Wedding favors are a strange animal — more often than not, they’re kind of chintzy, which is easy to understand when you consider that brides and grooms are usually buying 100+ wedding favors. Most couples are not, therefore, buying $30 bottles of wine or kitchen implements for each guest. Instead, they’re buying wedding bubbles or rubber duckies. What amuses me is when you have a fairly common wedding favor advertised as something extraordinary.
Le Viette carries washcloth wedding favors and towels rolled up to look like desserts, and their tagline is “When indulgences are occasional, they should be exceptional.” At $7 to $9, they better well be exceptional, though as pretty as they are, I do have to wonder how good good the towels themselves are. I did, once upon a time, receive samples of less expensive washcloth wedding favors, and the resultant washcloths were suitable for use as kitchen rags only.
That said, it is a clever, kind of kitschy idea, but I wonder if the whole ‘food that really isn’t food’ bit isn’t just a tad confusing to some wedding guests.
And what if the washcloths don’t match the decor of each guest’s home? And what, each person only gets one washcloth? I suppose a lucky few might get a pair if they brought a guest?
Heck, when I got married, I was upset that instead of buying off-registry, people decided to buy me random sets of towels. Thankfully, one was a double set of fluffy white towels that worked anywhere and make great guest towels, and the random green-striped set has made excellent kitchen towels these last few years.
(Don’t get me wrong, some of my favorite gifts were off-registry, like some amazing pottery serving bowls, but why would you buy someone a random item of something that’s meant to be part of a set, or will hopefully match their decor? I didn’t have anyone buying me random china patterns. What is it with towels? Can you tell I’m a bit touchy on this subject?)
That said, these are amazingly adorable, and make me want to buy all the washcloths off the registry the next wedding I attend, just so I can attempt to make them look like this. It would also be a cute way to present towels to a guest at my house.
Quote: That said, these are amazingly adorable, and make me want to buy all the washcloths off the registry the next wedding I attend, just so I can attempt to make them look like this. It would also be a cute way to present towels to a guest at my house.
I think you’re right on target here – this is a cute way to give washcloths as gifts – or a cute DIY project for a guest washroom – not so practical as a wedding favor.
Toni, I think you nailed it.
I can’t speak to the quality of this particular brand of washcloth ‘desserts’ but I did see a similar set in a local gift shop around town, and while I thought the presentation was sort of cute, the cloths themselves were not of high quality. This is the sort of item where I would want to see the quality before buying…and really can’t see myself buying in bulk.
Toni: I hear you, though admittedly I am one of those people who has a closet full of unmatching towels, sheets, and dishware. When it comes to things that are usually sold in sets, I would always buy from a couple’s registry. I can’t speak to wedding favors, however, as the favors I’ve received at weddings have seldom matched my taste or decor.
Ashley: Judging by the towel/washcloth “cakes” I’ve seen, it wouldn’t be incredibly hard to DIY this particular gift, whether for a wedding or some other occasion.
Twistie: I think to ensure that you were getting a quality piece of absorbent cloth, you’d want to whip up this little project yourself, unless a manufacturer was kind enough to send a sample piece or you felt like buying a preview “cake.” Like I said to Ashley, though, I don’t know that it would be too hard to DIY.