Benefits to Using an Event Planner

Is planning this wedding pushing you closer to the edge? Well, here's a tip to bring your blood pressure under control. Make your own favors. What? Are we kidding? Are we really suggesting that you add one more thing to your to-do list?

Seriously. In the days leading up to your wedding, you'll be in what we like to call "tulle shock." Suddenly, you've forgotten what a fitting is, whether or not you actually like mango salsa and the first name of that guy you agreed to marry. Relax. What better time to sit in a quiet room with a good friend and a glass of chardonnay for a favor break. For hours you'll get to focus on nothing more complicated than cutting cloth or tying ribbons. You'll unwind, share laughs with your pal -- and everything will start to seem manageable again.

Check out our favorite ideas for favors you can make yourself -- without an engineering degree.

1. Homemade cookies in a ribbon-tied plastic bag.

2. Whole fresh, seasonal fruit wrapped in a swatch of tulle.

3. Decorated mason jars filled with homemade preserves and tagged with personalized labels.

4. Bunches of lollipops tied off with lovely bows.

5. Snack boxes filled with the makings for s'mores (marshmallow, graham crackers and chocolate).

6. Favorite family recipes printed on cardstock and tied together with raffia.

7. Swatches of tulle wrapped around handfuls of saltwater taffy. Taffy is a riot of color if you offer it in small mason jars.

8. Flower seeds wrapped in a square of soft fabric.

9. An "After The Party" kit with antacid, water and a headache remedy, wrapped in tulle, or packed in small boxes or decorated bags tied with ribbon.

10. A few favorite poems printed on a ribbon-tied parchment scroll.