Wedding favours: what exactly are they? In my short career of wedding attendance I haven’t come across many of them. And if I have, I am afraid I can’t remember them. Sorry.

My sister went to great lengths at her wedding to do Autumnal toffee apples as place names/favours for the guests, and I don’t think many of them got eaten or taken away. But she had a better idea than that which went down a treat with the guests, and that was to bake a load of her delicious flapjacks and leave a little basket of them in all the rooms where the guests were staying. Too cute.

I personally find the idea of those individually wrapped mini-jars of homemade chutney, or the hand-crocheted bookmarks that you see on many DIY wedding blogs mildly terrifying. Who has the time for this?

Rather than focusing on individual favours for every single place setting, why not provide a few communal treats that can be shared and enjoyed, and which will undoubtedly save you money?

Here are some nice ideas for communal favours that I’ve come across:

1. Disposable cameras on each table are cheap, fun, and you might get a few entertaining extra shots from them when you develop them months later.

2. A bottle of sloe gin on every table is a really nice idea I heard of recently. Rather than doing individual bottles that people will forget to take away, allow people to dish it out amongst themselves.

3. Personally, I am going to spend money on pimping out the bathrooms so that guests feel pampered. I am going to buy a load of Butterfly Twists fold up ballerina pumps to put in the bathroom for when guests get tired feet. These are pretty little satin pumps that come in their own bag and will be a lovely take-away gift for anyone who wants them. In summer, cheap flip flops from Primark will be just as nice.

Toiletries such as hair spray, bobby pins, deodorant, etc will be much appreciated by dancefloor-destroyed female guests.

4. A dessert/sweets table is a novelty treat for your guests – one girl I know bought jars of old-fashioned apple drops and fizzy cola bottles for guests to help themselves. You don’t have to package it up individually for everyone so you’ll save time, effort and money, but the thought is still there.

If you can’t resist the idea of individual treats, here are a few nice ones I’ve heard of recently:

5. For Christmas weddings, baubles or pine cones are really cute as place name settings, and if any get left behind you can use them for your own tree.

6. A friend was at a wedding where each guest was given a CD made up of the couple’s favourite songs, which is a sweet memento.

Cake Pops are a great table treat, although the costs can tot up here. The best by far are from Pop Bakery