For a unique fall favor, wrap tapers in vellum; dress up with blossoms or a matchbox covered with paper, florets, and real leaves. Tie box to candles with a cord threaded through the box's underside.

Undamaged leaves, when covered with a coat of fabric paint in a favorite color, will make unusual and varied imprints on absorbent textiles, such as canvas, cotton, or linen. Give your guests a bag that they will use again and again as a favor or as a welcome gift in their hotel room.

Lemon, mountain laurel, and rhododendron leave delightful impressions on homemade wax candles.

Give guests a useful gift that also helps them to stay in touch with you in your new household. Choose inexpensive address books and order a custom stamp with your name and address. Make sure the stamps will fit in the space for a single entry. Stamp each book on the proper page. Cut a thin strip of decorative paper to an inch longer than twice the height of a book. Fold it over the cover and around the pages preceding your address. Glue ends of the strip together to form a loop. Use only a drop of glue so that none leaks out and sticks to the book's pages.

Buy your favorite teas in bulk, or devise a blend to your liking, then decant it into packets large enough to brew an entire pot. Attach a homemade tag inscribed with a fitting message to a length of embroidery thread, which can be sealed into the seam of the tea bag.

Wrapped in dried cornhusks, glass votives cast a soft glow and make beautiful fall favors.

It's only fitting to give cookies in a jar -- this one is tiny in size but big in old-fashioned charm. The mini store-bought cookies inside include chocolate chip, oatmeal cranberry, and shortbread currant. Embellish the jar with a ribbon-tied tag and a homemade label (affix with double-sided tape).

Purchase or make candles in the shape of pumpkins. Your favor table will become your very own pumpkin patch!

Tea is twice as nice coupled with cookies flavored the same way. These Earl Grey tea cookies were made by mixing tea leaves into the shortbread batter. Customize a box with corrugated paper to form sections for cookies and tea bags. Ours is wrapped with damask paper and ribbon. Monogrammed tags, shaped like ones for tea bags, reveal the gift inside.

Chocolates made into the shape of olives are bundled as favors for guests to take home. They are both unexpected and delicious.

Take a cue from the Milanese, who serve panetonne, a sweet bread made with dried fruit and citrus zest, on special occasions. The loaf is traditionally made in a large panetonne mold, but we baked ours in attractive mini paper ones. Each treat is then wrapped in a cellophane bag tied with a letterpress tag by Austin Press. Bellissimo!

Scrumptious miniature pecan pies from a bakery in custom-stamped bags make for tasty treats that are easy as pie to assemble in advance. When you receive the pies, add extra pecans, tuck them into wax-lined bags (ours are decorated with a custom-made rubber stamp), and seal them with double-sided tape.

Candles in three shades of white are wrapped in corrugated paper and tied with waxed twine; written inside are messages from the bride and groom.

Chocolate hearts nestle inside a small pink box wrapped with polka-dotted cellophane and a thin satin ribbon. Set each heart in a candy cup and arrange on shredded tissue.

Extend your palette with pretty favors in green and brown that are a delight to behold. Familiar materials -- paper bags, cardboard boxes, crepe paper, twine -- are easily made into sophisticated packaging with ribbon or decorative paper.