For many couples, one of the very best parts of deciding to get married is the chance to celebrate the news with their friends and family by hosting an engagement party. While the event is certainly not a necessity, it can be a joyful, heartfelt way for future spouses to share their excitement with their loved ones and start their wedding planning off on a fun-filled note. And what better way to say thank you for their support than by giving out sweet engagement party favors to all the event’s attendees?
“The engagement party is the first experience that your closest friends and family will have celebrating your love, and it can set the tone for other upcoming celebrations like showers, ceremony, reception, and brunch,” says Emily McMahon. Giving your guests goody bags to leave the event with, she adds, can go a long way to making your engagement party a memorable experience for all.
From custom-made favors to sweet treats they can eat, your guests will adore the thoughtful sentiment and get excited for the big day to come. To help narrow down your search, we’ve researched and rounded up a variety of great engagement party favor ideas. For the crowd who love their boozy beverages, the “Take a Shot, We’re Tying the Knot” Bottle Tags and Ruifyray Heart-Shaped Wine Stoppers make the perfect gift. Your guests will also love favors they can use long after your party, such as the LuluSugar “We’re So Engaged” Candles and the TwoJaysCreative Custom Playing Cards.
Read on for the best engagement party favor ideas.
WhiteConfettiBox Custom Matches
Sold in sets of 50, these tiny custom matchboxes are a great idea for couples looking for small, yet meaningful engagement party favors. You can customize the label, which wraps around three sides of the box, with your names, event date or location, and a message to guests. It's possible to choose from 40 pretty colors for the matchbooks themselves.
GBDesignHouse Customized Frosted Cups
These frosted plastic cups will help get the party started! They’re shatterproof and ideal for holding wine, cocktails, beer, and more. They can be personalized with monograms, names, the event date, a hashtag, or a message of your choice. Choose from dozens of colors and fonts to customize them further, as well as from nine size options. Your guests will be saying "Cheers!" to the two of you for years to come.
AeCreativeDesignsCo Wooden Tealight Holders
Simple and pretty, these wooden tea light holders from Etsy are the perfect addition to a nature-inspired outdoor party. Each candleholder is decorated with natural dried flowers and is accompanied by a wooden tag that you can customize with the names of you and your partner, as well as your engagement or wedding date. Choose from 40 flower options, and add on gift boxes and jute accents for additional costs.
LuluSugar Engagement Candles
Personalize these sweet-smelling candles with your names and engagement or wedding date. Pick from 14 different scents—think woodsy palo santo, relaxing lavender, or fragrant tropical citrus. In addition to choosing the box color, you can add a decorative ribbon for an additional cost.
NottinghamPaperGoods Popcorn Party Bags
For a delicious engagement party favor idea, make a popcorn bar, and scoop up your favorite snacks into these cute bags. Customize the design by adding in your names, and let guests choose from a range of different savory and sweet popcorn options. Your guests will be left with a yummy treat that commemorates both the engagement excitement and the wedding ahead.
FanusHome Flower Magnet Favors
These petite magnets feature real dried flowers and allow couples to pick the hue (choose from a wide range of colors) that best matches their wedding color scheme. Personalize the message on the included tags to read your names, event date, or other special words. For an additional cost, select a preferred scent and box option to complete the look.
DearlyBeelovedLLC Perfect Blend Favors
Although these party favors are a pricier choice, they’re ideal for couples who are known for their coffee-drinking obsessions (and who have guests who feel similarly). Available on Etsy, the pre-ground medium-roast coffee comes ready to brew and contains enough beans to make two pots of coffee. Each twine or cotton bag has the sweet phrase “The Perfect Blend,” along with your names and event date in a font style of your choosing.
WodeGift Bottle Openers
These ultra-cool skeleton key bottle openers come in a set of 100 and have cute (and very fitting) message written on each tag: “Thank you for being a key part of our lives.” Customize the back of the labels with your names, event date, or an additional message to guests to make the gifts feel even more special. Pick from five colors, or get a mix-and-match set if you can’t make up your mind.
