Favors
Winter Wedding Favors Guests Actually Use (Cost per Guest)
For practical winter wedding favors, choose hot cocoa or spiced cider packets for guests to make at home, hand warmers for an outdoor send-off, s’mores kits for a reception with a roasting station, or coffee for the next morning. At the prices below, cocoa with a bag and tag costs about 42 cents a guest for 100 guests, before tax, shipping and printing.
Winter wedding favors: cost for 50, 100 and 150 guests
Prices below were checked at Target and WebstaurantStore on October 21, 2026. Totals use whole boxes or cases and the listed quantity discounts. Tax, shipping, printer ink and assembly time are excluded. The unit column is the cost of one favor’s contents; the totals include unused supplies. Add the last row if you’re buying bags, tag stock and twine from scratch.
| Favor | Contents per favor | 50 favors | 100 favors | 150 favors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot cocoa packet (Swiss Miss, boxes of 50) | $0.30–$0.33 | $16.49 | $30.02 | $45.03 |
| Spiced cider packet (Aroma Vita, boxes of 40) | $0.41–$0.44 | $32.88 | $49.32 | $65.76 |
| Hand warmers (HotHands, 10 pairs per pack) | $0.75 a pair | $37.45 | $74.90 | $112.35 |
| S’mores kit (graham pack, 2 marshmallows, snack-size bar) | about $0.59 | $51.82 | $75.15 | $95.79 |
| Coffee pot packet (Folgers 1.5 oz, cases of 42) | $0.92–$0.96 | $80.98 | $121.47 | $153.96 |
| Clear bag, tag stock and twine (add to your favor total) | about $0.04–$0.05 | $11.68 | $11.68 | $13.37 |
The finishing budget buys 100 clear 4-by-6-inch bags for $2.89, 75 sheets of 65 lb cardstock for $5.79 and 100 yards of twine for $3. At 150 favors, two bag packs cost $2.29 each. It assumes 10 tags per sheet and one foot of twine per favor. These are supply estimates, not tested assemblies; check the filled bag’s fit before ordering for your whole guest list.
The unit column flatters anything sold by the case. Graham cracker snack packs come 200 to a case for $28.49, so 50 s’mores kits still mean buying all 200: the ingredients cost $51.82, about $1.04 a guest, even though each kit contains about 59 cents’ worth. At 150 guests, the ingredient cost drops to 64 cents a kit. The calculation allows two marshmallows per kit, using approximately 64 in a $2.69 bag of Jet-Puffed marshmallows, plus one chocolate bar from a $3.59 ten-pack of Hershey’s snack-size bars.
More cocoa isn’t automatically a better deal. A case of 300 Swiss Miss packets costs $72.99, about 24 cents each, but boxes of 50 cost less in total for up to 200 favors. For 201–250 favors, five discounted boxes cost $75.05, so the case saves just $2.06 before shipping. Compare delivered totals before choosing the bigger order.
For scale, couples in The Knot’s 2025 Real Weddings Study with 50 or fewer guests spent an average of $301 on favors and gifts (that figure includes gifts for the wedding party). Cocoa for 50 guests, bags and tags included, is about $28.
Favors guests use the same night
Hand warmers earn their place at a winter wedding with an outdoor moment, like a terrace ceremony or send-off. Target lists HotHands at $7.49 for 10 pairs, with up to 10 hours of heat and a 15–30 minute warm-up time. Put a basket by the exit ahead of the send-off, or a sealed pair on each chair for an outdoor ceremony.
Keep the individual wrappers sealed until use and leave the instructions visible. HotHands says warmers shouldn’t be applied directly to skin.
S’mores kits fit a reception with a venue-approved roasting station, where guests can use them during the party. The kit priced here contains a two-count graham snack pack, two marshmallows and a snack-size chocolate bar. Without a roasting station, cocoa is a simpler take-home option.
Favors for home and the next morning
Hot cocoa is the cheapest favor on the list. For 100 guests, two boxes cost $30.02; add $11.68 for bags, tag stock and twine and the total is $41.70. If your reception already has a hot drink station, you can serve cocoa there and skip a separate take-home favor.
Spiced cider is the swap for guests who don’t want chocolate, or the second flavor if you want to offer a choice. Each packet takes about 6 fl oz of hot water. Because they come in boxes of 40, the totals jump in steps: 100 favors means buying 120 packets.
Coffee is the favor to count by household. A 1.5 oz Folgers packet yields approximately 64 fl oz of prepared coffee, so one packet can be a shared favor. If 100 guests come from 50 households, two cases ($80.98 for 84 packets) cover everyone. That’s about 81 cents per guest before wrapping, though it leaves 34 packets over. It suits guests who use ground coffee in a full-size drip brewer.
When a keepsake makes sense
Personalized coasters and mini frames ask guests to find a place for them at home. Choose them when you know they suit your guests’ tastes; the wedding date alone doesn’t give someone a reason to keep one.
For a December wedding, an ornament makes sense for guests who decorate a Christmas tree. Keep your names and date on a removable tag so guests can hang the ornament without displaying someone else’s wedding details year after year.
If the budget is tight, skipping favors is a fair choice. You don’t need to replace them with another expense.
Labels on food favors
Keep drink mixes in their original sealed packets and preserve the ingredient list, preparation directions and any best-by date. If those details appear only on the outer box, copy them onto a label for each favor. For s’mores kits, include the ingredient information for all components and retain the dates from the original packages. A packing date doesn’t establish a new shelf life.
Wording for winter favor tags
Download the winter favor tags (PDF). The two US letter pages have one design each, with 10 tags per page and space for your names and date. Print at 100% (actual size) and cut along the light gray lines; each tag is 3.5 by 2 inches.
Copy one of these lines onto your tags, with your names and wedding date underneath:
- Warm drinks: “Something warm for the morning after.”
- Hand warmers: “For cold hands at the send-off.”
The cost estimate assumes 10 tags per US letter sheet, each 3.5 inches wide by 2 inches high. At that layout, one 75-sheet pack of cardstock allows up to 750 tags before misprints. A 100-yard spool supplies 300 one-foot lengths of twine before cutting waste.