An increasing popular type of wedding favor is donation wedding favors. Although they can take many forms, it essentially refers to a bride and groom, instead of giving party favors to their guests, take the amount that they would have spent on those favors and donate that amount to the charity of their choice.

It is a lovely touch to acknowledge your donation by giving donation card favors at your reception. Set at each place setting, it is a formal, written card that explains that in lieu of party favors a donation has been made to a specific charity. Donation cards can be as simple as a short message printed on a place card sized card to a more elegant card that allows you a choice of color, font style as well as embellishments such as satin ribbon.

Some subtle variations of donation wedding favors include:

Giving a tangible gift (not monetary) to a charity: An example of this would be to provide foodstuff (non-perishables) to a food bank. Whether you provide it yourself and/or you ask each guest to bring a non-perishable item (or a shopping back filled with non-perishables) is your choice. Either way it's a lovely thing to do.

Asking your guests, in lieu of a gift, to donate to specific charity or charity of their choice: This is especially popular with older couples who have already accumulated everything needed to start a household.

Asking everyone to participate in a local charitable act: Whether this is in lieu of gifts or simply an opportunity for all to volunteer together, it is about being together and doing some for the common good. Examples include donating a day to help build a local house for the needy (Habitat for Humanity) to offering to serve at a shelter or soup kitchen.

Diva Entertains, Copyright 2010