THE CENTERPIECE GIVEAWAY

Some Questions To Consider:
1. Do you want to give away your centerpieces?
2. When do you want to give away your centerpieces?
3. How do you want to give away your centerpieces?


1. Do you want to give away your centerpieces?
Why you might want to do this:
It is a nice gesture and a small thank you for your guests, some of whom have traveled a long way at some expense to be at your wedding, and given some generous gifts to you.

Why you might not want to do this:
A. You may choose to donate your centerpieces to a local hospital or nursing home, especially if they are floral centerpieces. If this is the case, an announcement can be made at the reception letting your guests know that that is what you are doing. Also, don’t forget to arrange for the delivery of the centerpieces after the reception.
B. You may choose to have centerpieces that can not be given away. (e.g. sometimes they are the venue’s)

What most couples do:
Most couples choose to give away their centerpieces.


2. When do you want to give away your centerpieces?
This will sometime depend on the way you want to give them away (see question 3 below). Regardless, if you choose to give your centerpieces away, it is best that you do it early in the reception, before your guests start to get up and leave their tables. Usually, it is done sometime after the meal, and sometime before the dance floor opens for general dancing.

What most couples do:
Most couples give their centerpieces away after the meal and the ceremonial dances, and as one of the last events before opening the dance floor for dancing.


3. How do you want to give away your centerpieces?
Some choices:
a. Stickers on chairs, place cards, etc.
b. Birthday or anniversary closest to the wedding day, or another date of importance. 
c. Appointing a “Party Person.”
d. Some variation of the Dollar Pass Around Game.

a. Stickers on chairs, place cards, etc.
You can place a sticker on the back of a place card, underneath a chair, or in some other inconspicuous place and at the appropriate time have your MC announce that whoever has a heart, butterfly, smiley face, etc. sticker in that place at each table has won the centerpieces. This can get a little out of hand and confusing, especially when you place the sticker on the underside of a chair. Guests end up turning chairs over, (which, by the way, the function halls usually aren’t too happy about) and sometimes finding stickers that haven’t been removed from other weddings. So, if you are going to choose this method remember to pick a unique sticker, and also remember that there will be a little extra work involved to place the stickers in your appropriated spot.

b. Birthday or anniversary closest to the wedding day, or another date of importance
This is probably the simplest of all the methods of giving away the centerpieces. You just pick some criteria that the guests have to match, and whoever fits that criteria at each table is the centerpiece winner. For instance: whoever has a birthday closest to the wedding day wins the centerpiece. Besides birthdays, you can use anniversary dates (use this only if you know that there will be a married couple at each table), and longest married couple or couple that has been together longest at each table (again, you would probably use this only if you know you will have at least one couple at each table). Besides using your wedding date as the day they must match, you could use another date of importance. For instance, you can use the date you got engaged, or the day you first met, or the date of your first date. Using something other than your wedding date gives you a chance to let your guests know a little more about you. You can also use a holiday. For instance, if your wedding is close to Christmas, you can give the centerpiece to the person whose birthday is closest to Christmas Day. This way of giving away the centerpieces gives people at each table a chance to talk with each other, and is a good ice breaker.

c. Appointing a “Party Person.”
This gets the crowd involved a bit more. The DJ asks all of the guests to “think of someone at your table.” After a few seconds, the DJ asks everyone to “point at the person you are thinking of.” The DJ then asks the person with the most people pointing at them to stand up. The DJ then proceeds to tell the person that “we have good news for you! You have won the centerpiece! However, you have to earn it. And the way you earn it is by being the party person at your table for the rest of the reception. It’s your job to get people up and dancing, and having a good time. And, your job starts right now…” At that point the DJ plays a popular fast dance song, and if the party people are doing their job, the dance floor will usually fill up. This is a very effective way of opening the dance floor and kicking off the party.

d. Some variation of the Dollar Pass Around Game.
There are several possibilities here. Let’s start with the simplest, and move to the more complex.

Variation 1: Simple Dollar Pass Around.
This variation features the DJ asking someone at each table to take out a dollar bill. When the DJ starts playing some music, the guests pass the dollar bill around the table. When the music stops. The DJ says that the person who has the dollar bill has won the centerpiece.

Variation 2: Simple Dollar Pass Around With Generosity Winner.
This is the same as Variation 1, except that the person with the dollar bill gets to keep the dollar bill, while the person who took out the dollar bill originally, gets the centerpiece because they are “such a generous soul.”

Variation 3: Dollar Pass With Bride & Groom Help.
This is the same as Variation 1, but when the music stops, the DJ asks the Bride & Groom for some additional help in giving away the centerpiece. The DJ asks the Bride if she is left or right handed, and then asks the Groom for a “magic number” between 1 and 5. If the Bride is right handed, and the Groom chooses “3”, the DJ says “OK, the person three people to the right of the person holding the dollar bill, you have won the centerpiece!”

Variation 4: Double Dollar Pass With Bride & Groom Help.
This is the same as Variation 3, except the DJ asks the Groom for a magic number between 15 and 30. If the Groom picks “23”, the DJ will then have the crowd pass the dollar bill around to the right 23 times. After the passing is done, you'll see who has the dollar bill and determine the winner from there.

Variation 5: Dollar Pass With Changing Directions.
Variation 5 is more like an addition to the other four variations. With variations 1- 4, the first dollar pass usually goes around just one way. With variation 5, the DJ starts and stops the music several times, and after each time tells the crowd to change the direction of the passing. (e.g. if it was going around to the right,
switch directions, and have it go around to the left.) Also, once all of the passing stops, the DJ may ask the person holding the dollar bill to turn to the person to their right and “shake their hand, because they have won the centerpiece!”

Variation 6: Dollar Pass With Dancing
This can be done with any of the previous variations. With this variation, after passing the dollar bill around, the DJ asks the person holding the dollar bill to stand up. The DJ then starts a new song, and proceeds to have the person dance around the table. When the music stops, s/he will have the person stop dancing and hand the dollar bill to the person closest to them. S/he then has that person sit down. The person who then has the dollar bill is asked to stand, and with the start of a new song will proceed to dance around the table. To conclude this variation, we may get the Bride and Groom’s help as in Variations 3 & 4 above.

Variation 7: Dollar Pass With Conga Line
This can also be done with any of the first five variations. With this variation, after having the guests pass the dollar bill around, the DJ asks the bride and groom to come out to the dance floor. The DJ then asks the person holding the dollar bill to join the bride and groom out on the dance floor. When all are assembled on the dance floor the DJ announces that we are now going to have a conga line, led by the bride and groom, and that it is the job of whoever is the last person in line to get a seated person to join the conga line as they pass by. This continues until all the guests are in the line, and essentially opens up the dance floor.

What most couples do:
All of the aforementioned methods are used frequently by couples with these being the most popular: 
1. Some variation of the Dollar Pass
2. Birthday, etc. closest
3. Appointing A Party Person
4. Sticker


Whichever method you choose, make sure it fits with your crowd. For example, if they are a partying/dancing group, you might want to pick something like the Dollar Pass with Dancing. If they are a rather quiet/subdued group, think about choosing the Birthday Closest.