Wedding favors inexpensive and elegant

Wedding favors have become a "must" for most weddings. Brides cannot imagine having no wedding favors. As they launch preparations for the wedding, they begin looking at possibilities: candy, chocolate, candles, seeds, coasters, cookies, tea – the list seems endless. Unfortunately, for some, the list may seem to offer nothing that is both inexpensive and elegant. They may feel that they are forced to choose between the two.

Inexpensive, elegant wedding favors must exist, they reason, but where can you find them?

A Humane Society donation wedding favor may be the answer. These inexpensive, elegant wedding favors are a tasteful way of showing that you care for animals, and believe your guests care also.

Humane Society Donation Wedding Favors

Humane Society donation wedding favors are easy on the bride, and at such a busy time of her life, that alone makes these wedding favors a great choice. There is no shopping to be done. No boxes arrive, needing to be unpacked. Nothing must be assembled. No tags wait to be added.

To get Humane Society donation wedding favors, all you need to do is contact the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) through their website. A search engine will find it for you quickly.

Tell the ASPCA what amount of money you would like to donate to help care for animals. Then tell them how many guests you expect at your wedding. After that, just sit back and let the ASPCA do the rest.

The ASPCA will send you enough place cards for your entire guest list. The small white cards are quite elegant, each one bearing the ASPCA symbol on the front in silver. Beneath the silver symbol are the letters, ASPCA.

Humane Society donation wedding favors tell your guests that you have made a donation in their names "in lieu of a wedding favor." There will be no indication of the amount you have given, so whether it is large or small, only you and the ASPCA representative will know.

Inexpensive, Elegant Wedding Favors

These inexpensive, elegant wedding favors offer you a number of advantages.

* Inexpensive: This is, of course, a relative term. A donation of $1,000 might be termed "inexpensive" if you are inviting 1,000 guests. You are getting wedding favors for a mere $1 per guest. If you are on a smaller budget, your wedding favor donation could be much less than $1,000. Perhaps you really have little to spend on any kind of wedding favors. A small flute-shaped bottle filled with bubbles, its white top said to look like champagne foam, might cost only $0.20 per guest, and that may be all you can afford. But suppose you donated the same amount to the Humane Society. You would still get inexpensive wedding favors, but they would not appear to be inexpensive. The ASPCA has no minimal donation amount. Nor do they limit donations at the upper end. Whatever you can give for your wedding favors is appreciated.

* Elegant: Those little champagne bubble bottles would not seem the least bit elegant. Most inexpensive wedding favors do not. The same amount of money, however, donated to the Humane Society, will give you elegant wedding favors that look as though your donation was much, much more. You will have gone from "tacky" to chic with one small action.

* Respect: Your friends are likely to respect your decision to make a donation in place of giving wedding favors. Many will probably compliment you on your gracious deed. You may even find that a few, looking forward to their own weddings, will ask how you made the donation.

* Satisfaction: You begin your married life knowing that you did something meaningful – showed compassion to animals in need. You will gain a sense of satisfaction from the knowledge that your wedding favors had real value.

How Much to Give

Humane Society donation wedding favors can be purchased for any amount, as noted above. The ASPCA will send as many wedding favor cards as you need. But how much do you want to give? Would you be willing to feed a cat for a year? Would you be able to donate enough to feed one medium-sized dog from now until your first wedding anniversary? Perhaps you could feed two, three, or four animals. Which ones would you choose?

Let these figures guide you as you choose a wedding favor donation amount. They show how much it would cost to feed different animals for one year. (Figures taken from the ASPCA website.)

* 1 gold fish - $20

* 1 small rat - $50

* 1 small bird - $75

* 1 guinea pig - $75

* 1 rabbit - $156

* 1 cat - $170

* 1 small dog - $160

* 1 medium dog - $310

* 1 large dog - $350

Perhaps the bridal couple was intending to get their own pet as soon as they returned from the honeymoon. If you put that money into Humane Society donation wedding favors, what difference could you make?

If you waited, and got your pet as a first wedding anniversary gift instead, how much could you donate for your wedding favors? Look at the annual cost (after purchase or adoption) of pet ownership for one year. Again, these figures are from the ASPCA website.

* 1 gold fish - $235

* 1 small rat - $340

* 1 small bird - $195

* 1 guinea pig - $645

* 1 rabbit - $911

* 1 cat - $715

* 1 small dog - $810

* 1 medium dog - $1,190

* 1 large dog - $1,580

Inexpensive, elegant wedding favors, in the form of a Humane Society donation, can cost as little or as much as you decide to give.

Helpful Tip

Years from now, when you look back at your wedding, you will be glad that you gave these wedding favors. When you make your donation, and order your wedding favors, don't forget to order one for your wedding scrapbook.