Bomboniere gifts, or ‘favours’ to your guests on a wedding day have become quite common place over the years, however it’s usually a bit of a task to find bomboniere ideas that really speak about who you are as a couple and that your guests might actually want. As a wedding photographer I’m in a great position to get to experience weddings of all sorts, of couples of all different personalities, so I get to see a whole heap of different bomboniere ideas. I thought it might be helpful if I gave you a bit of a list of the more unique, or practical I’ve seen.

What is a Bomboniere?

But first, a bit of history behind the idea of bomboniere gifts. The practice of giving bomboniere dates right back to 14th century Italy, when the families of engaged couples swapped small packages filled with sweets as a sign of good fortune. Over time, those horrible sugar-coated almonds became the preferred choice of sweets and are pretty much now the staple of Australian bomboniere gifts… unfortunately. Hopefully this list will give you other ideas! 🙂

Bomboniere ideas

Lolly Bar

This idea I’ve seen a few times at weddings I’ve covered. The idea is that your guests are given a small bag or basket of some description in order to fill up themselves with a selection of sweets. It’s also there to augment your menu during the reception of course 🙂

Bridal party deck of cards

This one can be fun, how about printing off a deck of cards featuring an image of the bride and groom, along with their entourage as King, queen, Jack, etc? Doing this is surprisingly cost effective when done on the scale needed for wedding favours, and you can literally personalise it with yourself!

Home made sauce or Jam

I often mention this to new wedding photography clients as an idea to get the older members of your family involved in your wedding day. It’s common to have members of the family who might want to be involved with your wedding, but cant for whatever reason. Why not let them sort out your bomboniere gifts with their cooking skills? This is right up there with the lolly bar in terms of how often I see this at weddings.

A scratchy lottery ticket

While perhaps not the most personal of bomboniere ideas, an instant win lottery ticket would be very cost effective (or expensive, depending on how much you want to spend) and can create a sense of excitement and even delirious joy in the off chance someone strikes it lucky! Could even double as a last minute gift for your guests to give back to you via your wishing well.

A picture frame

If you happen to have a photo booth at your wedding reception, and if it’s like the SvenStudios photo booth, that prints proper sizes prints for your guests to keep, why not keep them in style with their own photo frame?

Polaroids

As a bit of a segway from the photo frames, perhaps have a few polaroid instant cameras floating about your reception? your guests can pick one up and create their own little keepsake from your wedding.

Individual caricatures

Or how about even having a cartoon artist wandering about drawing everyone? This bomboniere ideas as it always makes people smile and how awesome is having a piece of art to take home from your wedding?

Wedding Reception Keepsake SketchArtist

Lego minifigs or small toys

For the child in all of us, a recent wedding I was a photographer at had little bags of toys for every guest, and included were lego minifigs. Both young and old had a blast opening their little lego man and spending time building them while waiting for their entrée to arrive. By the end of the night, every table had a small army of little men running about. It was pretty awesome… Because everything is awesome.

Selecting the perfect bomboniere for your special occasion can be a daunting task, but with a little creativity and thoughtfulness, you can create a meaningful and memorable gift for your guests.

Whether you choose to go with a classic favor or a more personalized option, the key is to keep your guests in mind and choose something that reflects the overall theme and style of your event. With these bomboniere ideas and tips, you can make sure that your guests leave with a special token of appreciation that will be treasured for years to come.