Price of favors (edible)?

[zoebartlett]

We still can''t decide whether or not to do favors. If we do them, I know we''d do something edible, most likely chocolate, since that would probably go over pretty well. What''s a reasonable price to pay? I know this may depend on what I want but I''m not really sure what I want. Any suggestions? A cellophane bag (or little box) of chocolate almonds? Vosges? I don''t know. Right now our guest list is about 180 (over double what we originally wanted. sigh.), so if we do favors at all, we''ll need to keep costs down as much as possible. Is there a way to do this for cheap without it coming across that way?

 

[SarahLovesJS]

My favorite thing is the candy cart idea. Where you have a few containers of candy w/ a scoop and then some plastic bags. I think it's also good because you don't have to assemble the bags ahead of time (unless that's something you want to do). You could go somewhere like costco/sam's club or Walmart and get a bunch of candy!! Plus there's always the classic things like jordan almonds. Not to mention the colors can compliment your wedding theme/color choices and people get to pick the candy they like. I think it's win-win.

ETA: By containers I mean the pretty glass canisters with the lids. If you can't rent them, you could always keep them for your house/apt and consider it an early wedding present for yourself!

 

[mimzy]

i don't know about vosges or anything fancy like that, but i do know cheap! if you want to go as inexpensive as possible order the baggies on ebay and buy the chocolates in bulk from either a bulk candy store or a bulk grocery story like costco or gordon food service. you can either buy them by the pound (think a plastic bin, a big plastic scoop and a clear giant baggie with a twist tie) or buy a bunch of the bigger sized plastic containers of them.

unless your crowd is all super sophisticated and the whole wedding is super super elegant/classy/to the nines, then i wouldn't worry about offering expensive gourmet chocolate. i'm sure that they will appreciate something sweet to nibble on or take home, and most of them likely won't think twice that it doesn't have a label on it. i think something simple like that is better than nothing at all (not that you have to give anything to begin with), if the fancy chocolate ends up being too expensive. and if you did do the fancy chocolate, you could always do one per couple, not per person

 

[brazen_irish_hussy]

I don''t kw if they have them in your area, but I really like cost plus world market. They have good prices on foods from all over the world and you might be able to call them and get a bulk deal. It it great because you can get cheap chocolate that is clearly from another country so people will think it is more expensive than it really is.
one option:
http://www.worldmarket.com/Eat--Drink/Eat/Specialty-Chocolate/Ghirardelli-Specialty-Gift-Sets/lev/4/productId/4755/Ne/1100001/sectionId/3200/N/1100416/categoryId/1100416/pCategoryId/0/gpCategoryId/0/Ns/TOP_SELLER_INDEX%7C1%7C%7CCATEGORY_SEQ_3209%7C0/index.pro
The stores have a much larger selection than the website and I have yet to get a bad piece of chocolate from them

 

[mimzy]

Date: 2/18/2008 7:46:57 PM
Author: brazen_irish_hussy
I don't kw if they have them in your area, but I really like cost plus world market. They have good prices on foods from all over the world and you might be able to call them and get a bulk deal. It it great because you can get cheap chocolate that is clearly from another country so people will think it is more expensive than it really is.

one option:

http://www.worldmarket.com/Eat--Drink/Eat/Specialty-Chocolate/Ghirardelli-Specialty-Gift-Sets/lev/4/productId/4755/Ne/1100001/sectionId/3200/N/1100416/categoryId/1100416/pCategoryId/0/gpCategoryId/0/Ns/TOP_SELLER_INDEX%7C1%7C%7CCATEGORY_SEQ_3209%7C0/index.pro

The stores have a much larger selection than the website and I have yet to get a bad piece of chocolate from them

i totally second this also. cost plus is awesome and you would totally be able to get some sort of fancy exotic chocolate for cheaper than other gourmet places

 

[Selkie]

What about personalized and/or special colored M&Ms? They have various packaging options, the cheapest is $2.99 for a cellophane bag w/bow. Or $11.99 for a 7oz bag, and you could do your own packaging? Even though my chocolate tastes have become much more refined over the years, I can still down a handful of M&M''s with pleasure!

 

[Selkie]

Oh, and I just remembered that my aunt made personalized labels out and put them over mini-chocolate bars for my brother''s wedding. Cute, and cheap.

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Date: 2/18/2008 7:51:20 PM
Author: Selkie
What about personalized and/or special colored M&Ms? They have various packaging options, the cheapest is $2.99 for a cellophane bag w/bow. Or $11.99 for a 7oz bag, and you could do your own packaging? Even though my chocolate tastes have become much more refined over the years, I can still down a handful of M&M''s with pleasure!

