Gifts for wedding guests
It’s become common practice for couples to put together small favors for their wedding guests as a thank-you for sharing in such a special day. These gifts can often be personalized too - with the couple’s names, the wedding date, or even a motif tied to the wedding itself. It’s a nice touch to match the favors to your décor and overall theme so everything feels cohesive. Think of this as a companion to the wedding emergency basket, which is more about practical items guests might need during the celebration. You can set these gifts out on the tables (next to each place setting) or hand them to family and friends as they head out at the end of the night. If you’re on the hunt for interesting, unusual wedding favor ideas, you’ve come to the right place.
Thank-you gift ideas for your loved ones
Companies keep dreaming up new types of favors and personalized gifts - honestly, it’s hard to keep up with all of it. In our view, what matters most is giving your guests something nice and universally useful, plus a nice keepsake from your special day. You can absolutely put favors together yourself too - all you need is a good idea to run with. Since new categories of wedding favors keep popping up, we did the legwork, scanned the market, and pulled together the most interesting ideas out there. We also regularly ask our community on Instagram and TikTok for their own suggestions. Between our research and your input, we put together this list of wedding favor ideas for guests, which you’ll find below. A huge thank you to everyone who chimed in with their own ideas in the comments. We hope this answers the question so many couples ask themselves: “What should we give our wedding guests as a thank-you?”
A list of unusual wedding favors
Below you’ll find our full list of thank-you gift ideas for guests - plenty of which you can make yourself as a DIY project. Each idea comes with a short description to help you figure out how to make it or where to buy it.
Wedding favor ideas for guests
1. Small jars of honey
2. Nicely decorated candles
3. Homemade mini juices
4. Potted succulents
5. Sunglasses
6. Tea vials
7. Small spice jars
8. A jar with ready-mixed cookie ingredients
9. Bracelets engraved with the wedding date / your initials
10. Packets of wildflower seeds
11. Homemade tinctures
12. Scratch cards
13. Hand fans
14. Key rings
15. Fortune cookies
16. Homemade tea add-ins (honey lemons)
17. Mini bottles of Prosecco
18. Small bottles of bubble mix
19. Handmade crochet decorations
20. Bags of candy
21. Personalized magnets
22. Beer openers
23. Small jars of jam
24. Wedding photos (for example from an Instax)
25. Jars of Nutella
26. Chocolates
27. Fudge candies
28. Bath bombs
29. Lollipops
30. Soaps
31. Gingerbread cookies
32. Wedding pins
Small jars of honey
Let’s kick off our list with something sweet. A jar of honey is a genuinely universal gift - perfect for sweetening tea or stirring into a favorite dessert. Plenty of companies sell ready-made mini honey jars, and you can often decorate them further so they match your wedding perfectly.
Nicely decorated candles
Candles make a lovely gift for your wedding guests. Beyond looking great on a shelf at home, every time they’re lit they’ll remind your guests of your wedding day. There’s plenty of room for personalization here too, so you can easily match them to your wedding theme.
Homemade mini juices
Colorful, delicious juices bottled in beautiful little decorative bottles - a treat for the eyes as much as the taste buds. Each guest gets to take home a personalized bottle with their favorite flavor as a wedding favor. You can make these yourself or order them ready-made online.
Potted succulents
These hold up even under the most neglectful care! Succulents can go a long time without water and are nearly impossible to kill, making them a safe bet for any guest. It’s a decorative gift everyone will find room for in their home, and one that will keep reminding them of your wedding. You’ll find plenty of adorable mini succulents online, already potted in decorative jars and dressed up with a wedding theme - a little bow or a sticker with your names, for instance.
Sunglasses
Planning a summer wedding? Sunglasses make a fun favor for your guests - great for the photo booth, or for that popular Instagram trend where wedding guests all pose wearing matching pairs. And practically speaking, anyone who forgot their own sunglasses will be grateful not to squint through a bright summer afternoon.
Tea vials
Know anyone who doesn’t drink tea? Pack some in a set of beautiful decorative vials and you’ve got a genuinely useful, good-looking gift for your guests. Best of all, this is one you can put together yourself at home with zero special equipment - just order some decorative vials, ribbon, and your tea of choice.
Small spice jars
Along the same lines as the tea vials, little jars of spices make a great gift too. You could go with crowd-pleasers like sea salt or pepper, or get a bit more adventurous with rare spice blends. Like the tea idea, this one is easy to put together yourself and helps keep your wedding budget in check.
