Since wedding season is upon us and I don’t have a wedding to plan anymore, I figured I will start re-living it. And by re-living it, I mean re-living every craft project I did in preparation for my…I mean…our wedding.
First up: wedding favors!
Wedding favors are a tricky thing. Usually they are at the bottom of the wedding to-do list, which also means the end of the budget. You want something that your guests will actually take with them, because what’s the point of giving it if you have 100 leftovers? You also need something budget friendly, and something to reflect the two of you as a couple. I found that my favorite favors to receive are edible or useful as well as easy to travel with. Which is where I got the criteria when making my own wedding favors last year.
I fretted over what to make for ohhh, 6 months. I had some crazy crafty ideas (like these herbs in a can), but luckily my husband and friends reminded me of the physical time I actually had to dedicate to such a small piece of the wedding. After much debate, Swiss chocolate bars were the winner. They represent our new home and our love of chocolate. Maybe my love more than his, but let’s not get too picky. They also happen to be in my $1-per-favor budget. At first I felt like I needed to buy fancy chocolate, but the nice thing about Switzerland is that all the chocolate is good! After some very necessary chocolate tasting (wedding planning perk!), I found that the grocery store brand chocolate was just as good as some of the name brands at half the price, like this Coop Crisp Chocolate.
Since I was replacing the label with a customized one, it didn’t matter that the chocolate didn’t have a pretty label or a recognizable brand name. And really, who is going to complain about getting a chocolate bar of any kind? I’d say the hardest part was lugging 150 chocolate bars back to the states (thanks Allie! and Linda & Leon!) and finding places to store it during the summer heat (thanks Dad!), but other than that it was a painless project. It just so happened to fit right in with the table decor too.
The backside read:
first comes love, then comes swiss chocolate.
enjoy our favorite treat from our new home!
<3 caitlin & jon
Want to make your own label for chocolate bars too? I think you could use these for any party you are throwing, not just a wedding. Here are some quick and easy instructions…no fancy creative processors required!
Materials:
- Your favorite chocolate bars
- Printer
- Cardstock
- Powerpoint, or other work processor with some art capabilities
- Double-sided tape
Directions:
1. Open up PowerPoint and go to Page Setup. Make the dimensions 11×8.5 (the same size as a normal paper, but landscape)
2. Design the logo you want for your chocolate bar in the center of the page. Your names with the date is the easiest option, but get creative!
3. Add a note about 3 inches below your logo such as, “thanks for coming!” or some custom nutrition facts, or a cute quote.
4. Group the logo and the saying and move it all the way to the left. Copy and paste everything and drag it all the way to the right. Now you have 2 labels per page.
5. Print out one page and cut it in half to create your two labels. Test out a label by wrapping it around your candy bar and taping it together with double sided tape. You may need to adjust your formatting based on your candy bar, as they are all a bit different shape.
6. Once you have the label perfect, print out half the amount of paper as the amount of favors you need. Say you need 150 favors, you only need to print 75 pages since there are two per page. Use nice card stock paper in whatever color you prefer. Cut the pages in half.
7. If your chocolate has a foil wrapper under the label, take off the label first, and then adhere your own label. If there is no foil, then just wrap the label around the current label. Place the logo front and center of the chocolate bar. Turn it around and place the logo face down on your work surface, fold the blank flap down first, and then fold the flap with the note on top. Adhere some double sided tape on the outside of the blank flap and press the printed flap onto the tap. Run you finger firmly along the back of the label to make sure it is adhered. Continue until you are all done!
Easy right? Family and friends make great assembly lines if needed 🙂
photo credit: Ifong Chen Photography
One Response
This is such a cute idea! I did a little treat for my wedding favor too. It was little chocolate covered toffees. A little chocolate is a great way to end the night!