Party News and Ideas

Just as wedding ceremonies and receptions have become less traditional and more personally unique to each couple, the wedding favors are no exception.

Today’s brides and grooms can now chose anything from elaborately wrapped, expensive gift to homemade organic soaps!

Some examples of the wedding favors that brides and grooms are choosing these days include:

•Picture frames: using small picture frames – no larger than two inches by two inches – for name plates for the wedding meal, and simultaneously, as wedding favors, is a fun and classy expression of the couple’s taste.

Packets of seeds: providing custom packaged wildflower seeds with the names of the bride and groom are common wedding favors among those looking for a more natural and cost effective wedding favor.

Heart shaped mini tape measures: These mini tape measures can be engraved as well  for those with larger budgets with generic saying such as we hope your love lasts as long as ours or with the couple’s names and the date of the event for a unique and truly customized wedding favor.

Measuring spoons: In keeping with the trend of mini tape measures some couples choose measuring spoons that are fun and unique for wedding favors in keeping with the theme of romance and practicality.

Wine corks or bottle openers: Another popular wedding favour are wine corks or bottle openers that too are adorned with hearts or other romantic themes.

Candles and soaps: Custom soaps that are beautifully packaged to match the wedding reception decorations and have the bride and groom’s names on them are also popular wedding favors.  Also, soaps have become so popular because they are also a very practical favor as well.  Guests will actually use these favors when they take them home.

But wedding favors – especially in today’s economy – can also be homemade, elegant and cost-effective. Homemade treats add more a personal touch and keep with the style and taste of the couple, as opposed to purchased favors, when it comes to weddings gifts.

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My sister recently got married. It was the typical Catholic wedding that we celebrated in a famous church in my country, Philippines. After which we headed on to the reception; an al fresco dinner by the garden where live music and band serenaded the happy couple and their guests. I am claiming that my sister’s wedding is typical because it was the most common type of wedding us Catholics celebrates: Church and Reception and then a bunch of farewells here and there. But what made my sister’s wedding different, other than it being my sister’s wedding is that is was the most beautiful wedding I have ever attended in my entire life given that the preparation only took place in a span of two and a half months.  Which reminds me that I need to help her select her bridesmaid gifts for all the girls in the wedding.

As you might have probably guessed, I was my sister’s bridesmaid. It was the most perfect event of my life because it was actually my first time to be part of an entourage. Many of my friends became flower girls when they were little, as for me, I never had that experience.

Prior the wedding and during the preparations, I kept on daydreaming about how my gown would like and what my future husband would buy as groomsmen gifts. All I knew is that it would be in a mixture of silver and blue; my sisters’ favorite colors. I imagined how I will walk down the aisle and kept neither telling myself that I should not trip nor fall despite my gown being too long for me. I imagined too how beautiful that special night would be as my sister and her soon-to-be husband will bind their hearts as one.

Weddings bring about different kinds of emotions. It makes you feel ecstatic and nervous all at the same time. It makes you feel nostalgic and even detached sometimes. It brings you back memories of home and your childhood. My sister and I grew up together but are not really close and that’s why buying cheap groomsmen gifts for our wedding is not a good idea. Our relationship was all about the usual fighting and quarreling and a series of bullying on her part. She is older therefore she demanded respect from me as though I didn’t need any for myself.

On her wedding night, all the negative thoughts vanished. I was there as her bridesmaid and I walked and sashayed in the very long red carpet leading to the altar, she walked after a couple of seconds behind me and I looked at her with so much anticipation and love in my heart. All the memories we shared growing up will never fade; now there’ll be more memories to build… with our families and future children.

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Once you have decided to tie the knot, your wedding would involve countless planning and effort. Of course, you would want to express gratitude to all your guests for attending your wedding and for helping you out, particularly the ladies that you chose to be your bridesmaids. Your girlfriends are most likely among your most cherished friends, who have been there for you through good times and bad. Giving them fantastic and unique bridesmaid gifts would remind these women how grateful you are both for their participation in the wedding, as well as for their lasting friendship. Listed below are some tips when you are selecting your bridesmaid gifts:

First, stick to your budget. That budget is there for a reason and that is to ensure that you would not spend excessively on any wedding necessity. Review what your bridesmaids had spent on their dresses, makeup, hair, accommodation and others. It is only proper to give your bridesmaids extravagant gifts if you have assigned them countless tasks to assist you and if they had spent plenty of their personal money to help you out. But if you paid for most things and you did not give them a lot of bridal tasks, it is all right to get them less expensive gifts. Keep in mind that you would need to get a somewhat bigger gift for your maid of honor.

