With the high cost of weddings, many couples look for any savings they can and one way to save sometimes hundreds of dollars at your wedding is to create do it yourself (diy) wedding favors. Even if wedding favors are ordered bulk from online websites, it is far less expensive for the couple to wrap the favors themselves. Not only does the couple save money from wrapping the favors but the favors can be wrapped in accordance to the color scheme and wedding theme of the wedding or in white for a more monochromatic appearance.
When ordering wedding favors, make sure you factor the cost of wrapping the wedding favors into your overall budget for wedding favors. Having a wedding favor company wrap the favors can add a significant amount of cost to the favors. Most wedding favor distributors can ship the favors already wrapped but expect a costly fee for this service.
If you should decide to wrap the wedding favors yourself, first do a measurement of how much material you will need per a wedding favor sample and measure the length, width, and height and have this information available when ordering packaging for your wedding favors.
There are many styles of wrapping you can go with, the goal is to have a unique style for your wedding favors, a decorative style that is different, will leave your guests a memory, something that matches to the couples taste and fits within their wedding budget. You might find special packaging in some gift shops, craft stores, arts & supply houses, and candy shops. Often though you might be better to find packaging from websites online. Local businesses may have to special order packages and tend not to have the amount of supplies on hand. A list of wedding websites that provide wedding packaging including favor bags, organza bags, color tulle circles, and wedding boxes are listed below.
Wedding Bag and Box Websites
www.bagsandbowsonline.com
www.blissweddingsmarket.com
www.boxandwrap.com
www.favorstudio.com
www.favorsyoukeep.com
www.giftintl.com/organzabag.php
www.myownlabels.com
www.myweddingfavors.com/favor-packaging.html
www.nashvillewraps.com
www.papermart.com
www.paperpresentation.com
www.pouchdepotinc.com
www.retailpackaging.com
www.save-on-crafts.com/sachetbags.html
www.usbox.com
www.weddingthings.com
www.withthisfavor.com
www.wrapwithus.com
Make sure you decorate your wedding favor too, decorate or wrap with decorative string, ribbons, yarn, tulle, decorative tags and labels. Additional websites that provide decorations are listed below.
Decorative Ribbon Websites
www.bbcrafts.com
www.idearibbon.com
www.lacrafts.com
www.namemaker.com
www.regalribbons.com
www.ribbonwarehouse.com
www.statelineribbonandtrim.com
www.theribbonspot.com
www.tullesource.com
If you have a lot of favors to wrap don't feel they have to be wrapped in one full swoop, solicit members of the wedding party and family. Often, because of the occasion and excitement of the upcoming wedding, special people to you are more than happy to help you prepare for your special day. Just be ready with all your wedding supplies laid out on a dining table, office, or folding table and have the process ready to explain how you want the favors wrapped. After your wedding favors are wrapped, make sure all the favors are secured in a secluded room, away from prying eyes, could be a back bedroom, closet, storage room, or office currently not in use. Keep the favors away from the elements such as sun, wind, cool, or hot rooms. Try not to show the wedding favors to too many people, try as best to keep them as a surprise for your wedding day.
A popular wedding favor that couples often go for is wrapped chocolate favors, candies, flavored popcorn, or chocolate covered fruits and pretzels. Some reputable websites where you can order chocolate favors are listed below.
Chocolate Wedding Favor Websites
www.betsyann.com
www.burdickchocolate.com
www.candyconceptsinc.com
www.chocolategarden.com
www.chocomize.com
www.cocopotamus.com
www.danschocolates.com
www.exclusivelyweddings.com
www.fancyfortunecookies.com
www.frenchbroadchocolates.com
www.fretzels.com
www.funkychunkyinc.com
www.gocandy.com
www.godiva.com
www.lakechamplainchocolates.com
www.moonstruckchocolates.com
www.mymms.com
www.nonniewallers.com
www.popcornpapa.com
www.printcandies.com
www.santabarbarachocolate.com
www.vosgeschocolate.com
www.wrappedhersheys.com
With the cost of weddings these days, a popular idea for many couples is to make chocolate wedding favors themselves. Many couples find that making homemade chocolates is enjoyable and fun. Start out by finding a candy mold that a couple likes and matches their style. Candy or chocolate molds can be found in confection stores, baking stores, kitchen supply stores, and sometimes restaurant stores. They also can be found on websites that specialize in candy making. There are many molds to choose from, do you create a candy in a specific shape, or do you choose a wedding couple, a wedding sleigh, hearts, wedding bells, or joined rings?
