Wedding favors and gifts everyone can feel good about

(BPT) - You faithfully recycle at home, use a refillable BPA-free water bottle and charge your smartphone with a solar recharger. When it’s time to choose wedding favors for your own nuptials, or a gift for someone else’s wedding, do you find environmental awareness taking a backseat to style? It doesn’t have to.

It’s possible to give wedding favors and gifts that are natural, responsible and useful – items that everyone can feel good about giving and receiving. Kitchen-related products commonly appear on many wedding registry lists, and creative couples often distribute small pieces of kitchen ware as favors to their guests. For gifts that are sustainable, creative and practical, look beyond the pots, pans and dishes to the food itself.

Food-inspired wedding gifts

Many newly married couples will be setting up their homes together for the first time. They may already have the basics, but you can help them round out their kitchen with some useful utensils they may not have realized they need.

For example, every cook can benefit from a well-stocked spice rack. Purchase an attractive spice rack and fill it with sustainably sourced, natural spices like those from Frontier Co-op. Choose basic spices like versatile organic basil, cinnamon and garlic, then add in some exotic options such as garam masala (an all-purpose Indian spice), Himalayan pink salt or black sesame seed.

Making pizza at home can be a fun, easy meal for busy newlyweds. Put together a pizza-making kit, complete with a quality pizza cutter, a pizza stone for baking, a wedge of Parmesan, some baking yeast, and pizza seasonings like oregano, basil and garlic powder. Place everything in a basket and complete the gift with a book of pizza recipes.

Gardening is a popular activity, and if your newlywed friends will be trying their hand at it, they may find themselves with lots of leftover produce. Giving canning supplies as a wedding gift can be a great way to encourage their love of growing their own produce, while helping ensure nothing goes to waste. Fill a canning pot with supplies like canning funnels and jars, and canning and pickling spices like bay leaves, peppercorns, celery seed, cumin, dill, mustard and salt, or even a Pickling Spice Blend.

Wedding favors they’ll savor

If you’re planning your own wedding, food favors can excite guests and fulfill your desire to be eco-friendly and creative.

Tea is a soothing and sophisticated beverage that can make a great wedding favor. Simply purchase heart-shaped tea infusers and fill them with a variety of loose teas, such as chamomile, peppermint, Darjeeling, Earl Grey, or black, green or white teas. Accent the favor with a ribbon in your wedding colors.

Pepper is a ubiquitous seasoning in numerous cuisines from around the world. For a useful, welcome wedding favor that will expand guest’s culinary knowledge, why not give different gourmet peppers of the world? Peppercorns come in a variety of shades and heat levels – and even shapes! Present guests with a small peppermill and a selection of gourmet peppercorns.

Grilling is a great American past-time. If your wedding will take place in spring or summer, grilling spices and seasoning blends can be a fun wedding favor that will turn into your guest’s go-to item when they grill. Look for a variety of seasonings that work with steaks, fish, fowl and even vegetables. Choose organic seasonings from purveyors like Frontier Co-Op, which practices sustainable sourcing, so that you know you’re giving guests quality, organic seasonings.

Organic, sustainably sourced food gifts can be creative, fun and useful wedding favors and gifts – and a great way to show Mother Nature some love while you’re celebrating your own love story. To learn more about sustainably sourced spices and seasonings, visit www.frontiercoop.com.