I am totally going to do the M&M thing so I second that. Sure it may be a bit cheesy/trendy but I think it''s cute!!

 

[melpla]

I''m having a very, very small wedding (immediate family only), so cost isn''t really an issue with wedding favors for me (since I don''t need many). But I thought I''d share this anyway...these are really neat mini-Belgian chocolate bars that I plan to put in our favor bags (along with a personalized tin of loose tea and a tea infuser). The chocolate bars have different names like "Blush" and "Pleasure" which I think is cool, and each one has a different flavor that corresponds to the name...They seem reasonably priced, but I guess it depends on how many you''d need for each person.

http://stores.newtreestore.com/-strse-32/27-Piece-Mini-Bar/Detail.bok?sfs=cc9501b9

 

[Independent Gal]

Hi Zoe,

Our Vosges favours - which I think are classier and are definitely TASTIER than m&m's...and it seems cheaper too - cost $2.30 each, including the organza bags. Normally the bars are $2.50, but I got them to give me a 10% discount. And the bags can be bought in bulk on e-bay from favorpro for about a nickel each.

You can also fill those organza bags with other candies.

NB that the Vosges flavours may not appeal to less culinarily adventurous guests

 

[Independent Gal]

Oh, and I don't mean to sound like a snob, but Ghiradelli chocolate is AWFUL. It tastes like plastic. Yuck. Don't give that stuff pleeeeease!

 

[brazen_irish_hussy]

Date: 2/18/2008 9:59:02 PM
Author: Independent Gal
Oh, and I don''t mean to sound like a snob, but Ghiradelli chocolate is AWFUL. It tastes like plastic. Yuck. Don''t give that stuff pleeeeease!

I actually like Ghiradelli, but your comment sounds exactly like what I say about Godiva, it''s the worst and it is more expensive.
The best chocolate is Lindt, but that may be out of your price range.

 

[Selkie]

...

 

[FrekeChild]

Date: 2/18/2008 10:10:26 PM
Author: brazen_irish_hussy

Date: 2/18/2008 9:59:02 PM

Author: Independent Gal

Oh, and I don''t mean to sound like a snob, but Ghiradelli chocolate is AWFUL. It tastes like plastic. Yuck. Don''t give that stuff pleeeeease!

I actually like Ghiradelli, but your comment sounds exactly like what I say about Godiva, it''s the worst and it is more expensive.

The best chocolate is Lindt, but that may be out of your price range.

Lindt is ok. link Callebaut is good, (link) Valrhona is good (link) but those are both professional chocolate brands and come in the huge 25 pound bricks. I''d say the best bar by a lot is Scharffen Berger. link

If I could afford it, I''d have these at my wedding (however far into the future!) link. Doesn''t get much better than handmade chocolates from Jacque Torres. $4.75 per 2 piece box. And they are so worth it.

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Date: 2/18/2008 10:10:26 PM
Author: brazen_irish_hussy

Date: 2/18/2008 9:59:02 PM

Author: Independent Gal

Oh, and I don''t mean to sound like a snob, but Ghiradelli chocolate is AWFUL. It tastes like plastic. Yuck. Don''t give that stuff pleeeeease!

I actually like Ghiradelli, but your comment sounds exactly like what I say about Godiva, it''s the worst and it is more expensive.

The best chocolate is Lindt, but that may be out of your price range.

That''s so funny, haha. I

Godiva! Wow guess chocolate just tastes different to different people?

 

[Independent Gal]

You can get Lindt pretty cheaply, depending where you shop. Their wrapped truffles are only about 30 cents each. I agree that it''s one of the better quality chocolates available in the US, which, thanks to the political economy of corn syrup, is basically horrible. Slap some tarrifs on cane sugar, and you can ruin an entire foodgroup!

I''d rank, quality like this:

1) Vosges
2) Lindt
A few others here and there
27) Godiva (I agree, thoroughly mediocre... vaguely plastic-y)
lots of mediocre "fine chocolates"
85) Ghiradelli. YUCK! Blech. Actively bad, very plastic-y.

 

[karasue91]

I''m doing the wedding cake cookies from Martha.

http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=87b0cf06cd80f010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default


We are having between 175-200 guests, so I will be making them a few days in advance with lots of help from family!! But, we are also very conscious about our budget so I like the idea of something that we can make ourselves. I''ve seen the little boxes on ebay too so they shouldn''t be too bad.

