In the old days, wedding showers were not quite the elaborate affairs that they have evolved into within the past few decades.
They once were small events, just small gestures of love shown for the bride and from the bride for her friends.
As a result, the bridal shower favors were not very elaborate either.
Today's wedding party, though, knows that without a bride's friends and family, the event wouldn't be nearly as memorable or special.
Therefore, the ladies in attendance at the shower are to be treated with much more appreciation.
Hence the importance of wedding shower favors.
In the old days, you could almost predict what wedding shower favors would be given to the shower guests.
Typically these were something such as chocolates or flowers.
Trues, these can still be excellent bridal shower favors, more variety makes for more excitement.
And the possibility exists to really customize these wedding shower favors to the wedding theme, to the interests of the bride, and to the expectations of the guests.
Remember that today, the wedding shower has become an event in itself.
From the food to the games and entertainment to the decorations, the shower rivals the wedding reception itself.
And so, just as the wedding favors at the reception are important, so too are the bridal shower favors.
You want to be sure that your guests look back on this evening in years to come and have fond memories of it.
So your wedding shower favors should do a few things: They should remind the guests of the couple, they should be useful enough that the guest will keep it, and they should evoke fond thoughts.
So how do you ensure that your wedding shower favors will do this? There are any number of ways.
First,get gifts that have a real function: bottle openers or wine glasses, candies that come in boxes which can be reused.
And then perhaps incorporate a message from the couple on the wedding shower favors, or if not, then include a special card of thanks with the gift.
This will attach a special meaning to the gift.
And for the sake of lasting memories, something about these bridal shower favors should tell the guest that this was a gift from your friend during her wedding.
A wedding design or motif.
Something should say wedding about it.
Some real-world ideas: satin purses, bottle openers shaped like a bride's shoe, heart-shaped cookie cutters, these are all ideas that are at once practical and yet which evoke memories of the guests' friend's wedding.
The result: The gift is something they will keep forever, and as long as they look at it, it will remind them of this special day.
So get to brainstorming.
Think about something unique about this wedding, and think about the interests of the guests who will attend your shower.
Write down every small gift that you can think of that will meet your friends interests while at the same time communicate a unique message about your wedding.
And when your brain hits a brick wall, ask some married friends for their thoughts so you can get the creative juices flowing again.
We're betting you can come up with a few good ideas that will ensure that these gifts are truly special wedding shower favors.