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A party favor or party favour is:

A small gift given to the guests at a party as a gesture of thanks for their attendance, a memento of the occasion, or simply as an aid to frivolity.

Party favors are traditional in weddings or even birthdays. Sometimes they might be personalized for the guests.

For example, my kid went to a birthday party the other day and he was given a small box with some play dough, candy, crayons and an inexpensive toys. For his birthday, coming up soon, we have something similar with a bag with candy, a small toy and other stuff. You could think of it like a small bag that would come out from a piñata, with a different array of stuff (treats, toys, etc.).

For a wedding or other ceremonies (baptism, first communion) you may get something more personalized about the occasion. A picture of the celebrant(s) or other merchandise including the date, a small ornament or some inexpensive gift, for example.

I wonder if in Spanish party favors have another name beyond "regalos". To my recollection, at least in Spain they were not that common in birthday parties (there were already a lot of treats) but of course these are given in weddings, first communion, etc. There must be a way to refer to all these small gifts that you give to the attendants of your party or celebration.

To clarify, in English, when you say "party favor" everyone know that is the small gift from the organizer to the guests. The gift, is what the guests give to the celebrant(s). Translating "party favor" as "regalo" (regalo de boda, regalo de cumpleaños) in Spanish leaves some ambiguity about if it's the one made to the guest or to the celebrant(s). Or maybe people just use "regalo para los asistentes/invitados" for a lack of a better term?

The word I'm looking for must be valid for both birthday-party favors as well as wedding- or baptism-party favors.

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  • Lo llamamos "recuerdos", no "regalos": recuerdo del bautizo, de la primera comunión... Es la tercera acepción de recuerdo según la RAE (dle.rae.es/?id=VX0u9vz)
    – Jdamian
    May 20, 2019 at 17:19
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    @Jdamian Please realize that that is the case of a wedding, first communion, baptism and the like, but not for a birthday party. There is no "recuerdo" of a 5-years-old kid's birthday party. You just give some treats and cheap toys to the kids. It would be like calling "recuerdo" to those party bags that they give you in a New Year's Eve party with the "cotillón".
    – Diego
    May 20, 2019 at 18:50
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    Yo decía bolsitas: ¿Vamos a repartimos las bolsitas ahora? May 21, 2019 at 3:15
  • "Must"?! It's not always possible to map all meanings of a word to just one word, in one fell swoop. Also, I've never heard of party favors at a wedding. Maybe that's a thing, but I don't think it's a universal thing. Anyway, how about you change it to: I am hoping to find one word that will work for all occasions -- birthdays, weddings, and baptisms. May 24, 2019 at 3:39

4 Answers 4

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in Spain they were not that common in birthday parties

Trust me, they are now.

There are several options, though none of them are as specific as "party favor":

  • Regalo para invitados: the most obvious one.
  • Detalle: probably the most used.
  • Recuerdo: not as common, but also valid.
  • Recordatorio: used almost exclusively for commemorative cards.

The most used is probably detalle, because it conveys both the meaning of "something showing affection, courtesy" and that of "something small", making it distinct enough from the actual presents the celebrants are receiving.

If you make an online search for any of regalo de invitados para comunión, recuerdo de cumpleaños, detalle de comunión etc. you'll see that detalle is usually included in the results, even if you didn't search for it.

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En Colombia hay 2 denominaciones para referirse a aquello que se le entrega a los invitados.

1-recordatorio, si es uno de los siguientes eventos:

  • a las familias invitadas a un bautizo.
  • a los niños que asisten como invitados a un primera comunión.
  • a las parejas o invitados a una boda.

2-sorpresas, lo que se le entrega a cada niño/a invitados a una fiesta de cumpleaños infantil. Generalmente son dulces acompañado de un pequeño juguete que se empacan en una bolsa que tenga algún diseño infantil.

ejemplo de recordario por una primera comunión:

enter image description here

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In Mexico, it is common to give candies and small stuff to children at birthday parties and baptisms. Here, this little bag is called "aguinaldo", and the second meaning in DRAE's definition fits.

aguinaldo

De aguilando.

  1. m. Regalo que se da en Navidad o en la fiesta de la Epifanía.
  2. m. Regalo que se da en cualquier ocasión.
  3. m. Villancico de Navidad.
  4. m. Planta tropical silvestre de la familia de las convolvuláceas, muy común en Cuba y que florece por Pascua de Navidad.

Real Academia Española © Todos los derechos reservados

Best regards.

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  • Yes, this is great. I hope you'll add a link to the DRAE definition to strengthen your answer. (Just click where it says "edit" under your answer.) May 23, 2019 at 21:15
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    Done. Link added to "DRAE's".
    – R Parada
    May 24, 2019 at 1:51
  • I had this word as an option, but I didn't include it in my answer as in Spain the meaning as "present given in Christmas" is the main one. Nice to hear that the word is used in Mexico with the meaning proposed by the OP.
    – Charlie
    May 24, 2019 at 8:23
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No pienso discutir la respuesta de walen, que me parece muy acertada, y confirmo además que dar un detalle a los invitados en un cumpleaños se está poniendo muy de moda aquí en España, sobre todo entre los cumpleaños de los niños pequeños.

En todo caso, estuve curioseando en el DIRAE a ver si había alguna palabra que implicara algún tipo particular de regalo, aunque no encontré nada parecido a los party favours. Lo más parecido fue esto:

  • dona: Regalos de boda que el novio hace a la novia.
  • agasajo: Regalo o muestra de afecto o consideración con que se agasaja (halagar o favorecer a alguien con regalos o con otras muestras de afecto o consideración).
  • albricias: Regalo que se da o se pide con motivo de un fausto suceso.
  • espiga: Regalo que dan los convidados a la novia el día de la boda durante el baile o después de la comida. Usada solo en Salamanca.
  • vistas: Regalos que recíprocamente se hacen los novios.

De todas estas, entiendo que agasajo podría cuadrar dado que estamos hablando de regalos que se hacen como muestra de consideración hacia los asistentes a un evento. Pero vamos, de ahí a que se use cotidianamente hay bastante. En todos los sitios donde he mirado se habla de "regalo/detalle para los invitados".

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  • A cuál país se refiere?, porque en el caso de Colombia dar un "detalle" (el cual se le denomina sorpresa) a los niños en los cumpleaños infantiles existe desde hace más de 60 años.
    – alvalongo
    May 22, 2019 at 14:03
  • @alvalongo perdón, normalmente añado esa información a mis respuestas pero esta vez se me ha pasado. Mis disculpas. Respuesta editada.
    – Charlie
    May 22, 2019 at 14:05

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