Who says party favors have to be strictly for party guests?  Favors make wonderful little ‘inexpensive luxeries’ for yourself too. 

My daughters and I have hosted many bridal showers, baby showers, anniversary parties and receptions, so I’ve ordered a lot of favors for each occasion.  Every time I place my order, I find a few items that I’ve always wanted but wouldn’t order by themselves due to prohibitive shipping costs.  I’ve found that when I place my regular favor order, the shipping rarely, if ever, goes up by my  additions and I get treated to my own little gift.

I have elegant silver salt & pepper shakers that I use whenever we have guests over for dinner.  I display photo coasters every day and never cease to get great compliments on them.  I’ve decorated with unique candles, sweet-smelling soaps and beautiful little picture frames. 

So, the next time you put together a party of any kind, do yourself a ‘favor’ and give a little thank you gift just to you. 

Several years ago my husband and I helped plan and host a 60th wedding anniversary party for our parents.  Being Italian, my mom chose the traditional favor of Jordan almonds wrapped in tulle as the thank you gift we would hand out to our guests.  Even though we made just enough for everyone in attendance, we had more than half of them leftover.  That’s when I realized that these hard candy favors are not as popular as they once were.  Instead of saving money by going with these inexpensive favors, we ended up wasting our money. 

Looking back on that day, I wish we would’ve done things differently.  We had 2 framed 8 X 10 pictures on the gift table that day.  One was a photo of their wedding day and one was a recent 60th anniversary photo.  Everyone raved about them and asked for copies.  What a wonderful favor a small framed wedding picture would have been!  The cost would have been minimal and there certainly wouldn’t have been any leftovers.  There also would’ve been an added benefit of being able to decorate the guests’ tables with the keepsake photo favors.

Memories are a big part of any celebration and a favor that can help to recall some of those memories is a very special gift.  These keepsake favors do not need to be expensive, but their value is priceless!