5 Unique Favor Ideas for Valentines' Day Weddings

Valentines' Day is a popular day to get married for many couples. With a wide variety of wedding favors available, here are some of my favorites for your Valentines' Day wedding. Enjoy!

1. Heart Shaped Cookie Cutters

This is my favorite idea, and one that I would like to have at my own wedding. If you decide on a "hearts" theme, this favor idea would carry out your theme nicely. You can make this as simple or elaborate as you want. If you like to bake, or you have a delicious cookie recipe in your family, you could include the recipe with your cookie cutter. Print the recipe on a nice piece of paper, and tie the recipe to the cutter with a piece of pretty red ribbon. Be sure to personalize the favor by adding your new monogram, or your names. Heart cookie cutters vary in price, and usually don't cost more than $1 to $2. If you plan on adding a recipe and ribbon, you could easily get away with making your own favors for less than $1.50 to $2.50 each, which is very cost effective for the frugal bride, while adding a nice touch to your big day. Heart shaped cookie cutters are available at any craft supply store, or online. Try http://www.shopbakersnook.com/185.html for a different variety of cookie cutters.

2. Heart Cookies

Along with the cookie cutter idea, cookies themselves are a wonderful favor idea. You can either buy them store bought, or make your own. My favorite cookie to use is a sugar cookie, topped with red icing or red sprinkles. Bakeries and grocery stores almost always have a good selection of Valentines' Day cookies for sale. In most cases, you'll be able to contact the baker and ask for a large order of cookies for your special day. Once you have your cookies, wrap each one in red cellophane or in a Valentine favor bag. Don't use tulle, or any type of wrapping that lets air in. It may make the cookie taste stale after just one day. Also keep in mind that you'll probably want to wait until a few days before your wedding to buy the cookies. If you don't have time to prepare the favors yourself, enlist one of your trusty bridesmaids or a family member to help you out.

3. Valentines' Day Candy

Forget using the traditional favor idea of Jordan almonds. Instead, buy big bags of Valentines' Day candy in bulk and make your own candy favors. My favorite candies to use include Red Hots, Valentine M&M's, Dove heart shaped chocolates and Valentines Hershey Kisses. These are just a few of the candies available, and there is a wide variety of candy to use, from chocolate lips to candy covered cherubs. The best time to buy Valentine candy is right after Valentines' Day is over, when all the candy goes on sale. You can also think about buying candy in bulk, either online or at a warehouse club, such as Sam's Club or Costco. One of my favorite websites to use for bulk candy orders is http://www.candywarehouse.com/valentinecandy.html

Once you have purchased the candy, divide it up and decide how many candies you want in each favor. You'll need to keep in mind how many guests you are inviting, and plan on making a few extra favors. For smaller candies, such as Red Hots, you'll probably want to put about 20-25 in each favor bag. For larger candies, like Hershey Kisses, plan on including about 4-5 kisses in each bag. It depends on how you want to display your favors, whether you want to tie the candies in tulle with ribbon, or fill favor boxes with candy. Either way you decide, you should plan on adding your special touch to the favor, by either including your monogram or your names on a tag or written on the favor box. The ideas for candy favors are endless.

4. Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Nothing says romance better than chocolate covered strawberries. These are best kept in a favor box, in a cool place rather than out in the heat where the chocolate can melt all over the box. A great idea for this type of favor is to keep them chilled until the guests are ready to leave, and then pass them out as each guest exits. You'll probably be too occupied for this duty, so you may want to assign someone to pass the favors out for you. This favor can get costly in some parts of the country, mostly because strawberries aren't in season in the cold regions of the country in February. If you have the extra money for it, an extra nice touch is a small bottle of wine paired with chocolate covered strawberries, along with a red bow and a tag with your name and wedding date. But remember, do this only if you have the extra money, don't let favors break your budget. If strawberries are out of the question, you are free to try other foods such as pretzels, cherries, and so on.

4. Red Roses

An elegant touch to a Valentines' Day wedding is to pass out long-stemmed red roses to each guest. Tie a ribbon with a tag onto the rose with your personalization. I usually don't recommend giving real roses out as favors, only because they start to wilt if they aren't in water. However, an idea you might want to try is using the favors as your centerpieces. Fill glass vases halfway with water, then with the red roses, and at the end of the evening, your guests will be able to take the roses home with them. This not only counts as a favor, but it will be your centerpiece too. It's like 2 for the price of 1!

5. Personalized Love Song CD

Mixed CDs are becoming more and more popular as wedding favors nowadays, and what better day to make a love song mix than Valentines' Day. I suggest buying the blank CDs when they go on sale. Best Buy and Wal-Mart are usually pretty cost effective for about 50-100 CDs. For a CD, make up a playlist of all of your favorite love songs, including songs that were played at your wedding, and maybe even your parents' wedding. Include a variety of love songs, from new ones to oldies, or whatever you like. Be sure to include your "first dance" song on the CD. Make your own CD labels on the computer, and they'll be ready for your guests' pleasure. To find a list of romantic love songs, go to http://www.theromantic.com/lovesongs/main.htm OR http://mag.weddingcentral.com.au/music/songs/love-songs.htm#Top100LoveSongs