Homemade Irish Wedding Favors
Making your own wedding favors is possible granted you have a reasonable number of guests (well under 100). A variety of universal favors can fit about just any theme---cookies, candy boxes, flowerpots and vases, all are blank canvases that you paint with a theme. Irish themes generally rest around green, white and shamrock images. You can incorporate traditional Irish favors along with modern ones to get an authentic feel of an Irish-themed wedding.
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Things You'll Need
- Shamrock cookies
- Pots or vases
- Wooden ice pop sticks
- Mints
- Small boxes
- Ribbons
- Flowerpots
- Clover
- Potting soil
- Note cards
- Miniature liquor bottles
- Charms
Instructions
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Bake shamrock cookies using a cookie cutter and green icing. Make sure that the icing dries hard. Wrap the cookies in stacks of two or three inside of clear cellophane packets, and tie with a white ribbon, or use extra icing to glue an ice pop stick or wooden dowel onto the backs of the cookies. Allow to dry and then place inside of a small vase or garden pot (preferably white). If the cookies do not stay in place, fill the bottom of the vase or pot with dough or clay to help cement the cookie sticks. Finish the clover pot with a large ribbon tied around the center of each pot or vase.
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Purchase miniature Irish liquors and beers from your local liquor store. Nothing says Irish more so than whiskey and beer, and placing shot servings of famous Irish drinks is sure to stir laughs and appreciation from the guests. Whiskeys, Irish liqueurs such as Baileys Irish Cream, and beers such as Guinness and Murphy's allow you to bring your wedding theme into the wedding favors. Tie each bottle around the center (not the neck) with a white ribbon and a small card noting the name of the couple and the date. Draw or place a sticker of a shamrock on the tag.
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Fill small green and white boxes with mints. You can use any type of mint you want, green or white, including peppermint spirals or after dinner mints. Fill the green boxes with white mints and vice versa. Once you've filled the boxes, tie a ribbon of the inverse color (green or white) around the box on all four sides ending with a bow at the top. Add a small note stating the bride, groom and date.
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Plant small patches of clover in decorative garden pots or pails. White pots work best with the theme; however, make sure that that you close the bottom, ensuring there aren't any drainage holes. Fill each pot with potting soil, and make a small mound in the center to elevate the clover above the pot's edges. Tie a large ribbon around the center of the pot, preferably in green or white.
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Purchase or gather small charms. Traditional Irish wedding favors include the random bestowing of various charms that hold a meaning of luck or misfortune. Traditional charms include rings, thimbles, buttons, dried peas and coins. The ring is a symbol of upcoming matrimony, a thimble symbolizes becoming an old maid, a button represents bachelorhood, a dried pea signals poverty and a coin represents wealth. You can either use these charms or include charms of your own choosing, such as small silver clovers, horseshoes and Celtic knots. Traditionally, couples placed the charms inside of the cake, but a safer way to give out charms is to place them in tiny white envelopes each with the name of a guest on it at her place setting.
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References
- Photo Credit clover image by fafoutis from Fotolia.com
