Wedding Math: Favors

Not like I have a wedding of my own to worry about, but sometimes, I do think favors are a bit over-stressed about. But gosh darn, isn't it fun to pick out just a little something to thank your guests with? Just a cute detail to have fun with :) Well, maybe it's just me, but it seems like if you're getting married in any sort of fruit-harvesting season, a quick and pretty inexpensive favor would be this beautiful option...

Martha Stewart

via googleimages

Supplies? Fruit + a basket. Or, even...

Cupcake liners! Because who really needs an entire pound + to themselves :)?

Coffee + gold liners: Kitchen Store on Tenth, $3.49 for 24

Cupcake Creations square liners: William Glen, $3.50 for 32

Matfer aluminum liners: $11.70 for 100 at Food Service Warehouse

Paderno corrugated liners: $6.71 for 18 at Lions Deal, or $6.50 for 12 by Panettone at Amazon

For example: L, even though we discussed how peaches aren't in season, did you know that there are a couple strawberry orchards nearby? One opens just a couple days before your wedding (hmmm, perhaps not the easiest time, huh?) and another about one month prior. I don't know how long fruit keeps once you've picked it... haha, or if it'd even be worth picking yourself! But hey, I also saw some orchards listed somewhere who retail their fruits too! Maybe worth it!

But I'm thinking even 3 strawberries a guest would be cute, contained in one of those liners so you wouldn't have to make or buy so many darn baskets! Especially if those strawberries were chocolate-dipped -- I know, that adds a whole nother level of "extra" to this. But, depending on the quality of the cupcake liner, they easily look sturdy (and pretty enough!) to stand on their own, or maybe decorated with a mini-ribbon handle & a small note! Or, even maybe the three strawberries with a sprinkling of those big chocolate chips?

So cost-breakdown: let's assume you go for the pricier corrugated liners, since they clearly stand on their own (and let's assume no ribbon). The liners come out between $0.37 and $0.54 a piece. Strawberries at a nearby orchard is $2.75 a pound (hmm, yikes?) when you pick them yourself. Assuming you put in 3 strawberries per favor (one from you, one from S, and one for love!), and I'll make some other major assumptions -- I figure that's another $0.68 for the strawberries per person.* And $2 per bag of chocolates (12 oz.)...

Cost: $1.05-$1.22 for each favor without chocolate, or $1.35-1.50 with chocolate!
Total Cost (for 150 guests): $157.50- $183 (or hmm, upwards of $195 with chocolate)

But, for the rest of you not L, if you happened to get married in apple or peach season, you could just attach a cute tag to just one of those! And costs might hover about the same or lower!, since you wouldn't have to worry about a container... Just an idea :)

*my assumptions were this: online photos looked like a pint of strawberries contained about 12 strawberries, and online sources suggested 1 pint = 1 lb. So, I then assumed 1 pint or 1 lb. of strawberries would work for 4 guests, and that's how I got to an estimated cost per person. Mm, I could do this kind of wedding math all day! Except hopefully I'd have more than, um, online photos + google for my sources :)