Calla Lily is a flower that represents magnificent beauty, purity, rebirth and marriage. The beautiful trumpet shape of this flower gives it a very elegant look that is perfect for weddings. When you plan your calla lily inspired event remember to have the following items.

Guest Book and Pen Set

This beautiful guest book and matching pen set is sure to make your guests smile as they sign their well wishes. Add your own photo to this guest book to personalize it even more.

Toasting Glasses

These beautiful toasting glasses keep all the elegance and beauty of the calla lily. These are used during your guests toasts to you and a happy future and for the united drink.

Cake and Knife Set

Cutting the cake is usually a wonderful and playful time for the bride and groom. You might find one of them smashing the cake into the others mouth or tapping them on the nose with frosting. I once even saw a couple throw a piece at each other! Before you can feed each other the cake, you need to take pictures of cutting it together. These wonderful knife and serving set give the tradition of cutting the cake an elegant look.

Calla Lily Favors

There are so many options of what to use as favors now days. When it comes to calla lilies, there is no exception. When you choose a favor, think of your guests and what you think will be used. If you have a group of people who don’t drink wine, it is probably a better idea not to give them wine bottle stoppers. Here are just a few of the calla lily favors out there. Click on each one for more information.

With the release of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, tea parties have been rising in popularity. I have been seeing everything from birthday parties to wedding with a tea party theme and favors. So how do you make yours special? Here are a few tips.

Personalized Tea Packets
This is the main one, personalizing the packets of tea will help guest remember your day forever. It also gives them a gift that they can use instead of throw in a drawer or box and never see again. Practical gifts are the way to go now days. Guests aren’t as excited about keepsakes as they used to be. These personalized tea packets have a lot of available personalization. They are categorized under Bridal Shower, Wedding, Christening/Religious, Baby Shower, and Holidays.

With so many options, you are bound to find a something that will work. They also come in three flavors: black, green, and jasmine.

Tea Infusers
For those of us who don’t know (I didn’t till just a few moments ago), you place loose tea leaves or bags into the infuser while you brew your cup of tea. This keeps you from having floating leaves in your tea. I don’t know about you, but I hate floating pieces of anything in my tea. If your guests are like me, then these infusers will be a great addition to your personalized tea packets.

Teapot Timer
I know it sounds a bit silly, but can you imagine sitting there, enjoying each other’s company laughing, and joking and letting your brewing cup of tea go bitter because you forgot about it? We all loose track of time, whether it’s in the kitchen cooking, reading a good book, or especially when spending time with good friends. This item will be a practical gift that will allow them to multi task at home and keep their tea from getting bitter at your party.

Personalized Glass Cup
This is the final item I will suggest. I don’t think this one needs any explaining. Personalized cups or mugs will add that extra magic to your event. These also have a lot of different options for personalization so you will be able to match it and make it work.

To add the final touch to your event, take all the items, put them in a small box, basket, or bag together, place package at their seat and you have a perfect little party gift that can be used then and after. Just don’t forget the food!

Weddings can be very expensive, but there are ways to cut back on the cost. Most guests will expect you to have centerpieces and to give wedding favors as a way of showing you, the soon to be newlyweds, care about them. So why not take care of both with only one bill to pay? Here are some ideas for how to incorporate favors as center pieces.

1) Floating items in water.

Not every venue will allow you to have candles, though if they do, I suggest you go with floating candles above. For my roommate’s wedding we deconstructed silk flowers, added a light, and reconstructed the flower around them then floated the flowers with beads at the bottom of each one with one of the wedding colors. I have found some soap flowers that could do the trick as well if you would prefer to not spend the 20+ minutes per flower.

These beautiful orchids can be used in 2 ways. The first is that you could just take the confetti and place it in the water and leave the orchids surrounding the bottom or you could reverse. You could also place both inside the water. HotRef has a few different varieties of the flowers and also just plain confetti.

2) Beach themed

Beach themed weddings open up a lot of options for the combining of centerpieces. First thing you can do is use sand and favor bags that look like beach bag. Fill them with some M&Ms and you have a cute center piece and favors in two easy steps.

You can also find sand in many colors to fit your theme.

You can find sea shells and small candles; place them in the sand with some driftwood (or just sticks) to give a being on the beach feel. Below are some wonderful seaside inspired tea light candles that are inexpensive. Sailboats placed strategically in blue sand will give the feeling of being on or next to the ocean! Adding a candle behind the sails that can give the feel of being at the beach and watching the stars.

Get creative, make your own or just combine items to get the centerpiece and favors that your guests can take home. You don’t need one item for every person because you will have couples, families, and people who don’t want to take anything home. This is your special day, so don’t forget to have fun!

All items listed shown above can be found at www.hotref.com, click on the images to be taken to the item pages.

It’s that time of year when summer is starting, schools are getting out, and millions of young adults are celebrating graduating from high school or college. It’s the marking of the time when they stop goofing off and start getting serious, theoretically. How do you make your new grad’s celebration special for them and guest? Try one of these ideas.

Notebooks

These little personalized notebooks allow guest to be able to take notes, jot down phone numbers, addresses, emails and more. They are small enough to be able to fit in your purse, pocket or anywhere else with a nice reminder of all the memories from the past.

Candles

Most people have candles at home to burn. So why not add your own personalized candle to their collection?

Graduation Picture Frame

This is probably my favorite idea for guests. Add your grad’s senior picture or graduation picture and let your guests have the perfect frame to go along with it. Your family, and some friends, with be able to take it home and display your achievement proudly.

Here are some great wedding favor ideas that will be used over and over again.

Wine Charms

I know when I get together with the family, there is going to be wine. Most people in my family have a small collection of wine charms they are hoping to use. I also know they are consently asked where they got each set. And if you are looking to save some more money, you can give these out individually instead of as sets!

Wine Stoppers

So many different options, so little space! There are stars, hearts, seashells, grapes, angels and so many more! They will be a great gift or decoration for your next event. With so many options to choose from, you are bound to find the perfect match for your theme.

One for the groom anyone?

These are just a couple of the options out there.