champagnecholly's biography
Our first favor melted in a cross country move so our second favor is not a food. However it was really inexpensive because it was basically the same thing as the BM Brunch favors.
Instead we bought these for $2.50 ea I believe
For the BM brunch I tied lemon drops in a cello bags with pretty satin ribbon and a stamped label, the total cost for 10 was $3 cello bags (I have a surplus though, they come in multiples of 50), satin ribbon from Michael's Dollar Bin $3, Gourmet Lemon Drops $6 (I imagine bulk candy section would have been less expensive but I saw these at the store and since I was doing so few, just grabbed them). See the pic in "Weekend Events" section.
For children attending our wedding I bought some books and toys from Target's dollar section and from the Dollar Store, I spent $2 per child. Plus I bought some coloring books for sharing and packs of crayons for around $1 each (back to school sales). I'll upload some pictures soon but I found some really cute things from puzzles to finger puppets. I have one guest who is 13, for her I purchased some inexpensive lipgloss, an Italian glass ring ($4 Pier1) and a little bottle of pink nailpolish. I also threw in a copy of Emily Dickenson. Its not really a cool gift but it was $6 at B&N and she needs to read more.
For GM I bought bottles of "Texas Champagne" hot sauce. I was going to do more but we also hired a croquet pro to host a croquet match with beers and then FI is taking them to lunch. FI thought a sporting thing would be better than another wedding-type gift. Hot sauce was $3 ea and to hire a croquet pro it was $200 but there was no limit on participants. For the civilian groomsman, I purchased bowties at saveonties.com. They ended up being Jos Bank ties, I think its a discount TJMaxx type shop for ties.
BM's gifts were DIY silver earrings (really easy, check the handouts at craft stores, or the books they keep in the beading section) which cost me $8 to make six pairs. I paid $25 for a similar pair on the street in NYC a few years ago, yes I am kicking myself for not learning how to do it earlier! I also ordered e.l.f. cosmetics for $1 ea and a brush from them too. I found paisley picture frames from the Dollar Store, great find! I also ordered Crane's stationary during a clearence sale. $5 per pack, orig $15! I also found nailpolishes (Essie and OPI) on clearence for $1 ea, neautral colors, at a beauty supply chain. Check sales! I ordered their shoes for them from cutesygirl.com and they were honestly $11 ea... Amazing and cute satin heels.
Parents gifts:
Mother - handkerchief from Oriental Trading Company $3.95, says "Mother." Jay Strongwater picture frame (could use any inexpensive pretty frame too!) with a photo of my mother holding me as a toddler, copied in black and white at a Kodak station at a Kinko's.
Father of Groom - he really enjoys fly fishing and goes to these Canadian retreats (think "the Edge") to go fly fishing so I found a great artist that does this small fly fishing prints, troutprints.com $50, framing from Michaels $30
Mother of Groom - bifold picture frame from Restoration Hardware with a photo of FI in uniform on one side and a photo of her uncle in uniform on the other, both were/are Naval Officers.
FSILs - Restoration Hardware Picture Frames, Stationary from Cranes
FBILIL (married FSIL) - Navy PT gear (physical training) since he is a big marathoner, this is his fourth Chicago Marathon I guess.
Grandfather - Book, still need to pick one out!
Groom's gift- This is totally cheesy but I had planned to get him a sterling silver die that said "buy/sell/hold" on it and include a card that said "I'm glad you made a sound investment." but.... FI said he wanted to set a cap of $20 for each of our gifts and I'm sure I'll get a book of some sort haha but I found this crystal globe at Wallstreetgifts.com so I'm "giving him the world."
Regarding the handkerchiefs, they were $3.99 for the "mother" one and $5.99 for the "bride" and "groom" set. I took the lace off of the groom handkerchief using a seam ripper. All of them were from Oriental Trading and they do actually have monogram ones for $3.99 I just wanted the mother one because I thought it was cute.
Final Version, DIY iron-on floral enhancement. I wanted a little red on mine because my mother is Chinese and its good luck to have red, so I bought a pack of iron-on embroidered flowers for $4.99 at Michaels. I put an additional white one on my mothers for fun
All the gifts are in these kraft paper bags, stamped with a martha stewart stamp kit that allowed me to put our initials on it. I also stamped the tags (which I've been using for everything, so handy) and tied it with some lace from the fabric store:
