Favors

7 Ways to Make Hand Sanitizer Look Cute for a COVID Wedding

Practicing good hand hygiene is just one of the safety measures couples and their guests should take. Here’s how to create a hand sanitizing station at your wedding that’s both useful and stylish.

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Kim Forrest

July 28, 2020

Willow Lane Paperie

If you’re hosting a wedding amid the COVID pandemic, there are certain safety measures you need to take—enforcing social distancing, offering masks, and encouraging good hand hygiene, to name a few. Creating hand sanitizer stations throughout your event is one way to remind your guests to clean their hands. And while you can certainly place a large container of hand sanitizer on a table and leave it at that, there are some ways to make a sanitizer station a bit more festive to complement your wedding decor.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating a hand sanitizer station that combines hygiene with style.

1. Talk to your venue about proper placement.

First, think about how many hand sanitizer stations you’ll need and where they should go. The most obvious spots would be near the entrance and exit, near restrooms, and any doorways that guests will walk through. Your venue may have other ideas about the best spots for these stations, so be sure to coordinate with them—and keep your wedding planner in the loop, as well. While there’s no need to go overboard with the number of hand sanitizer stations you offer, you also don’t want there to be too few and run the risk of queues of guests developing.

2. Work with your rentals company and florist.

Once you’ve decided the number and locations of your wedding hand sanitizer stations, reach out to your caterer and/or rentals company and florist to make sure you have the proper equipment and decor. Your caterer and/or rentals company can provide the necessary tables and linens (some might even be able to rent out hand sanitizer dispensers, as well), while your florist can provide some added decoration to the stations, if you’d like. A few simple floral arrangements can help these stations match your wedding’s color palette and style.

3. Touchless dispensers are best.

From a hygiene perspective, touchless hand sanitizer dispensers are the lowest risk option. Your guests will simply place their hands under the dispenser, receive a squirt of hand sanitizer, and be on their way—fewer opportunities to spread germs. However, these touchless dispensers can be expensive and harder to come by—though again, your venue, caterer, and/or rentals company may be able to provide them. If simple pump bottles are all you’re able to provide for your hand sanitizer stations, that’s totally fine too—you can even add a custom label to the bottle to dress it up, if desired.

4. Hand sanitizer is important, but don’t forget the wipes.

The issue with pump bottles of hand sanitizer is that everyone has to touch the pump to receive the hand sanitizer. By providing sanitizing wipes, as well, guests can use the wipe instead of their fingers to use the pump for a more hygienic experience. The wipes can also be used as a barrier if guests must touch door handles or other “touchpoints” throughout your venue. If you’re providing wipes as part of your hand sanitizer stations, a nearby trash receptacle is a must, as well.

Note: Disinfecting wipes are hard to come by these days, so if you’re planning a wedding for the coming months, shop for these early and often.

5. Add some signage.

A well-worded sign prominently displayed at each hand sanitizer station can politely remind guests to clean their hands as much as possible. Whether you’re looking for a sign that’s simply worded or funny, there are lots of options available.

6. Make sure someone is monitoring for refills.

Throughout your wedding day, it’s important to make sure that the hand sanitizer stations are always well-stocked. Be sure to ask your wedding planner or venue coordinator to check these stations repeatedly and make refills if necessary. If the stations become crowded and lines start to develop, your pros can also direct guests to other nearby, less crowded, sanitizing spots.

7. Consider giving each guest their own bottle.

Another way to ensure your loved ones are practicing good hand hygiene is by providing each guest with their own bottle of hand sanitizer. While most people carry their own sanitizer these days, it’s still a nice gesture to give them out—and one of the more useful wedding favors you can provide (and you can even have the bottles personalized, if you’d like!). Instead of putting them all in a basket for guests to grab, place a bottle of hand sanitizer on each ceremony chair or at each place setting.