SheilaKittsPaperie Tic Tac Labels
Leave your party attendees with fresh breath, care of these adorable “Mint To Be” customized candies. One side of the sticker has the phrase (in a color of your choosing) and your names and engagement or wedding date, while the other side says, “Thank you for celebrating with us!” Your guests will think of you every time they open up their bag to reach for a mint.
InkHeartPaper Bottle Tags
If you plan on giving out alcohol as an engagement party favor, make those gifts extra special by decorating the bottles with these personalized tags from Etsy. Each tag features the couple's names and engagement or wedding date, along with the cute phrase: “Take a shot, we’re tying the knot!” Pick from 20 different colors for the striped design, and choose from two different size options, depending on your party size and budget.
Your Dream Party Shop Wedding Can Coolers
For an engagement party favor that guests will be sure to use long after the event is over, consider these bold and colorful drink holders. The set of 12 cans comes in four gorgeous colors, each with the words “Cheers to love, laughter, and happily ever after” written on both sides of the label. They'll set the scene for the perfect engagement toast.
DearlyBeelovedLLC Olive Oil Favors
For foodie couples (and guests) who love to cook, these olive oil and vinegar bottle favors will win the day. Each bottle features either cold-pressed, extra virgin olive oil or a specialty vinegar. Choose from a range of flavors, from truffle-infused oil to white peach and cabernet vinegars. The label reads "Infused with love” and can be customized with your names, event date, and accent color.
TwoJaysCreative Custom Playing Cards
If you’re willing to splurge a bit for a smaller engagement party, these customized playing cards will make for a truly unique favor. These geometric pattern cards are packed in a durable plastic case, which makes them great for travel–every time your guests go to play a card game, they’ll think of you and all the fun they had celebrating your love.
RokAPary Kisses Wedding Stickers
Got a sweet tooth? Pick up your favorite chocolates (Hershey's Kisses work great), and add these adorable, budget-friendly stickers to the bottom of each one. Each self-adhesive label features a cute engagement message, and they come in a generous set of 324, so you'll be sure to not run out.
Ruifyray Wine Stoppers
Show off your love with a heart-shaped gift that they'll use again and again. These elegant stoppers come in sets of 12, 24, or 48, so buy as many as you need based on how many people are attending the party. It's a favor that will earn a place of honor on their home bar.
FavorUniverse Personalized Seed Packet
For a sustainable and unique engagement party favor option, these seed packets contain either wildflowers or sunflowers (your choice) that guests can plant when they’re back home after the event. The burlap and lace packets can be customized with your names and engagement or wedding date, along with the phrase “Let love grow.”
JJ4everFavors Seashell Candles
Are you beach lovers? These handmade seashell candles come sets of 25 and are available in three different colors. Personalize the favors by adding your names and wedding date on the tags, and for an additional cost, add in a gorgeous wood tray to display the candles at the party.
Meet the Expert
Emily McMahon is the owner of Soiree, a wedding planning company based in Iowa.
What to Look for in Engagement Party Favors
Think about the style or theme of the event
“Whether your event is a casual backyard BBQ or a fancy dinner at a country club, the favors should match the style and colors of your event,” notes McMahon. “This keeps the look of your event cohesive, and your guests will notice when things match and go together.”
Consider your budget
The overall price of having favors can quickly skyrocket if you're hosting a large event. Keep costs lower by buying in bulk and choosing smaller, budget items that can be easily replicated.
Add touches of personalization
Items like customized matchboxes, drinking glasses, or wine stoppers are small tokens that are both useful and sentimental. Whether it's your names and details of your engagement or a "save the date" for your upcoming nuptials, personalization makes for unforgettable favors.
Why Trust Brides
Brides writer Rachel Simon has extensively covered weddings and other lifestyle topics for dozens of magazines, newspapers, and websites. She also just got married this past April and is quite familiar with the ins and outs of wedding and engagement party planning.