Charity Wedding Favors Done Right
Jordan almonds, matchbooks, trinkets with the happy couple’s names written in a pretty font on them. These are the cute little mementos expected as favors for the guests whenever we go to weddings. Sweet in the moment, these things usually end up in the trash bin, or even worse cluttering up our space. We stare at them for years, not needing or wanting them, but feeling guilty about throwing them away. Not too long ago, I found a heart shaped tin with a candle in it stuffed into the back of my drawer; the couple wasn’t together anymore and I had never even burned the candle out of some weird guilt about destroying the wedding favor. I’ve even seen these favors left behind at weddings, a wasted expense for the couple and their families.
For better or worse, however, it is an expense that is expected, so why not do something useful with it? If you are planning a wedding and are agonizing over the guest favors, consider charitable donations made in your guests’ names. They won’t have any useless trinkets to lug home or find space for and you might even steer some of your friends and family toward a more community oriented frame of mind.
Let’s face it, too many of us have become egocentric. Very few people actually go out of their way anymore to help or give to someone else, so why not encourage them to do so with your wedding? Once they arrive at your reception and see the gift you have made in their name, they might be inspired. At the very least, they’ll look up the charity you picked for them and just maybe they’ll decide to get involved.
Once you’ve chosen to take this step, it’s time to pick a charity, or charities to honor on your big day. How well do you know your guests? Are there a few who absolutely love animals, while others have been touched by a certain illness? Tailoring these charitable gifts will show your guests not only how well you know them, but might go one step further toward inspiring their actions.
Now, here’s the tricky part. There are, of course, many scams out there. Charities that spend most of their donations on administrative costs instead of the actual work they claim to do. So, you will have to spend a little time on research, but no more than you would have spent putting together mesh baggies full of almonds, or selecting votive tins with pictures of flowers on them. Check out Charity Navigator, where you’ll find categorized lists of charities as well as their ratings and histories. Animals, religions, environmental, disease research and other focuses that are sure to touch the hearts and minds of your guests. The site will even guide you toward efforts to support our troops abroad. Just click on the ‘donate now’ link and you can take it from there. After that, all you have to do is print up place cards that will tell each guest where a donation was made in their name. This is the fun part of choosing fonts and designs.
Searching through the charities will undoubtedly make you feel like your wedding is contributing to the world and will hopefully bring your guests into a similarly giving frame of mind. Whether you customize the charities for each guest, or just give a big donation on behalf of everyone at your celebration, charity wedding favors can be a chic, thoughtful, conversation starting addition to your wedding and something that you and your guests will surely feel good about.
Related posts:
- American Cancer Society provides favors with meaning A growing number of couples are forgoing the traditional...
- One-Of-A-Kind Wedding Favors For Your One-Of-A-Kind Wedding People will definitely remember your wedding if it was...
- Any ideas for out of the ordinary wedding favors? | Ego Vinterop … Avis B Says:May 11th, 2010 at 2:35 pm Wedding...
- 10 wedding favors with heart I recently did a post asking readers what they gave...
- 5 Unique Wedding Favors As A Sign Of Appreciation | Articles Weddings are the most memorable day in a lifetime....
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.