Escort card/favor idea

I was contemplating combining the escort card with a favor and came up with the following idea. After skiing many people enjoy mulled wine, cider, or cocoa. So, I was thinking of attaching the escort cards to a bottle of wine packaged with mulling spices. The Spice Barn sells pre-mixed mulling spices in a variety of quantities, and for a reasonable price. The wine used for mulling is supposed to be a cheap red varietal, but the tricky part is finding a large number of half-bottles or full bottles (1 per couple) of cheap wine that doesn't look cheap...The local wine shop my mother frequents is showing this bottle of Sonoma Vendange Cabernet on their website for 12 bottles for $35.88 ($2.99/bottle). Definite possibility. In the meantime I am going to brainstorm other ideas for my escort card/favor that fit with our subtle ski theme.

Candy table

Image from www.amyatlas.com

So I've been thinking about this for a while and I really like the idea of a candy table in addition to wedding cake and also for a favor idea. Amy Atlas has some lovely designs on both her website and blog, but starting at $5,000/event, she's definitely not going to make the budget. Finding the candy is the easy part, at http://www.candywarehouse.com/ you can buy in bulk according to size, color, or theme! I've bookmarked that site for later. Now I have to start looking for candy jars, cake stands, plates, etc. to display the treats on the candy table. At one end of the table I am thinking of having a basket with cellophane bags with a cute sticker attaching ribbon to them for guests to fill up, then tie, and take home to enjoy later. Of course I'll have to think of a sweet message to print on the labels!