Initially all wedding favors were homemade, as the concept of mass produced items had yet to be conceived. Many brides would choose to redistribute their good luck by preparing a small gift of almonds beautifully wrapped in elegant fabric. The custom in the Middle East is for the bride to provide five almonds to represent fertility, longevity, wealth, health and happiness. Today, the candied nut known as Jordan almonds, provides for one of the most common and traditional wedding favors, when they are wrapped in small bundles of delicate fabric.

The gifts a bride might create would be dependent on the culture and materials available. For years European and American women would crochet small bags or stiffen their work to create small boxes that would typically hold fruit, nut or candy treats. Crochet items are still an elegant touch for Victorian or country themed weddings. Today, a bride is only limited to her imagination when it comes to selecting the gifts that will show appreciation from the blessed couple.

The tradition of creating homemade weddings favors has continued as a means for the bride to reduce expenses on the wedding budget. Although today, many quality items can be mass produced for a relatively low cost, brides prefer to create homemade favors as a means of self expression. Homemade favors allow her opportunities for unique gift giving and personalization that can't be found in retail store.

Homemade wedding favors can be labor extensive or have a sense of simple sophistication. Time, talent and imagination are the only limits for the creation

Home computers, desktop publishing software and quality papers make it easy to duplicate products that have only been available from professional printers in the past. Poetry can be added to beautiful backgrounds for unique bookmarks or framed works. Decorative placecards with the guests name in an beautiful script can later serve to replace a boring name placard on their work desk. Software to edit music and video recordings allow for the production of private CD's and DVD's.

Baked goods continue to make excellent wedding favors. Cookie cutters are manufactured in every imaginable shape allowing the bride to present distinctive, frosted and personalized delights. Miniature cakes, petits fours and even chocolates can be recreated in the home kitchen. Plastic molds for forming chocolate and other candies make it easy to produce delicacies that are representative of wedding themes. A fun twist on a common molded candy is to prepare it on a stick to create a lollipop from hard candies or chocolates.

Homemade wedding favors will continue to be a favorite for the bride and her guests. The opportunity to produce an item that genuinely expresses the heartfelt sentiments of the couple, will never go out of style.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Wedding Favors provides personalized, homemade, cheap, and unique wedding favors, including chocolate and cookie favors, wedding favor boxes, wedding shower favors, and more. For more information go to http://www.i-Weddingfavors.com and/or visit its sister site at http://www.i-weddinginvitations.com for related information.