The couple did not do a livestream option for original small wedding and it wasn’t a large wedding that was canceled at last minute, so only the 30 of us attending received invites. Most of the attendees to upcoming celebration will not have given a gift last year, unless they sent one knowing the wedding was happening (under unfortunate circumstances) and wanting to gift the newlyweds.
No travel expenses for us for either event - they are both local.
I think if you already gave a wedding gift you don’t need to give one again. The gift is supposed to be for the wedding not the celebration.
I actually would definitely give another gift. This is your niece. If you gave a substantial cash gift before, you can perhaps get something off their registry this time . I’m sure your niece will remember that you gave her a previous gift so this new one doesn’t necessarily have to match or come close to the cost of the first one. But, your niece will probably appreciate you remembering the couple on their special day. Have fun!
I would get a “smaller” gift for the second event. Maybe a nice bottle of wine, a local restaurant GC, or something from their registry.
It depends on your finance but I too would give another gift for the second party.
My D had a small wedding during the height of covid and a larger celebration the following year. They did not expect two gifts.
We did that 30 years ago for out of town guests (all family). I think it was more of a cultural expectation than anything though.
Thinking back it was very expensive going to weddings in our 20s, even back then. We were invited to so many fraternity brother weddings and DH’s cousin weddings; we had to travel for most of them. DH has over 20 first cousins!!! It got very expensive.
For 20 somethings now, if I had any advice I’d say skip the fraternity/sorority ones, unless they’re in your close inner circle. After everyone got married no one stayed in touch 
it sounds cold, but there were so many better ways we could’ve spent that money.
Have to disagree. Many of my sorority sisters have been married for 40+ years (to the same guys!) and we still get together all the time. I’m going to spend a week with one next week.
My father was friends with his fraternity brothers for 60+ years, and several came to his funeral.
Got to the weddings you can if you can afford them. You never know how friendships will turn out. I see my sorority sisters a lot more often than I see my first cousin or one of my brothers.
I’ve never been to a wedding with favors. Didn’t even know it was a thing!
I have attended most of the weddings I’ve been invited to with no regrets. I didn’t attend an ex-boyfriend’s wedding because it involved travel and the ceremony and reception were in different places. I thought hard about it but had one or two young kids. As it turned out, if I went, I was going to catch a ride with some friends from law school. They couldn’t find the ceremony and/or wedding reception and they lived in the state. I am direction challenged and have a hard time navigating new areas so undoubtedly wouldn’t have been able to get there (this was pre-gps and pre-cell phone).
We’re still friends with a lot of them too, but in our early 20s we were invited to so many weddings for ones who were outside of our friendship circle, but were in our fraternity/sorority, especially DH who was a founding father of a large southern fraternity. We were invited to a lot of weddings for brothers I would call more acquaintances than friends. We went more so out of social obligation. I meant if we had to do it over again, we’d skip the social obligation events and focus on the friend circle.
Really?! Not even the Jordan almonds in a mesh bag and personalized matchbooks? I wasn’t fond of a framed photo of the couple if we weren’t that close, I think my favorite was a late night wedding where the favors were bagels and a newspaper. Wine is an easy consumable. For a while candy bars were popular and the candy was the favor.
Nope, nothing.
We always got favors back in the 70s-80s. Usually a small item and the Jordan almonds in the mesh bag also (called confetti). I had a collection of these useless things for quite a while - small ceramic pieces, etc.
For my own wedding we had a small budvase with one rose in it that doubled as both a favor and our table centerpieces. I remember a big fight with my mother because she felt that anybody who was not invited to the wedding, but gave a gift, was entitled to a favor. I hadn’t bought extra and I thought it was stupid to give the bud vase after without the rose. I still have one of these bud vases in my house (with an paper rose in it).
I think something edible is nice. A piece of chocolate is perfect - not those almonds that I thought were horrible and never ate. Sort of like the chocolates you get with a restaurant bill or on your pillow in a hotel.
Reverse for us, have never been to a wedding that didn’t have favors ; ). Everything from the almonds to small picture frames to alcohol. I agree that consumables make the best favors.
Never noticed them if there were any.
Before cameras on cell phones, one of my roommates had a disposable camera on each table. We were meant to take candids and then throw them in a bag after the reception.
Best groomsmen gift was a monogrammed basic Swiss Army knife.
I guess it really varies. My SIL was in a sorority and she’s kept in touch with a few of her sisters, but the other one’s she has lost touch with. Guess it really depends on the people and friendship group…
That’s a good idea. Something smaller or something else fun.
In terms of party favors…I’ve never been a fan of them in general…but for D’s wedding we did put a small (pen sized) spray hand sanitizer with the kid’s initial logo from the wedding invitation at each place setting. I noticed some people using them when they sat for the reception and I didn’t see any left at the tables after the wedding. They were inexpensive to order in bulk even with the logo and I guess they were a sign of the strange times we live in.
Most weddings and other events I’ve attended have given favors—mostly edibles. We gave 2 candies wrapped in netting with a bit of ribbon. To me it’s fine to have or omit.
We are parents of the bride for a wedding soon. I still don’t even know what the “plate” is coming to. We have NO expectations of how much people spend as a gift! If you are on the guest list, it’s because we value you for the love you feel for our D or her fiance. I couldn’t care less what you spend on the gift, if any. We are just happy to share your company for the evening.
Surely this is the prevailing sentiment for a wedding these days???