Today in the Decluttering Sentimental Items series we're talking about wedding favors or wedding party gifts. You know, those cute little things from your cousin's wedding that collect dust on a shelf in the spare room. Or that engraved thank you gift for being a bridesmaid.
Why Wedding Favors Are Hard to Let Go Of
Why do we keep wedding favors or thank you gifts? Often we feel like we can't give them away because they have the happy couple's name and wedding date on them. Or our names and the wedding date. Or we feel like we can't get rid of them because they were gifts.
So we keep them. And they collect dust. Let's stop the madness!
Tips for Letting Go of Wedding Favors / Wedding Party Gifts
Here are a few tips to help you let go:
- If you're keeping the item to remember the wedding, you probably have pictures of the special day that can serve that purpose and take up less space. So you can let go of the item collecting dust.
- If you're keeping it because you feel guilty getting rid of a gift, ask yourself if you think the bride and groom would want you to feel that way. Or if they expected you to keep it forever. Answering these questions may help you let go of the items.
- Take a photo of it first if you want to.
- If the couple is no longer together, let it go.
- If the couple is no longer part of your life, or you're not close enough that you'd send anniversary greetings, let it go.
- If you're keeping the item to remember the wedding date, add it to your calendar and include the year so you can remember special anniversaries.
- And if it's none of these things, but you're tired of keeping it, just give yourself permission to let it go.
Ways You Can Reuse/Repurpose/Display Wedding Favors
This depends on what kind of wedding favours or thank you gifts you're dealing with. Here are a few ideas:
- If it's something you can use (candles, jewelry, glassware, etc.) then use it.
- If it's something you can consume (chocolates, candies, matches, etc.) then consume it.
- If it's something small you can put it in a shadow frame {affiliate link} with some pictures of the wedding day
How To Have A Wedding Without Adding Clutter To Your Guests' Lives
When we discussed wedding favors and wedding party gifts in the 365 Items in 365 Days group, several people discussed ways that they tried to reduce clutter for their guests and wedding party when they planned their weddings.
Here are some of their ideas:
- "I've been to too many weddings where tons of even consumable favors were left behind, so I decided to save the money and not do favors at my wedding. No one complained to me :)"
- "Favors at parties has become ridiculous. We didn't do that for our kids' weddings because I told them I wasn't paying people for celebrating with us."
- "I was so worried about wedding clutter when we had our wedding. We had a fairly relaxed wedding so using mints for favours fit right in. We gave our wedding party black t-shirts with funny sayings on them. I figured the guys could use them for work shirts and the girls for cleaning or pjs if they wanted."
- "A long time ago, I worked at Godiva. One of my FAVORITE things to do was make wedding favors, until I realized how much money brides and grooms wasted on them! Once the chocolate was consumed, the boxes, ribbons, and the little flowers that we tied onto the boxes would just get discarded, even the personalized ribbons. Although I think the consumable favors are better than the little tchotchkes that take up space and collect dust, if I ever hosted an event and gave out favors, I think I would choose something more practical like luggage tags or coasters."
If you're planning a wedding, consider giving something consumable or practical so you aren't adding to the clutter in your guests' homes :) Or even not give wedding favors at all!
Don't Start Your Decluttering Journey With Sentimental Items
Just a quick reminder that if you have "regular" (non-sentimental) clutter in your home, it's better to deal with that first and set aside your sentimental clutter until your home is less cluttered. Decluttering your everyday items will likely make more of an impact on your daily life than sentimental decluttering will. And sentimental items are generally more difficult to tackle so it's better to build up to them.
Whether you're decluttering sentimental items or general clutter, join our 365 Items in 365 Days Facebook group! You'll find lots of encouragement, motivation, and tips as we all declutter our homes and lives together. You can find more details about the 365 Items in 365 Days challenge here too.
For More Decluttering Sentimental Items Tips
Want more tips? Check these the 31 Days of Easy Decluttering series!
Or the Decluttering From A to Z series from last October!
If you'd like more decluttering ideas, you can check out my Decluttering/Purging Tips & Ideas board on Pinterest.
Your turn!
Do you have wedding favors or wedding party thank you gifts you've been holding on to? Are they treasures or clutter? What makes it hard for you to let go of them? Is there a way you can use, display, or re-purpose your wedding favors?
As you declutter your wedding favors and thank you gifts, take pictures and share them on social media using the hashtag #declutteringsentimentalitems so you can inspire all of us to declutter our sentimental items!
If you decluttered your wedding favors and wedding party gifts, what tips can you share for those who are having trouble letting go of them?
If you've got a picture of how you displayed or used wedding favors or thank you gifts, please share it in the comments or on one of the series' social media posts. I'd love to see how you are giving honour and respect to your sentimental items!
Happy
Here are all the posts in this challenge in case you missed any or want to share some with your friends or family!
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