A jar with ready-mixed cookie ingredients
Another fun idea is putting together a mix that lets your guests bake their own cookies at home. All they need to do is grab a few basics like eggs, add the mix you’ve given them, and they’re ready to bake. This falls into the category of gifts that are really more of an experience than a physical object.
Bracelets engraved with the wedding date / your initials
Gifts featuring your wedding date or names tend to spark a bit of debate. Some people feel this kind of gift isn’t very practical and ends up buried in a drawer forever. That call is ultimately yours to make - plenty of couples love the idea of personalizing gifts this way. One popular option that lends itself well to engraving is a keepsake wedding bracelet.
Packets of wildflower seeds
Here’s another gift that doubles as an experience: giving your guests the chance to grow flowers that, as they bloom, keep the memory of your wedding alive. You can put together your own seed packets, wildflowers work particularly well, for guests to plant wherever they like afterward.
Homemade tinctures
Homemade tinctures are a favorite gift among couples for their loved ones. Some couples even make a family project out of preparing the tinctures together before the wedding. Just keep in mind that more people are choosing an alcohol-free lifestyle these days, so this gift may not land with everyone. Non-alcoholic juices are a much safer, more universal bet.
Scratch cards
This one’s been a genuine hit in recent years! Scratch cards make a really fun favor that guests can dive into right there during the reception. Beyond the store-bought kind, you could create custom wedding-themed scratch cards - even featuring a photo of the two of you on the winning card - and offer a prize to whoever scratches their way to a win.
Hand fans
Hand fans are perfect for a wedding during warm weather. Churches often don’t have air conditioning, and the ceremony can get uncomfortably hot. Handing these out to guests before the ceremony starts is a genuinely practical gift they’ll thank you for, and they’ll come in handy again long after the wedding too.
Key rings
Personalized key rings featuring your photo or details about your wedding make a nice gift for guests. You can go with any design that feels connected to you or your wedding theme.
Fortune cookies
Want to combine a sweet treat with the fun of a scratch card? Fortune cookies are perfect for that - a small sweet snack on one hand, and a little fortune to unwrap on the other. You could even swap the fortune for a “you’ve won” message to turn it into a fun alternative to scratch cards.
Homemade tea add-ins (honey lemons)
A perfect gift for cozy autumn evenings. Jarred tea add-ins, like honey-preserved lemon slices, make a genuinely useful gift, especially during the colder months when everyone’s drinking more tea. You can also buy ready-packaged versions of tea or coffee add-ins if you’d rather skip making your own.
Mini bottles of Prosecco
In a similar spirit to the tinctures, mini bottles of Prosecco are another great option - and you can easily offer both an alcoholic and a non-alcoholic version, since alcohol-free varieties are widely available now. An elegant little bottle makes a genuinely lovely gift for your guests.
Small bottles of bubble mix
A popular substitute for confetti outside the church. If confetti isn’t allowed at your ceremony venue, handing out bubble mix to your guests is a great workaround. As you make your big exit, you’ll get gorgeous shots of bubbles floating through the air instead of confetti raining down. Guaranteed to look stunning in photos!
Handmade crochet decorations
If you or someone in your family is handy with a crochet hook, this is a great way to put that skill to use as a wedding favor. Crocheted pieces make genuinely charming gifts for guests and double as a decoration that ties back to your wedding.
Bags of candy
Sweets are another crowd-pleasing gift idea. Pick any candy you like from your local grocery store - individual pieces or full bags, it’s up to you. Merci chocolates are another popular choice in this category. It’s a simple gift you can pull together locally without any advance ordering, and one your guests will always appreciate.
Personalized magnets
If you’re leaning toward personalized gifts, keepsake magnets are another great option - something your guests can add straight to their fridge magnet collection. It’s a simple, charming way to mark your wedding date that ends up living in someone’s home for years. You can order these with any design you like, even your own photo and a custom message like the wedding date.
Beer openers
This one tends to read as more of a gift for the men on your guest list, though of course nothing stops you from putting together different gifts for different guests. A bottle opener can easily be personalized for your wedding too, whether through engraving or a printed message.
