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With the passage of time, wedding shower favors have become an integral part of wedding celebrations. However, little is known about the history behind this custom. How did it start, and why? What is the purpose of wedding shower favors? Here is an attempt to know more about this quaint tradition.

Although there is no clear documentation about wedding celebrations, the first favors of any significance seems to have been presented in weddings of the 16th and 17th centuries. It started with couples in the UK presenting love knots made of ribbons and lace. Wedding shower favors as we know them today are gifts presented by the married couple to guests who attend the wedding. This tradition could have its roots in the French tradition of giving bonboniere, small boxes encrusted with crystal, semi-precious stones and precious metal. These boxes were meant to hold small delicacies and were given at a time when sugared candies were very expensive.

Although at the beginning, wedding shower favors were handed out by the affluent as a mark of extravagance, the custom caught on rapidly. Today, the tradition of giving wedding shower favors was present in many parts of the world in the last few centuries. However, the gifts that were exchanged varied from place to place. For instance, in the Greek tradition, wedding shower favors are mostly sugar coated candies presented to guests. In Italy too, chocolate covered nuts or marzipan fruits are distributed to guests. In Puerto Rico, there is a charming tradition of placing a dressed up doll bride at the head of the table. The doll is then covered with little charms which are distributed as favors to guests. The most popular wedding shower favors in this part of the world include ornately decorated cards with the names of the couple. The Dutch believe in distributing sweet candy covered in tulle to guests who attend the wedding while in Malaysia, ornately decorated, hand-painted eggs are the most common party favors.

A bride would not be complete without a bouquet of flowers on her wedding day. A bouquet is an arrangement of flowers of different shades and sizes. Choosing the right flowers and size for your bouquet is easy.

Here are a few simple tips to help you in choosing the right bouquet for your wedding day.

• Go with the season. Choose the flowers which are in season. Know what kinds of flowers are in season during that time for example your wedding is during the summer so you can have sunflowers and daises as your bouquet or if you’re getting married on February then you can choose roses with different shades. Make sure that whatever flower your choose you also match with your wedding theme.

• Match with your skin tone or hair color. Pick flowers with colors that would enhance or compliment your hair color and complexion. If your blonde go for shades of blue, pink or bright colors, for brunette’s roses would look good on you, for redheads green would be nice and for those with dark complexions go for white roses or bouquet with different vivid colors.

• Size. Your bouquet should not over shine you. The size of your bouquet should be right for your height and body size. If you are tall go for big dramatic bouquets with big flowers and for petite brides go for something small with a delicate floral arrangement for example pick different shades of pink rose and arrange them neatly and tie a pink ribbon around it. The size of your bouquet matters so be sure that your bouquet is just the right size so that all eyes will be on you.

Each of us wants to give a gift that stands out from the rest and leaves an indelible impression on the heart of the receiver. But, with the economy in shambles and most people hanging on to their monthly budgets by the skin of their teeth, expensive baby shower favors are out of the question. Fortunately, it is possible to buy great gifts even when you are on a budget.

Candles: Candles make great baby shower favors. They are useful, reminiscent of tradition and faith, and very pretty. Candles for baby shower are available in all kinds of shapes ranging from baby bottles to lollipops. You can buy these in blue or pink colors making these suitable for girls and boys. If your budget allows it, you may gift the candle with an attractive candle holder. It is easy to personalize this gift because you can easily add the name or date to the candle holder.

Useful objects: The best gifts are always gifts that are of some use. Even the most beautiful objects lose their sheen after a while and find their way to the attic if they are not be useful. Some of the most inexpensive yet well-loved baby shower favors include bookmarks with angels or cherubs, beautifully shaped cookie cutters, packets of bath confetti and miniature picture frames. These items are very useful and some of them like the cookie cutter may be personalized too.

When it comes to special occasions, there is nothing more special than a wedding. The bride and groom are very likely to receive a large array of gifts from well wishers, hoping that they will have a happy life together. Although the bride and groom will probably be very happy with any gift that you give to them, afterall you’ve taken the time and effort to buy them something for their wedding, it is likely that you yourself would want to give a gift that stands out of the crowd, something that is not generic or predictable like a food processor! It’s very likely that you would want to give a gift that the couple would either use regularly or something that they would display in their home, something that they would admire fondly as a memory of their wedding day. So here is a list of the top five wedding gifts that are sure to get you noticed:

1) Personalised champagne – champagne in general is a popular gift to give as a wedding present, but if you want to give something really memorable then give a bottle of personalised champagne. A lot of website offers the ability to personalise champagne. On some sites you can design a champagne label yourself from scratch by uploading images and graphics as well as adding text to the label. It can take a bit of time to create the label, but once you’re happy with your design you’ve created something unique and special for the bride and groom, how many couples do you know that have their own personalised champagne? Many of these sites that offer personalised champagne also allow you to choose from a range of their own champagne labels that they have designed for you. These are particularly good if you are not that creative. Personalised champagne is a unique idea as a wedding gift. It’s something different and something that screams celebration, afterall champagne is synonymous with celebrating!

Personalized and unique gifts for graduation might be easier than you think. Anything that is leather can be embossed, metal can be engraved, memories can be made and recorded. The sky is the limit here with what the possibilities are.

OK, not engraved or embossed, but memories made by giving a vacation or travel tour last a lifetime and with careful planning can be very personal and unique. To make it even more so, start a blog about the trip and encourage your traveling grad to post pictures and write about what is going each day.

Leather items can be embossed, this includes briefcases, luggage, wallets, address books, organizers, planners, desk accessories and more. Adding the name or the initials to these items can really make them stand out when used by the grad to showcase their business. What makes these items so personal is that you can often times add a message to the name embossing or add engraving too.

Anything with metal can have engraving added. Briefcases and computer bags, luggage, engraved jewelry, money clips, address books, organizer, planner or other desk accessories all have some potential. A fine timepiece never steers you wrong, be it a wrist watch, a pocket watch, a necklace watch or even a mantle clock.

Fabric items can be silk screened or embroidered. his includes computer bags, luggage, umbrellas, book bags, laundry sacks and other similar items. Cafe-press will even allow you to place picture on the items you buy from them, allowing you to add picture to otherwise cheap gift solution. Other things that can be personalized include picture frames in various materials, like acrylic, wood or metal.