Projects: Tree Cookie Escort Card Holders

Its that time in the planning where I actually have to do stuff. Yeah, I've been planning a lot, but so far that has seemed to mean lots of conversations, googling, reading lots of blogs, stashing away of ideas, e-mailing, meeting with people, standing in one place as they make my dress fit, swiping my money card, oohing and ahhing and that's about it. Now its time to bust out all my crafty ideas, pick and choose, and DO them! Yay!

And I'm going to pay it forward. Since most of my ideas have been in some way based off blog land amazingness, I'm going to post my own DIY posts to share what those inspirations have led to.

First up - some really adorable (if I do say so) and really easy (honestly!) and really cheap (best part!) Tree Cookie Escort Card Holders!* This particular project was inspired by an awesome escort card box from The Brides Cafe. I loved the look of the mossy box but am generally creeped out by styrofoam, so I took the idea and tweaked it just enough to work for us.

Behold our tree cookie escort card holders!


Our cookies are fresh cut and not sanded at all, so they are still rough - and that's the way we like them! Natural and cute! And totally vibing with our quasi tree theme for the wedding.

To make your own** adorable tree cookie escort card holders, here is a quick and easy tutorial:

Materials needed:

• Tree cookies! and lots of them! We found a baby tree in the woods, chopped it down and then used the mister's dad's circular saw to quickly buzz off a bunch of cookies. The size can really vary. Some of ours are 2 inches in diameter while some are 1 inch. I'd recommend at least 3/4 inch thick.
• Wire - Choose any color (we used copper) around 18 gauge. You can find this in craft or hardware stores. We got two packages to equal 50 feet for roughly five bucks.
  
• Wire cutter
• Round nose plier - other small pliers can be used, but the round is extremely helpful in twisting the wire (both the cutter and the plier I had gotten from a craft store for pretty cheap)
  
• A drill with a tiny drill bit to match the gauge of the wire - Err on the side of small when it comes to the bit. You can use glue to secure the wire, but its better if its snug. OR instead of a drill - just use really soft wood. Our cookies were half basswood and I could easily push the wire into the wood for a secure fit.
• Sticky icky glue. Even Elmers will do.
  

Step One: Cut wire to length. I cut ours to approximately 4 inches long. I like the look of varied lengths, though, so I was nowhere near exact.
Step Two: Use the round nose pliers to twist wire into curly head. I found it easiest to curl it into a conical sort of shape (see picture below) (Its easier to maneuver and twist the curve while its spread out instead of flat) and then smoosh it flat with your fingers. The 18 gauge wire is still really malleable and easy to shape with your fingers. When shaped in a nice twirl, test that a piece of paper will be securely held - tweak as needed.

Step Three: Drill hole in wood cookie. Put a little bit of glue at the end of the wire and put in cookie hole. Leave to dry. Or, if you were able to find a soft wood such as basswood, simply push the wire into the cookie.
Step Four: Sit back and admire.


Easy, right? I put together the first five in less than five minutes, so give me an episode or two of Bones and I'll be set! I love projects that look way craftier than they really are! And cheap! In total, this cost us a whopping five bucks - that's just for the wire since we already had the other tools that we used. Score team us!

One DIY project done. Next is making some fun and colorful garlands!

Peace,
Jen

Note from the editor: this is now a totally DIT (do it together) project. The mister cut the cookies and just finished twisting all the wire into cute lil' curls. And then he made this awesome heart version just for me! :) awww


* OK, I felt kinda douchy writing that. "escort card holders" ew. That sounds like some sort of totally unnecessary thing the knot would push for a eight bucks each, doesn't it? Well, we do need escort cards to indicate our guests' meal choice. And we were originally going to just do plain tent cards, but this is so easy and so cheap that we're doing it. High return for our investments! score!

** or if your wedding is after 8-28-10, let me know and I'll ship them

Suck on this, favors!

Favors are stupid. Plain stupid. But that's just my (strong) opinion on the matter.* I've never been to a wedding where there was something waiting at my place that made me say "cool!" Usually its just little tokens that cost the couple way more than they are worth. To have a worthwhile favor it would probably have to be something meaningful to the couple, useful or tasty to the guests, and not be something people say "wtf do I do with this now?" And those kinda things cost more than I care to spend on my guests (sorry, guests!). We are already feeding them and providing a party for them to have fun at - they don't need a silly token from us.

So that's my biz on favors. BUT I do like one 'favor' idea and that is the donation favor where you can put a little note on the tables saying, "In lieu of favors, a donations has been made to the Bomb Ass Foundation of Hope and Love" (or whatever charity you choose). We thought about doing that....then decided just to skip favors...

UNTIL I heard an awesome idea that I'm totally stealing and think you should all steal too! (if you want to, of course. no pressure!)

It goes like this. Each place setting is given 3 (or 5 or 7 or however many) beans with some simple instructions. Guests follow these instructions to a table where three jars sit. Above each jar is a description of a charity - what it is, what they do, what donations are used for, etc. Each bean that the guests have is worth a dollar donation, and each guests get to decide where they give their dollars/beans to! With less than 100 guests, if we give 5 beans at each place setting, that means a total of roughly 500 bucks for donations. I'm definitely willing to do that instead of giving some little piece of plastic that will end up in the trash.

The lady who shared this idea with me said the guests all had a great time reading about each charity and making their choices. It got them involved and made them feel a part of the donations.

We are always looking for more ways to bring our guests into the day, and I think this is a great one! I'm really looking forward to picking the charities, and I hope the guests have a fun time deciding as well.

xoxo,
Jen

(*Note: While I think favors are stupid, I'm not saying you are stupid if you are going to have favors at your wedding. I'm positive that favors are part of the WIC of pressure, madness, and unnecessary things and that no one should provide them unless they want to and have found a favor they would enjoy giving! The End.)