Going Overboard With the Cheap Wedding Favors!

Have you ever been to a wedding reception and gotten a favor that was so cheap and tacky you wondered why the couple even bothered handing it out? Hopefully this has never happened to you, but if you've been to enough weddings in your lifetime, it may very well have! If you're a bride planning your own wedding, how can you be sure that you won't make this same mistake and pick out some cheap wedding favors that are just plain old too cheap? There are some easy tips and hints you should keep in mind when shopping and planning, and by remembering them you'll be much less likely to get cheap wedding favors that make YOUR guests feel like you shouldn't have even bothered.

What you want to absolutely avoid by way of cheap wedding favors are items that look as if you just didn't care enough to shop or prepare them at all. Anyone can go to the local dollar store and pick out some plastic little doodads that are three-to-a-pack and call them wedding favors, but what does this say about you? How does it express your appreciation to your guests for getting dressed up, finding a babysitter, driving all that way, getting you a gift, and so on?

Wanting to make your favors at home is a great idea, and many that are searching for cheap wedding favors should be prepared to do some of the work in creating or assembling these items themselves. However, you need to be realistic in this regard. As an example, suppose you want to give your guests some nice bookmarks; these can actually be very practical and appreciated as cheap wedding favors. Most people have a computer at home on which they can make up the bookmarks themselves, and then you can easily take this to a local office supply store and have them print the needed quantity. But how good are you really when it comes to graphic design? Take a look at bookmarks that you see in the stores or online - how does your design compare? If you just get some clip art and throw it on the page with some wording, this isn't going to impress anyone. Again, your guests may be wondering why you bothered with such cheap wedding favors in the first place. For an item like this, you might do well to enlist the help of a friend that is skilled in this sort of thing to help you with the design.

Or suppose you decide to make sugar cookies in the shape of a heart or wedding cake and hand these out individually. This too may be a good option for cheap wedding favors, but how good are you at decorating? If you just slap some frosting on the front of the cookie, how will this look? This too might require the help of a friend that is experienced with baking and decorating, or at the very least, scour the internet for inspiring photos and try some "practice" cookies until you get the design just right.

Remember that what makes a gift the best is not always the money spent on it, but the time and effort put into selecting it. The same goes with your cheap wedding favors; you can find just the right item without spending a lot of money, if you're willing to put some time and effort into doing just that.