Favors

Lynne and I got to talking favors today, so I thought I'd post a few of my ideas.

I adore sea salt and chocolate-covered caramels. Like everything in my life, this is a long story...get ready! I've always loved caramels, and my grandmother was always finding ways to sneak them under my pillow when I'd come to visit. Of course I'm picky about the caramel. It has to be firm, not runny, preferably buttery. To be honest, I still think Russel Stover caramels are some of the best, at least in terms of texture. Two years ago, I read an article in The New York Times by Michelle Slatalla about her friend who always gives her the best and most unusual gifts. That year, she received a box of Fran's sea salt caramels. I have a thing for gift-giving, so the article intrigued me. It turns out that sea salt caramels were big that year (Crate and Barrel was even selling them in their holiday merchandise). Then I discovered Baked in Red Hook (and we all know the story of my birthday there), which makes a mean chocolate and sea salt caramel cupcake. So...(this post will keep going, watch out!)...I was hanging with my friend Martha Stewart one day and she showed me a video of her making the "sweet and salty" cake with the owners of Baked. And she remarked on how difficult this cake was to make and what a good deal it was to buy a whole one for $65. And I thought to myself, if Martha of all people thinks this is an involved cake, I just have to try it. So there you go.


Okay...favors. Well, I found Mouth Party in Baltimore that makes sea salt and chocolate caramels, two for $1.75. I thought these would be a great favor idea because: 1) they're edible (do you really need a beer cozy with our names on it? Seriously?) and 2) the proceeds go to cancer research. Score one for Anna and Tom.


A long time ago, I stumbled on these bud vases/place card holders from Cox and Cox. (How can you not fall for any picture with the names "Rupert" and "Esme"? The imagination just runs wild with that one.) These are seriously out of my price range, but charming (and practical!) nonetheless.


If I could afford the bud vases, I thought I could alternate them with cardinal matchbooks from Areo Home, kind of like a flowers for the women/fire for the men deal.


Other options include a candy or cookie bar, with the sweets serving as the favors. I'm also a big fan of these mini gumball machines from Beau-coup.


I liked these salt shakers, too, but that was when I thought I could convince Tom to have a backyard wedding.


If we were going with the Asia Society, I might be tempted into making origami boxes (source), but can you imagine making 150 of those? And of course, there's always the champagne cage chairs...