Homes are being built closer together now more than ever. Sights once deemed personal and private often find their way into our homes and our senses, even when we wish they wouldn't. You can use window treatments to block unwanted sights from entering your home and, in the same way, you can protect your own privacy with window treatments geared towards creating a more effective sanctuary within your home.

Window treatments consist of far more than just curtains or drapes. While drapes can block some sunlight damage to your furniture and the prying eyes of the casual observer, they cannot provide you or your family with the privacy you want and deserve. There are many attractive options available in the world of window treatments that can convert your public residence into a private retreat with the simple pull of a cord or the turn of a rod.

Window Shades For Day And Night

Window shades are made in a variety of materials, offering a range of blocking abilities. Window shades can be made from smooth or textured fabric, which can be looped, cellular, pleated, vertical or horizontal, or tinted. They can even darken a room to the extent that it appears to be nighttime in the middle of the day.

Window shades can be made from woven wood for high levels of privacy protection and room darkening ability. Pull-down style shades are now made from a variety of materials including woven and faux wood, thatch and many other naturals fibers to allow for unique interior decorating options as you protect the privacy within your home. There are solar shades that will block 90% of the UV rays that would otherwise damage your books, furniture and media materials.

Window Blinds Provide The Ultimate In Privacy

Everyone is familiar with vertical mini blinds. Inexpensive and highly useful, mini blinds can be adjusted to allow air flow throughout a room while still blocking visibility of the home from outside. Aluminum blinds provide more light and vision blocking ability, while still allowing you to create a cozy atmosphere within your home. Verticell blinds block all visual contact while still allowing adequate sunlight into the room. Window blinds can also be made from woven woods and other natural materials to match your home's décor and to create a sanctuary that you will enjoy for years to come.

In olden days, the only way to protect your privacy was to latch shutters closed over your windows and block out everything. Luckily, those days are over. Now, you are able to select from a phenomenal range of materials, colors and styles to find the window treatments best suited to you, your home furnishings and your privacy needs.

Selecting the right window treatments for your home means deciding how you want your home to look, the type of materials you want to use, the extent of room darkening ability and privacy protection you want as well as which supplier to use. There are many online suppliers that provide you with simple measurement and installation instructions, a wide range of styles and materials and even window treatments for arched, oval skylight windows. Your home can look better than ever as it protects your privacy and your property.

The Indian culture has a sophisticated elegance mixed with stunning arts -- and the weddings of this rich culture are just as lavish. A mix of more serious ancient tradition and fun filled rituals, an Indian wedding is always an event to remember. Like all weddings throughout world culture, personalized wedding favors are a way to thank guests for sharing in your celebration and serve as a memento for your guests to cherish. Here are some creative Indian theme wedding favor ideas that can be customized to any style and budget.

Indian Theme Wedding Favors Ideas

One of the most important symbols in Indian culture -- particularly for a wedding, is the elephant. The elephant Ganesh is said to bring happiness and joy to the new family and remove obstacles now and in the future. Elephant tea light holders make a beautiful addition to the tables, bringing light and life to this important ceremony while providing guests a keepsake to cherish.

Fill jewel-embellished containers with your favorite treats for a stunning and colorful accessory to the place setting. For a theme wedding favor that accomplishes two tasks in one, look for decorative boxes or mementos that also serve as place card holders on the table, but are that are beautiful enough to display once at home.

Thank guests with a tasty, customized memento by incorporating personalized wedding favors such as elegantly packaged packets of coffee custom printed with your wedding date or an artistically wrapped chocolate bar at each place setting.

Add color to tables and accomplish two tasks at once by thinking beyond the traditional centerpiece. Instead of one large centerpiece, consider a menagerie of intricately stacked small theme wedding favor items. A collection of soaps in the center of the table sprinkled with silver and gold charms makes a stunning centerpiece. At the end of the night, your guests can create their own personalized wedding favors by packing mini bags or personalized tins with the individual items that make up the centerpiece.

Making Your Own Theme Wedding Favors

For something truly original, try creating your own theme wedding favors. Using small favor boxes, stamp them with Mehandi patterns or an elephant on the lids. Embellish the tin with a braided gold ribbon and adorn with colorful beads and gems.

Another idea is to decorate a small bag with fine tip markers and theme stamps. Add favor embellishments such as a richly colored ornate nametag. Thread the tag through a ribbon and embellish by threading in beads and jewels. Once your keepsakes are complete, fill them with seed packets, candles, or sweets for a beautiful and thoughtful memento.

With an Indian theme, wedding favors can match the decor and show the artistic side of this beautiful culture at the same time. You can provide guests with your favorite edible treats or something beautiful that they can proudly display in their home. Best of all, you can highlight the best parts of the style and offer something unique without breaking the bank.

If you're creative about choosing wedding favors, these fun gifts can serve double duty at your reception as décor and as a memento for guests. With so many options, picking out wedding favors is great fun, but depending on how many guests you've invited, buying wedding favors can get pricey! If you're looking to save costs but still offer your guests unique wedding favors, consider some of these do-it-yourself favors for wedding guests depending on your theme:

Celebratory Toast Themed Wedding Favors

If you're planning a bit more of a formal wedding, consider using martini glasses to create unique wedding favors. The martini glass makes a wonderful keepsake -- but it's what you put inside them that make them 'pop' on the table. To add color to your table, fill them with jellybeans, chocolate pieces, or mints in your wedding colors, then use a hot glue gun to attach a beautiful silver or gold charm and a colored ribbon to the glass.

Tie beautiful ribbon around the top of the neck with a personalized tag. As a finishing touch, place a chocolate pretzel in the glass to look like a stir stick. When you're done, you'll have a treat that all your guests will love regardless of their age.

Nautical Themed Unique Favors for Wedding Guests

For a nautical themed wedding, offer favors for wedding guests that are spilling from a miniature treasure chests. To add a personal flair, add a personalized monogram with craft paint on the lid of this nautical chest. Fill the treasure chests with a variety of treats such as chocolates, mints, and candies to mimic real treasure.

Cowboy Themed Wedding Favors

Cowboy themed weddings offer a wealth of fun and creative decorating options! Try lining the tables with a handkerchief patterned tablecloth and using overturned cowboy hats as centerpieces. Fill each hat with chocolate bars in personalized wrappers that your guests can take home with them at the end of the night. To take the theme further, place mini felt cowboy hats next to each place setting and fill with mints or chocolates. For a personalized touch, use a fine-tipped metallic marker to write the bride and groom's name on each mini hat.

Unique Wedding Favors for Beach Themed Weddings

Many beach themed weddings are destination weddings. In this case, a personalized mini suitcase-shaped tin filled with mints or chocolates makes a fun favor. To add even more value to these gifts, attach a magnet to the back of the tin so that your guests can display it for years to come. Another idea is to fill a champagne glass with sand and shells or with candies and chocolate. To customize the favor, tie a bow with a personalized favor ribbon imprinted with your names and the wedding date.

When it comes to creating unique wedding favors, the possibilities are endless. To save money, start with some unique wedding favor inspiration pieces and then complete the personalization and assembly yourself. Not only will they have a personal flair that ideally suits your wedding theme, these are truly unique gifts that you and your guests will treasure for years to come.