Even though the summer months are soon to be ending, there is still plenty of time get outside and enjoy the beautiful sunshine and the warm weather! If you have a wedding date set for a day that falls within the last month or so of summer, you probably have all of your wedding planning done and these favors will more than likely not be of much help to you, but if you are having a summer wedding next year (or whenever) I hope that these ideas may inspire you. I racked my brain to think of some cute, easy, do-it-yourself, relatively inexpensive favors that would be perfect for a summertime wedding and I managed to come up with a lot of different ideas. I am featuring three of the ideas in different prince points that I came up with for this blog, but be sure to check back and see what other ideas I conjure up throughout the months that are perfect for different seasons and themed weddings!

1 Gingham Fabric: The number of yards should be based on the amount of baskets you are doing; you can get a lot out of one yard as it doesn’t take a lot of material per basket. In fact, I could make as many as 8 baskets out of a ½ yard of fabric.

These baskets can be as expensive or inexpensive as you’d like, but if you are doing a large quantity of them, then I suggest you search around for some bulk materials or wholesale products to get a better price rate. A great way to minimize costs is by buying the small glass bottles that I had mentioned (shown in picture to the left) and fill them using a funnel and a big bottle of wine or whatever liquid you are planning on giving. These baskets do not take a lot of work, but for a wedding favor they are more on the pricey side so they may be be better for a ceremony that has a small-medium amount of guests in attendance…even though I really think that you can get these down to a bare minimum price point if you just get a little creative with it!

Being creative means working off of a theme and including as much or as little as you’d like in each individual basket. My basket is, of course, an example and I spent about $3.50 per basket but I also used a sample bottle of wine, brie cheese, and Ghiradelli chocolate. I also picked up some sample bottles of olive oil and balsamic vinegar from World Market that were $0.99 each; you could use these two small bottles and add a sachet of herbs and have a great picnic basket. Or, if you are from a family that focuses a lot on food (like mine) you can add some family favorites!

Start planning your basket in plenty of time so you can consider all of your options and also to give you time to recruit an assembly line to help you put them together! These baskets look great and will be a memorable gift to your friends and family, not to mention a perfect way to say “Thanks!”

The beauty of this favor is that you can customize it to fit your wedding or your personality, especially with the use of a wine charm! Try searching around online for charms that feature different objects, or if you are making your own you can customize the colors to match the wedding as well as the charm.

This is very simple to do: using two pieces of tulle, cut it so that it wraps around the bottle and leaves enough at the top. Gather the tulle at the top and secure with a ribbon around the neck of the bottle. Fasten the wine charm into the ribbon and voila– you are done!

1 Small Box: I found some small recycled boxes at the craft store for $0.50, but again…if you are making a large quantity of these favors try to find some small boxes in bulk or at a wholesale price.

The trick to doing this is to cut a piece of paper to fit over the lid of the box (enough to tuck under inside), and to stamp this paper with your natural stamp. When it looks good, adhere it to the box using a glue stick and tape the ends under the lid to secure it. With some boxes you will be able to stamp directly onto the lid, but if not just use a piece of paper. It may be even easier for you to stamp around on an entire sheet of paper and then cut squares out of it for many boxes– this will be more time efficient for you and get a different pattern on each box.

For a finishing touch, you can add a message inside the box lid to thank your guests for their support and for spending your special day with you!

These are just a few of the many ideas that are floating around in this crazy head of mine and I will be sure to keep updating you with some more ideas as I get the time to execute some examples and write out a blog. I hope that you’ve enjoyed these wedding favor ideas and if you are having a wedding soon or planning one, I especially hope that they’ve inspired you!

Here’s to being creative and showing your guests just how much they mean to you!

-M.