Next melt your chocolate, this could be milk, dark, white, or make with butterscotch, or use vanilla mixed with dyes and flavored extracts and make candies to your color scheme. The chocolate or product you have to work with might come in chips, chunks, or bars. Be careful not to overmelt the mixture, because melted chocolate can scorch easily and you can end up with a bitter taste. You can either melt the chocolate in a microwave in a microwave safe bowl or if you would rather use a double boiler and melt the chocolate slowly over hot water.
Third, ready your molds for the pouring of your chocolate or other mixture, don't overfill the molds, or it may become difficult in removing them once the candy hardens, make sure the crevices of the molds are filled, gently tap them on the counter and make sure the candy is evenly spread in the mold. The melted chocolate will quickly harden in a matter of minutes if placed in a freezer, you can remove them as soon as they have hardened. Some couples opt to leave them overnight in the freezer.
The final step involves packaging your chocolate favors. You can use drawstring pouches, tiny favor boxes, cellophane, candy bar wrappers, color tulle circles, organza bags. or small plastic bags. Chocolate favor boxes, bags, and containers can be found at craft stores, art and supply stores, and at local candy shops. Many types of containers can be found on online stores. Decide on the amount of chocolate each container, box, or bag will have, in some cases you may need to use wax paper for protection so that the chocolate doesn't stick to the container if exposed at certain temperatures.
Normally the preference is to have wedding favors ready two to four weeks prior to the wedding. Unfortunately, with chocolate favors you want the candies to be fresh at the wedding, they should be prepared a week to ten days before the wedding. Make sure they are kept in a freezer or cooler after they are made and brought out and prepared a couple of days before the wedding. Assign someone to gather them and set them out on the reception tables just after all the place settings are set.
There are a number of websites where you can purchase chocolate molds to make your chocolate favors. There are hundreds of shapes you can make your chocolate favors, you just have to decide the shapes you want and the type of container and how you want the chocolate favor decorated.
Chocolate Mold Websites
www.buychocolatemolds.com
www.cakeandcandy.com
www.chocolat-chocolat.com
www.classickitchensupplies.com
www.confectioneryhouse.com
www.conceptsincandy.com
www.cooksdirect.com
www.customweddingchocolatemolds.com
www.kitchenkrafts.com
www.onestopcandle.com
www.thechocolatemoldfactory.com
Chocolate is not the only thing you can mold info wedding favors. Some other things you can mold are candles, soaps, flavored popcorn, and fudge. Another treat you can make are many types of liqueur balls. You can make varied types of rum balls, bourbon balls, chocolate balls, kahlua balls, eggnog balls, irish creme balls, creme de menthe balls, cherry cordial balls, peanut butter cup balls, and the list goes on and on. Look up recipes on the internet and you can create a box of varied liqueur ball treats. You can also create varied candied or chocolate covered fruits. You can have chocolate covered apples, pineapples, bananas, strawberries or other fruits you can think of. You might take some of these ideas and get visual ideas by putting some of thoughts you have by putting keywords into the "Youtube" cursor.
You might even consider creating a wedding welcome gift bag or basket for out of town guests. This special gift bag or basket might be an assorted creation or a specialty that you know the special guest loves. The bag or basket might be filled with all sorts of things like coffee, coffee mugs, fruits, dried fruits, snacks, cheese and crackers, jams and jellies, salami, pepperoni, potato chips, pretzels, gum, candies, breath mints, life savers, or bottle water or energy drinks and maybe include a deck of cards to pass the time.
The gift bag or basket does not necessarily have to be all food items, you can include sunscreen products, anti-bug repellent, lip balm, throw away camera, body lotions, shower gels, soaps, gift cards, and magazines. Make sure the bag or basket is big enough to hold all the products you want and get a bag or basket that can be used over and over again for carting, storage, or for decorating.
You can also create a gift basket that represents the region or a specialty. You might fill it with goodies of products from the local area or create a basket with all sorts of coffees, fruits, candies, jellies, meats and cheeses or something you know the guest will love. Use tape or some type of glue stick to secure each product in the bag or basket. The bag or basket is a thank you to your traveling wedding guest from so far for your special day and provides treats and saves your visitor from buying expensive goodies or munchies that tend to be overpriced in hotels and tourist trap places.
So when creating wedding favors, consider a (diy) wedding favor, use your ingenuity and make a wedding favor that your wedding guest will always remember when they open it at your wedding reception. Make it unique, something a little different that adds another memory to the couple's special day.
See you on the other side!
No comments:
Post a Comment