Second, you should determine if you would want to get the bridesmaid similar gifts or if you want to give them various gifts that are in the same price bracket. There are numerous brides who give out personalized gifts to every bridesmaid since it could be a little challenging to find items that everyone would love.

Third, you could give each of the ladies a gift that is based on the bridesmaid’s personality or her hobbies. For instance, if your bridesmaid adores movies, get her a selection of DVDs. If she is into sports, give her some tickets to her favorite games. You could give her a gadget if she is into electronics. And since you’re looking into electronics, they also make fun and cool groomsmen gifts.  When you give personal gifts such as these, it would make your bridesmaids feel that you know them very well and that you have given a lot of thought into what they actually want.

Fourth, you should allot a reasonable period of time for engraving your bridesmaid gifts, or for the guys groomsmen gifts, with their names or their initials. They would cherish your gift more if you make this gift more about them rather than more about you. Plenty of engraving shops could engrave immediately but there those who would need a few weeks.

Lastly, you could surf through the internet and browse through bridal magazines to give you excellent ideas about bridesmaid gifts. It is recommended that you should start looking as early as three months before your wedding day to make sure that you have plenty of time to decide. Remember that these are your best girlfriends and show your appreciation by handing them some well-chosen gifts on your most special day.

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Bridesmaids are usually the closest friends that you have, those that you consider as the most special among your peers. It is only right that you would give a great deal of thought about the bridesmaid gifts for you would give them to your girlfriends who have stuck by your side through thick or thin.

The most enjoyable as well as the most luxurious bridesmaid gift that was ever given to me was when my friend took all of us bridesmaids to a day of pampering at the spa. It was a day of soothing massages and various kinds of spa treatments. Apart from being able to relax our entire minds and bodies, it was fun to be a group again and reminisce about the good old days. Think of it as a grown-up slumber party at a spa, complete with silly anecdotes and sentimental tears. However, if you do not have a lot of cash to spare for bridesmaid gifts, there are other fantastic pampering gifts that you could give your bridesmaids. Some alternatives are skin care products such as luxurious soaps, bath gels, and fancy lotions.

You have a lot of options when deciding on exceptional bridesmaid gifts since you are the person who best know your girlfriends. Majority of the brides give out the same gifts to their bridesmaids because it is definitely easier. If you want to give them different gifts, you could do so, provided that all their gifts belong in the similar price range.

When my sister got married, she gave her bridesmaids some beautifully engraved items. She wanted it that way to personalize the bridesmaid gifts and by the same toke, groomsmen gifts for the Best Man, ushers and groomsmen. She had the gifts engraved with the bridesmaid names together with a special friendship quote. She also did not have the gifts engraved with her name and her husband’s name because she intended that keepsake to be a token of her friendship with the bridesmaids.

Practically anything could be engraved nowadays at different engraving stores. There are actually plenty of websites in the internet that boasts of a vast collection of products that they could engrave to serve as your gifts. Glass vases, silver mirror compacts, exquisite pens, champagne glasses, jewelry boxes, quality jewelry, and a whole lot more.

If you have a lot of time at your hands, you could also make a scrapbook of your friendship. Include old photographs, movie tickets, concert tickets, or anything that means so much to the two of you. You should also take into consideration what your bridesmaid wants. Do not give her a cosmetic kit if she’s not into makeup or give her books when she finds them boring. Since this is a perfect occasion to remind them how thankful you are for their friendship, give a gift that reflects your feeling about them. Make sure that your gift is meaningful and something that they would cherish. Nevertheless, your friends would still love you no matter what your bridesmaid gift is, so just enjoy yourself on your wedding day.

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