We might just do 2 cookies on each layer instead of 3, I''ll have to do a test run to see how they look!!

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Date: 2/18/2008 11:34:56 PM
Author: karasue91
I''m doing the wedding cake cookies from Martha.


http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=87b0cf06cd80f010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default



We are having between 175-200 guests, so I will be making them a few days in advance with lots of help from family!! But, we are also very conscious about our budget so I like the idea of something that we can make ourselves. I''ve seen the little boxes on ebay too so they shouldn''t be too bad.


We might just do 2 cookies on each layer instead of 3, I''ll have to do a test run to see how they look!!

Ooh those are super cute and cool!

 

[door knob solitaire]

What is the theme or colors of your wedding? Location...season...?

 

[Missrocks]

I like the M&M idea best so far, if you do decide to do favors.
I probably will not be doing guest favors. I talked to several people about it, and not one thought that they were necessary. Many commented that no one even remembers or takes theirs half the time. Not one single person that I talked to see, paused at the idea of me not doing favors. That was a relief for me! Although, if I do come up with something cute, I may change my mind. And part of the hassle is that I am getting married in Hawaii...
Good luck! Everyone has given you wonderful suggestions so far.

 

[zoebartlett]

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions! I agree that a lot of US chocolate tastes like plastic (so why doesn''t that stop me from eating it?). I actually really like Lindt, and there are a few Lindt shops not too away. I''ve heard about Cost Plus World Market but we don''t have those here in New England. We have similar stores though, so I may see what I find. I''ve seen the M&M idea done, and while I like it, I was hoping to try something a little different.

Melpla, thanks for the link! I''ll have to check it out when I have more time this afternoon.

Thanks for your thought Indy. I''ll check out Vosges but I''m not sure how adventurous our guests would be in trying out the different flavors. I''ve never had Vosges but I need to check it out for myself.

Thanks FrekeChild! I''ll check out the links later on when I have time to browse around.

Karasue, I love that idea! I''m not sure we''ll want to take on the task of putting them together but that''s just cuz we''re kinda lazy.

They do look great though!

DKS -- we''re getting married at a restuarant and bird sanctuary in mid-July. It''s in a popular coastal beach town on the southern Maine coast. The venue isn''t on or right near the beach though. We don''t have a theme or colors. The venue is heavily decorated with burgandy (chairs, rug), so we''re trying to stay away from red tones. Our save the dates and invitations have a lighthouse on them (to represent the area and where we got engaged). Let''s see, what else? My dress is ivory with chamagne sashes, and the guys are wearing black tuxes with ivory shirts, vests, and ties. My sister, MOH, is wearing a blue dress (indigo, actually). That''s pretty much it.

Who knows, we may not even end up doing favors. I will check out these suggestions though and price everything out. I have a feeling it will be too expensive since we''ll need to many (about 180 will be invited, so I''m guessing maybe 150 will attend?).

Thanks again everyone!

 

[Independent Gal]

Those wedding cake cookies are adorable! Now I feel like my wedding planning experience should have had more martha in it.

 

[door knob solitaire]

DKS -- we''re getting married at a restaurant and bird sanctuary in mid-July.

Sorry sweetie, I forgot...I remember the details now.

Here''s a thought...

You know the day after Easter they have those yummy malted speckled bird eggs 75% off? Photo of similar (you can find them in nautral colors...you have to look hard...) Well, I would fill those previous shown cookie cake plastic boxes with a teeny bit of excelsior raffia stuff in the bottom and then fill them to the brim with eggs...or just a few like it was a birds nest. Tie a pretty little bow just like the cake cookie example and add a small card with a printed details of the bird sanctuary. Your guest may appreciate more details of the location.

You could provide bird seed? Hey, ideas are hard to come by.

I tried to think of something for the lighthouse theme...I got all excited that I thought of something.. then I realize it was a windmill Drats! wrong landmark , huh?

 

[FrekeChild]

I continued to think about it, and decided that yeah the $4.75 for 2 Jacque Torres chocolates was astronomical but....$55 for 50 pieces ain''t bad. link If you''re having about 150 people, get 6 boxes, give 2 to each person that''s only $2.20 per person!! (not including tax or shipping though)

Then you''d have to wrap them up somehow...But I''m sure that wouldn''t be too pricey at all. And really, for handmade chocolates-that''s a really good price.

The only negative I see with it is that the boxes are a flavor assortment, and with the bridal favors, you get to pick what flavor of chocolates you want. But still. Now I''m thinking about doing that for my favors...putting it in my mental filing cabinet...