22 Creative Wedding Favour Ideas That Are Sure to Impress

So, the big day has arrived – you’re celebrating your wedding day surrounded by your closest friends and family, and everything is perfect. To thank everyone who helped make your wedding day extra special, you want to give them a wedding favour: a little token for them to remember the day by. To help add that special touch, we’ve compiled a list of our favourite unique and creative wedding favours that your guests are sure to love.

Where Do Wedding Favours Come From?

The idea of wedding favours goes back hundreds of years, with its origins believed it be from European aristocrats who would hand out an intricately decorated box made of precious materials called bonbonniere to their wedding guests. These would traditionally be filled with sugar cubes and confectionary to show off their wealth and royal status.

As sugar became more affordable, it became a tradition to give guests five sugared almonds, which is still a tradition that many people follow to this day. The five sugared almonds are often linked to five wishes for the couple getting married, representing love, happiness, fertility, wealth and long life.

Thinking Out of the Box for Unique Wedding Favours

Okay, so enough about the history of wedding favours, how can you come up with exciting and fun wedding favour ideas for your guests? One great way to come up with creative wedding favours ideas is to find favours that link to your wedding venue or theme. So, if your wedding follows a natural theme, you could give your guests a nature-themed token present such as a plant or rustic craft gift.

You can also theme your wedding favours around the region or venue where you got married. So, if the region is known for a certain delicacy, craft or tradition, you can give them a present from the venue or area or find a favour which links into the tradition. This serves as a brilliant sentimental token for your wedding attendees to remember your special day and is more out-of-the-box than many solutions.

 

The Best Creative Wedding Favour Ideas

Food and Drink Wedding Favours

A classic wedding favour, food and gift drinks are a staple wedding favour for attendees (the first wedding favours were food after all!). From craft jams and alcohol to local honey, chocolate and more, there are loads of great options for food and drink wedding favours.

1. Personalised Bottle of Beer, Wine or Alcohol

While this is an excellent idea for any wedding, this idea works especially well if you’re hosting your reception in a brewery, vineyard, distillery or similar venue. Most venues like these will be happy to brew up a batch which you can bottle up in keepsake bottles with a personalised label for a sentimental (and delicious!) wedding favour idea.

2. Craft Jars of Preserves and Honey

Whether homemade or sourced from a local independent store, little craft jars of chutneys, preserves, honey or similar treats can be a delightful present for wedding-goers to enjoy at home, and the jars can either be recycled or crafted into something new! Add a memorable touch with a personalised label with the couple’s names and the wedding date to turn the jar into a sentimental keepsake when the contents are used up.

3. Personalised Sweets and Chocolate

Another treat that guests are always happy to receive at a wedding is sweets or chocolate. These can be personalised with the name of the couple and the wedding date for a custom touch, whether it’s written in icing on the chocolate or presented in custom packaging. Plus, it’s pretty close to the original sugared almonds that would be gifted, so you can think of it as a modern reimagining!

Sentimental Keepsake Wedding Favours

If you want a more long-term wedding favour that your family can treasure as a wholesome keepsake, there are loads of fantastic options that you can personalise or create yourself. Then, depending on what you choose, your family and friends can enjoy these for years to come, and they can be proudly displayed or used day-to-day.

1. Personalised Tote Bags
2. Flowers, Plants or Succulents
3. Custom Drink Coasters
4. Commemorative Tea Towel
5. Custom Photo Jigsaw Puzzles
6. Personalised Cushion
7. Photo Block
8. Engraved Notebook
9. Commemorative Bottle Opener
10. Personalised Candle
11. Personalised Wedding Favour Tags
12. Custom Photo Magnets

 

Traditional Wedding Favours

If your wedding follows a traditional theme, a traditional wedding favour is the perfect token present to bestow upon your guests at the end of the evening. From the gift that started it all to some other takes on classic wedding favours, here are a few of our favourite traditional wedding favours.

1. 5 Sugared Almonds

As we discovered earlier, this was the first wedding favour that started the trend. So giving your guests five sugared almonds in a cute lace or decorative bag is a wonderful way to honour the tradition.

2. Decorative Gift Boxes

Including a small decorative gift box for each gift adds a beautiful detail to your wedding tables, and you can even craft them yourself to save on costs. All you’ll need is some card, ribbon and a bit of time to create stunning gift boxes that you can fill with all sorts of treats or even a heartfelt hand-written thank you note.

3. Place Cards / Place Names

A traditional part of the wedding meal, personalised wedding place names can serve as more than just a way to let guests know where to sit; they can also be your wedding favour. Using personalised tokens with the guest’s name and the date and details of the wedding creates a beautiful aesthetic for the tables. The guests can then take them home with them afterwards as a sentimental way of remembering your special day.

Abstract and Unique Wedding Favours

If you really want to stand out, going for a more abstract wedding favour can be a great touch and there’s no shortage of brilliant ideas that not only will your guests love but they can also do good for others.

1. Charity donation or sponsorship

One of our favourite wedding favour ideas that’s on the more unique side is a charity donation gift. This can come in a range of shapes and sizes, including a small donation for each guest to a charity that means a lot to the bride and groom personally. We love this idea because it’s not only a creative twist on the usual wedding favour, but it also supports great causes around the world and leaves guests with a feel-good token to remember the big day by.

You can really make this yours by switching up the charity to something related to the wedding or a cause that’s important to you personally, such as adopting an endangered animal, supporting a charity project to provide clean water or aid to developing areas, or charities supporting children in need.

2. Seeds

Seeds can be a great gift to give out at weddings for your friends and family to plant and grow a beautiful flower or plant, representing the married couple growing in their new life together. We recommend finding a unique flower or plant that is easy to sustain and flowers each year so your guests can enjoy their new plant for years to come. If you’re stuck for where to start, have a look for a hardy geranium, sedum, or penstemon – these are all easy-to-grow perennials, so you’ll get beautiful flowers each year without requiring much effort.

3. DIY Wedding Favours

Creating your own DIY wedding favours is a great solution for those looking to cut down on wedding costs or add an extra personal touch. We’ve even put together an article about how to create your own DIY wedding favours to give you some ideas – and if that doesn’t work out, you’ve got many more ideas to try above!

4. Scratch Cards

A more modern trend for weddings is to include a scratch card in your wedding favours. This can be presented in a small thank you card to the recipients or as part of a larger wedding favour for a relatively inexpensive gift. For most of your wedding-goers, this is just a fun and unique touch but there’s always the chance that a lucky person or few could win something extra, giving them another reason to remember the day!