Charity donations in lieu of favors

I'm in 100% agreement with your mom.

Listen to your Mom. She is right. I agree with you about favors. Make a charitable donation if you so choose. Just don't tell your guests about it. You don't tell them about your other charitable donations. Why would you broadcast this one?

I agree with your mom. You can skip favors if you want to since they're not necessary. But if you want to donate to a charity, do it on your own.

Hahah well 3/3 agree with mom- I guess it's the kind of thing where you'll listen to anyone other than your parents. :p

Will definitely not be doing a donation than. Thank you all for your input!!

I actually disagree. I've seen this done at wedding before and loved it. I think it's a nice way of honoring your guests

View Quoted Comment If you would prefer to do the donation instead of favors, do it! I do agree with your mom, don't advertise it to your guests.
Favors are not necessary at all. Most get left behind anyway. I wouldn't be upset if I attended a wedding without favors.

I disagree with your mom. I attended a wedding where they had made a donation to a cancer society for a close family member. I thought it was so kind, and a touching way to have those that couldn't be at the wedding present. They just had it printed down at the bottom of their menu that in lieu of favors, a monetary donation was made.

I’m somewhat neutral on it, but kind of side with mom too. Even with good intentions, it can come off as holier than thou or sanctimonious to some people. I mean, I think it’s a great thing to donate, but when you announce it to guests, it can seem almost braggy. You could honor your deceased loved ones with perhaps with a photo and if you wanted, that could be a place that you could mention donations?

I think either is fine. I wanted to do this too and had people agree and disagree. A real favor I feel like no one uses no matter hard you try to make them useful. I feel like people could always be unhappy either way so I would say do what makes you happy!

I agree with your mom

I agree with your mom. If you want to make a donation make a donation. that's an amazing thing to do. Advertising it is completely tacky though.

Like everyone else, I agree with your mom. You don’t know what charities people support, and it’s best not to offend anyone.

I agree with mom. Favors are not necessary. Just skip them, make the donation, but leave it away from the wedding. You don't need to do it for a pat on the back.

So I’m doing this BUT I have a heart cookie being made along with a tag that says “a donation has been made in your behalf in honor of the American Heart Association”. We’re doing AHA for my FH who had a heart attack 2 years ago & lucky to be alive. So I don’t think this is tacky- it’s impact our lives directly & this wedding would have never happened if he hadn’t survived. He had a 98% blockage so we count our lucky stars every day.

I’m going to explain the issue I have with this. I choose the charities I do for a reason. I research the hell out of them, I make sure the most money of my donation goes to the research the charity is supposedly funding, and then I donate. I don’t want a donation made in my name to a charity I don’t give to/believe. The CEO of the American Cancer Society makes close to $1 million annually. Where do you think that money comes from when they’re a “non-profit”? It comes from donations.

Favors aren't even necessary, so doing something in lieu of an unnecessary thing makes it seem like you’re looking for props for making a donation.

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I was just going to post this! The CEO's of some of these "non profits" is outstanding. The CEO of AHA makes nearly $2m annually... for a non profit CEO... I won't donate to certain ones because of that. If I were to do this, i'd do one that i've researched the crap out of. For me, personally, There's only a few i'd donate too.

I do agree making this big statement about making the donation is unnecessary and attention seeking-ish.

I also agree with your mom. It's lovely that you want to donate to a charity but I would just do it on your own, no need to announce it to your guests. Favors are not necessary and no one will miss them.

I agree with your mom. It comes off braggy to announce that you made a donation in someone else's honor. Plus you don't know if the guest even supports said charity. Just easier to skip the favors. We are looking into a photo booth so the photo strips they get will be their favor.

If you want to make a donation, go right ahead, just don't say anything about it to your guests.

I agree with PPs that it's better to just donate, you don't need to show it off. And as a guest, the favor is FOR the guest, so the only way to make it truly meaningful to the guest is to allow them to actually select where their "favor" is being donated. Otherwise, you're just donating for yourself.

I'm with your mom. Skip the favors and nobody will care, they aren't needed. Make the donation but don't tell your guests about it.