Updated on: Aug 31, 2024
Your guests may leave your wedding with a full stomach, but they certainly won’t turn down a tasty treat to take home. These edible wedding favors are an easy and mostly cheap way to show your guests you appreciate their attendance - and they’ll love them just as much as you do! However, don’t settle for traditional store-bought wedding sweets and treats: make gifts for your guests from the comfort of home! Making yummy favors at home is a great way to explore your creative side and bond with your fiancé before the ceremony. Here is our list of wedding favors ideas to get you started:
Top 21 Edible Wedding Favors
1. Chocolate Anything
Everyone loves chocolate, right? Dip your favorite treats - pretzels, strawberries, dried fruit, nuts, cookies - into chocolate at home, wrap them individually, and give them to guests as take-home treats. Make it more personal by picking his and her favorite: say you like chocolate pretzels, and he likes chocolate strawberries. Include both, and label them accordingly - your guests will get to know you just a little bit more.
2. Fortune Cookies
Celebrate your good fortune by providing fortune cookies for your guests. This works especially well if your wedding cuisine is Asian-inspired. You can order personalized fortune cookies online with fortunes inside, or (even better) you could make your own! Plenty of recipes exist online, and you can print out personalized fortunes at home. Buy miniature Chinese takeout-style to-go containers from a craft store, stuff them with crinkled paper, and place the fortune cookie inside. Your guests will love this edible wedding favor.
3. Caramel Apples
For a sweet and crisp treat, put apples on sticks and dip them in homemade caramel to make caramel apples! Use different varieties of apples for unique flavor combinations.
4. Delicious Donuts
Homemade donuts in a box are unforgettable indulgences for your guests to munch on the next morning. You can find donut-making machines online or at local department stores for at-home donut-making. However, if you're feeling creative, you could also make the donuts from scratch and fry the dough yourself using household kitchen supplies, an online recipe, and the power of love. Wrap your creations in little boxes of joy and voila - wedding, breakfast goodness.
5. Oh, Fudge
Yes, fudge. Make some from scratch and give it out as favors to your guests! You can even mold the fudge into heart shapes using ice trays. Personalize tiny bottles or jars according to your wedding theme, and fill them with chocolatey, gooey goodness. Desserts are always going to be a win.
6. S’more Fun
Another homemade favor option is to create a DIY s’mores kit. Stack graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows in a box or decorated plastic wrap with a ribbon. A summer classic that everyone will love.
7. Ballin’ Popcorn
An easy and fun fall solution to at-home edible wedding treats, popcorn balls! Only a few inexpensive ingredients are required, and they’re easy to make en masse in tons of different flavors - kettle corn, peanut butter, even dark and white chocolate. They also look cute wrapped in pretty plastic with a bow and a message - perfect for thanking your guests for attending.
8. Hey, Honey Pie
For a fall-flavored treat, bake your guests miniature pies to take home with them! Pie tins are available for purchase in all shapes and sizes, and you have creative freedom with which ingredients you’d like to put in your pies. Put them in little boxes, and your guests will be sure to fall in love with them!
9. Super Secret Sauces and Spices
Have a recipe you’re famous for? Or maybe something you plan on serving guests that you know they’ll be obsessed with? Give them a jar of secret hot sauce or spices that they can use to make the dish at home! For instance, if you’re particularly proud of the pumpkin pie you’re serving at your wedding, give guests a small jar of your secret pumpkin pie spice with an accompanying recipe. Or, if you served the meat with a special sauce, give guests some sauce of their own to take home. They’ll thank you later.
10. Recipe for Success
Can’t cook for beans? No worries: make your guests do it! Provide guests with the appropriate ingredients for your favorite dish and tie it all up with a cute bag, ribbon, and accompanying instructions. For example, include flour, sugar, chocolate chips, and sea salt (in appropriate proportions) in a cute jar for a DIY chocolate chip cookie recipe.
11. Personal Popsicles
This treat would be a great addition to a summer wedding. Offer your guests some cold popsicles in flavors and colors that match the wedding theme; you could even make them on your own. They are sure to thank you for the chance to cool down. Popsicles are a unique wedding favor that is sure to impress your guests!
12. Coffee Blends
Everyone loves coffee.. or knows someone that loves coffee. Especially to make it through the wedding readings. For this edible DIY, you can offer a variety of flavors for guests to choose from or simply offer his or her flavors. Place the coffee beans in cute burlap sacks, or small boxes with instructions or tips, and this wedding favor is ready to go!
13. Heritage Homage
This treat is perfect for families that cherish their heritage. Find a few native treats from each side of the family to enjoy the blend of cultures. Maybe there are already some recipes in the family, but if not, a quick Google search can give you plenty of heritage treat ideas.
14. To-Go Drinks
As a parting gift to your friends and family, send them home with a yummy drink. This drink can be anything from champagne, apple cider, or home-brewed beer for a more personal touch. Put the drinks in small bottles with customized labels, and watch as your guests fall apart in awe of your unique wedding favors!
15. Themed Cookies
Cookies are an easy treat to not only make but decorate. Bake some sugar cookies with beautiful frosting and cutouts that match the wedding theme. You could also make chocolate chip cookies with colored dough. The possibilities are endless, and your guests' appetites will be too when they get a hold of these.
16. Olive Oil
Olive oil is a popular edible wedding favor. Oil can be infused with several different flavors to match the rest of the wedding menu. You could also attach a recipe card with your favorite recipe. This wedding favor is definitely unique, so hop on the trend!
17. Rice Krispie Treats
This DIY treat is generally easy to make, and easily customizable. Add different toppings and marshmallow colors to blend in with the wedding colors and theme. Rice Krispie treats will definitely take your guests back to their childhood days in the best way possible.
18. Fresh Fruit
Although this idea might not seem as fun as the rest, there is merit to having fresh fruit as a wedding favor. Not only is it a healthy option, but there are so many fruits to choose from that can complement your wedding theme or colors. Vibrant fruit will always give a pleasing visual especially if you use a cookie cutter to make fun shapes. You can arrange the fruit into nice baskets or crates for your guests to choose from.
19. Macarons
Macarons have the same sweet simplicity and versatility as cookies. These sweet treats can be any flavor or color in order to match the theme of your wedding. They can be packaged in personalized boxes or bags, and even decorated to match any wedding decor.
20. Honey Honey
Honey is a sweet treat that can be enjoyed for a long time. This is one way to be remembered long after your wedding. Make this treat extra special by purchasing the honey from a local farm. Honey jars can be personalized by adding a custom label, a chic ribbon, or a dipper.
21. Candy Boxes
Candy boxes can be an extremely versatile party favor. The different types of candies are endless, so you have a large selection to choose from. You can make your own candies to match your wedding theme, or just buy some popular ones from the store and arrange them into boxes or bags yourself. Candy boxes can include candy bars, pie pops, cake pops, and so much more! This favor can be enjoyed by sweet-toothed adults and children alike.
Edible Wedding Favors: Conclusion
We hope these ideas sparked your creative juices and added to that big-day excitement! These ideas can help you create delectable, eatable favors everyone will love. Before you start cooking your edible wedding favors, however, make sure your venue is okay with you bringing wedding party favors from home. These DIYs will definitely help you with paying for the wedding and saving money! With planning and perseverance, we are sure your wedding will be as magical as you’ve always dreamed it would be.
Written by Stefanie Shimansky and Jillian Smith; Contributors: June Park and Ashley Cimarolli