Can You Use Lottery Tickets as Wedding Favours?
Wedding favours are the tiny gifts or toys you give to each guest at your wedding.
Sometimes, it’s something fun to use at the reception (like bubble blowers). Other times, it’s a memento. But some people give lottery tickets as wedding favours instead.
Can you use lottery tickets as wedding favours?
You can. This is becoming more and more common, in the same way that people give lottery tickets as small gifts, e.g. in birthday cards. Because this has become more common wedding stationery printers now make lottery ticket holders to present each favour to each guest.
Furthermore, there’s no etiquette that says you can’t. So, even the fanciest, most traditional wedding receptions can have lottery tickets as party favours, too.
Lottery Tickets as Wedding Favours
If you’ve never encountered the idea before, yes: lottery tickets are often used as wedding favours these days! They’re a cheap and fun solution which almost everyone will enjoy.
They’re provided for each guest at the reception. You can choose to give either lottery tickets or scratch cards, too, if you want. The idea is to offer something a little more exciting than your average wedding favour.
Because this has become such a popular idea of late, wedding stationery printers have started making lottery ticket holders that you can put the tickets into. These are printed with the couples’ names on them, plus the date, and often a thank you message.
But why should you consider using lottery tickets as wedding favours? Is it a common idea, and are there any other wedding favour ideas you might like if you like this one? Let’s find out.
What About Etiquette?
Etiquette demands many things of brides and grooms: lots of things are done just because ‘that’s how things have always been done’. Depending on what kind of person you are, you may think that this is a good or a bad thing.
Well, while wedding etiquette seems to touch on every other aspect of a wedding, it doesn’t do so here. There’s no ‘rule’ against giving lottery tickets as wedding favours. You’re allowed to pick whatever you want.
While you should probably pick something tasteful, there are no rules telling you what you can and can’t use as wedding favours at all. So, most people pick something simple like bubbles, tiny bottles of champagne, chocolates and the like. But just because that’s what people usually do, that doesn’t mean you can’t use something else.
Of course, this might be completely irrelevant to you. Some people ignore all tradition whether or not there is tradition or not!
Why Use Lottery Tickets?
There are lots of reasons why you might consider using lottery tickets as wedding favours. For starters, some people think that wedding favours are a little overrated. For example, lots of couples getting married lately buy tiny succulents and cacti as wedding favours.
But how many of their guests actually enjoy keeping the plant? Whenever the couple next talk to each guest, they’re inevitably told “Oh, yeah, that died,” because either the cat knocked it over, they didn’t water it, or they just didn’t care. A lottery ticket dodges that problem and saves these people time. It’s not supposed to be kept (unless it’s a winner).
Better still, lottery tickets and scratch cards provide a little excitement. Of course, most of them aren’t winners, but it’s still fun to play all the same. That’s why people buy lottery tickets, after all, even if they never win.
Better yet, £1 for each ticket is a small price to pay for that. It’s best if you keep wedding favours cheap, because the cost adds up if you have lots of guests. But at £1 each, that won’t be an issue. If you didn’t know, wedding favours can be cheaper but are often more expensive than that.
And, who knows? Maybe one of the tickets will win big. It’s highly unlikely, but stranger things have happened. And if it does happen, you can count it as a blessing and a good omen for your wedding day!
Why Avoid Lottery Tickets?
Lottery tickets as wedding favours might not be for you, and again, there are a few different reasons why to consider. While lots of guests aren’t bothered about their wedding favours, many are. People like keeping souvenirs from weddings, especially those of close family and friends. And while you can keep a lottery ticket, it’s small and made of paper, so won’t last all that long.
Another issue is that some people at your wedding reception may not enjoy or agree with gambling. While it seems that every spare street surface is plastered with betting adverts, and betting shops are on every corner, there are still people out there who don’t like the idea of it. Their opinion likely won’t be strongly held enough that they’ll be unhappy or offended, but this is something to bear in mind.
Do Lots of People Use Lottery Tickets as Wedding Favours?
The idea of using lottery tickets as a kind of small gift has been around for a long time. People put them in birthday cards, especially for milestone birthdays. Some families all buy each other lottery tickets as Christmas presents.
It’s a small leap from this to giving them as wedding favours. But it has only been in recent years that the idea has truly taken off.
Now that it’s become a lot more common, you might think that it’s overdone. But don’t do something (or avoid doing something) at your wedding just because other people are doing it! Your wedding day is about you, so whatever you say, goes.
How to Use Lottery Tickets as Wedding Favours
This might seem like a question that doesn’t need answering (and in truth, it’s not that complicated to figure out). Head to any newsagent or supermarket and they’ll likely offer both lottery tickets and scratch cards.
But there are a few questions to bear in mind. The first, if you’re buying lottery tickets, is which numbers should you use? You could:
- Give everybody the same numbers. You could use something personal to you, like your birthdays, or the date of your wedding. Remember though, that if you do win, everybody shares the jackpot!
- Give everybody different numbers. It might be difficult to come up with dozens of meaningful numbers, so you could pick them randomly.
- Give each table its own numbers. Doing this would mean that if one person on a table wins, everybody wins. This is a cute idea because it fosters a sense of togetherness in each table.
- Give everybody something that doesn’t need to be filled in, like a scratch card. This saves you some time, and means that you don’t have to share the jackpot if you happen to win.
It doesn’t particularly matter which one of these approaches you take. It’s exceptionally unlikely that anybody will hit the jackpot anyway.
You can buy the tickets or cards all at once to save time. Then, when your big day arrives, you put one in front of each guest’s place at each table. If you buy a lottery ticket holder from a wedding stationery store like Bride & Groom Direct, all you do is pop the ticket into place before placing them down.
Other Interesting Wedding Favours
Whether you think this is an overdone idea, or you’d just like to try something else, there are lots of favours you can give instead.
- DIY wedding soundtracks. Mixtapes make great retro gifts, and you are cheap, too.
- Tea bags. Everyone loves fancy teas. And if some Scrooge at your wedding reception doesn’t, they can give their to somebody who does.
- Bubbles. Ever been to a wedding with tiny champagne bottle bubble blowers? These are a classic.
- Seed packets. These are cute because the guest will watch them grow and remember your wedding day.
- Chocolates. Everybody loves chocolate. You could provide lots of different kinds on each table, so that nobody (e.g. people who don’t like dairy) can have some too.
- Tiny soaps. Tiny soaps are the cutest, they’re useful, and they’re often higher quality than the regular kind that people use.
Or, if you feel like it, you don’t have to give wedding favours at all. Lots of couples don’t. At the end of the day, what people will remember is the wedding: the ceremony, the reception, and all the fun they had. While a favour is a cute memento, it isn’t the be all and end all of your wedding.