJ to provide such favors along with the prepared music on the day of your wedding or you can do it yourself by obtaining the proper licenses to share music with unlimited access, through providers such as itunes. You are giving the music as a gift, not selling it, so accessing the unlimited downloads and burning the cds will be in compliance with the music provider once you pay the applicable fee.
• If you are having a beach themed wedding, there are lots of wedding favor ideas to go with that. Many incorporate sand and seashells.
• A photoframe that holds a table setting number and the guest name, can later be taken home as a favor. So, it serves two functions.

Often times, it is difficult to decide upon a favor because of the gender specifics. Sometimes, you find something that a woman would enjoy but it is not really appropriate to give to a man. You might want to keep your favor idea very neutral or alternatively provide to types of favors. One for gentlemen and one for ladies. It might seem a little complicated to do so, but it really isn't so bad when you have pre-arranged seating for example and you can place the favor at each appropriate place setting.

Some gender specific wedding favors have been

• cufflinks for the gents
• flowery scented soaps or bath salts for the ladies

When you go with gender specific favors, you might find that it is actually easier to find types of favors that your guests will actually use.

Food and drinks also make very popular wedding favors. Such gifts range from mini bottles of champagne or cider to small boxes of cookies or chocolate truffles. You can't go wrong if you choose something rich, decadent, and elegant.

Sometimes, ideas for wedding favors overlap and they are not appropriate to give just at weddings, but rather can be given to guest at a Christmas party or birthday celebration as well. One such favor involves the use of a versatile glass jar to place the ingredients of baked goods. The recipients of this type of gift can later go home and prepare the treats themselves. For example, in a round glass jar, typical of the type that is used for jam or preserves, you can put a layer of flour, followed but a layer of brown sugar, followed by a layer or chocolate chips and repeat until the jar is filled with unmixed layers of the less perishable ingredients for chocolate chip cookies. At their leisure, recipients of this type of gift can later pour and mix with the other needed ingredients (eggs, butter), to form a rich cookie dough and bake up some delicious cookies. This is a pretty, functional and inexpensive type of wedding favor.

 Below are some ideas of where to shop for wedding favors. These suggestions include wholesale stores that sell various types of jars and containers if you decide to package wedding favors (such as cds or cookie ingredients) in a 'do it yourself' project.

Enjoy the wedding favor part of your wedding planning!

 www.flowerfactory.com

www.papermart.com

www.favorfavor.com

www.specialtybottle.com

www.weddingdepot.com

www.save-on-crafts.com