As you probably already know, tradition says you should thank each member of your wedding party with an appropriate gift. Many couples choose to make things easy for themselves by buying the same gift for everyone, such as a monogrammed wine glass (the couple's monogram not each wedding party member's). While it's never really advisable to try the one-gift-for-everyone approach, it's even worse when that idea carries over into the wedding party gifts you give the younger participants of your wedding.

Whether your wedding party includes flower girls, ring bearers, junior bridesmaids, train bearers, or other youngsters, you should choose their wedding party gifts carefully. After all, what would be an appropriate gift for an adult probably wouldn't be a good choice for a child. So let's look at some unique ideas for children's gifts.

You might want to choose a gift that young children can treasure for a long time instead of just some toy they'll play with for a month and forget. One nice idea is a piggy bank that you can have engraved with the child's name and the date of the wedding. You could even add a little money to the bank to get them started. Of course, you don't have to pick a bank shaped like a pig, you can find banks shaped like trains, tractors, castles, and any number of things that will appeal to the interests of little ones.

If you have flower girls or junior bridesmaids in your wedding, you might want to purchase them jewelry. You can buy a nice bracelet that can be engraved with their names or perhaps a pair of earrings or a locket. Little ring bearers or junior groomsmen, on the other hand, might enjoy personalized baseball bats, caps, or footballs.

Another idea is to buy your smallest wedding party members create-your-own dolls or teddy bears. A number of stores across the country and on the Internet have these available and you can customize them in nearly anyway you want. They make a great gift that children love for a long time and can even pass onto their children.

You might also choose a more practical gift. Purchasing a savings bond, for example, might be a nice way of giving a gift that will be more useful later. After the bond matures, he or she will have money they can use to pay for college, buy a car, etc. Another practical gift might be a donation to a charity in the child's name. For example, one humane society sold bricks that could be engraved with a person's name. The couple could buy a brick and have the child's name engraved in it as a permanent reminder of their participation in your wedding. Plus, donations to worthwhile organizations might also inspire the child to give back to the community when they become older.

Of course, some couples would prefer to purchase gifts that the children are going to love and appreciate now. Games, gift certificates to their favorite stores, or other types of toys all make great gifts. In fact, you could take the young wedding party members out for a special day where they pick their own gift, you treat them to lunch at a fun restaurant, and maybe top it all off with an ice cream at the park. That's definitely something your flower girl or ring bearer will remember.