Small jars of jam
A charming gift with a bit of French flair. Small jars of jam make a wonderful favor for your guests - perfect for spreading on toast or stirring into a dessert. You can often find them in genuinely gorgeous packaging (almost too pretty to open!). Go with a single jar per guest, or put together a whole set of different flavors.
Wedding photos (for example from an Instax)
Giving guests a printed keepsake photo from the celebration itself is a wonderful touch. To pull this off, you’ll need a way to print photos on the spot during the wedding - which is exactly where an Instax camera at the wedding comes in handy. Every photo prints instantly, so guests can take theirs home right away. You can even use the same camera to build a guest book, with one print going in the book and a second one for guests to keep.
Jars of Nutella
Just like the jam idea, small jars of Nutella make a great gift for anyone with a sweet tooth. You could even set up a little spread of jars featuring jam, Nutella, and other options, letting your guests grab whichever one they like best. Set them all out on a separate table with a small sign inviting guests to help themselves - it’s a great way to cut down on leftover, unclaimed favors too.
Chocolates
A classic box of chocolates never really goes out of style, and your guests will appreciate it too. You’ll find endless praline options online, from beautifully wrapped individual pieces to full gift sets. It’s a simple gift that’s very likely to be devoured before the night is even over.
Fudge candies
Fudge candies give you a fun way to add another personal touch. You can order them wrapped in custom paper tied to your wedding - your photo, the wedding date, even your names. Fudge is genuinely one of the most popular wedding favors.
Bath bombs
Where beer openers lean toward the men on your list, bath bombs are more commonly seen as a favor for women, which makes for a nice mix of gifts across your guest list. Ready-made bath bombs are easy to find online in all kinds of sizes, scents, and colors.
Lollipops
Lollipops fall into the sweets category, though on their own they’re not the most popular pick - fudge and chocolates tend to win out more often. If you’re not a fan of the usual suspects, though, lollipops make a nice change of pace.
Soaps
Decorative soaps, dressed up with a nice ribbon and a sticker tied to your wedding, make a lovely gift idea too. They’re genuinely useful for everyone and won’t just end up forgotten in a drawer.
Gingerbread cookies
What if you baked a few trays of gingerbread cookies yourself before the wedding and handed them out as a gift? Your guests will appreciate the time and effort, and they’ll enjoy every bite.
Wedding pins
And that brings us to the last item on our list of wedding favor ideas for guests. Designing pins that tie into your wedding theme or logo is a genuinely brilliant idea. Picture it: every guest in your photos wearing the exact same little detail connected to your wedding. It’s a small touch that ties the whole group together beautifully.
How should you hand out wedding favors to guests?
Beyond just picking the perfect gift for your guests, you’ll also want to think through how you actually plan to give it to them. That means deciding both where you’ll set the favors out and when you want guests to receive them. Aside from a few specific gifts (hand fans, for example, which you might want to hand out before the ceremony even starts), the most popular approach is simply setting favors out next to each place setting in the reception hall. That way, every guest sees theirs as soon as they arrive at their table and can take it whenever they like. You could also hand out favors as guests say their goodbyes, but that takes a lot more time and attention on your part to make sure everyone actually gets one - some guests inevitably slip out early or step away during an activity, making it tricky to catch them. For shareable favors, like juices, it works well to set them out in one spot with a sign letting guests know they’re free to help themselves.
Najczęściej zadawane pytania
What should you give guests as a thank-you gift at a wedding?
What are some cheap DIY wedding favors you can make yourself?
What are some original wedding favor ideas for guests?
Is it worth personalizing favors with the date and your names?
How and where should you hand out wedding favors to guests?
Use the JustFilm.it app at your wedding
Looking for a fun wedding activity for your guests? We built an app that works as both an entertaining activity for your loved ones and a wonderful keepsake for you. Collect the photos and videos your loved ones capture on their phones during your wedding and turn them into a unique story in film form! We’ll start by preparing personalized QR-code poster graphics with instructions, matched to your venue. At any point during the wedding, or even after guests get home, they can scan the QR code and easily upload hundreds of their own keepsake photos and videos. You’ll be able to download every file collected, plus receive a professionally edited film set to the music of your choice. Want to learn more? Visit our app page: JustFilm.it wedding app.
We have a special discount for readers of our blog! Send us a message on social media or at [email protected] with your wedding date and the code BLOG10, and we’ll check whether that date is still available. If it is, you’ll be able to get access at a discount.
