Second Weddings

Out of Town Bags

Ok, so the first time I got married was in 2004 - I didn't hear of giving out of town guests a "goodie bag".  Now that it's 2012 and I'm getting married for a 2nd time, a lot of the younger brides to be on other boards are talking about out of town bags for out of town guests.  I am not going to provide these.  Am I being rude or breaking some kind of new etiquette code?
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Re: Out of Town Bags

  • Avion22Avion22 member
    5 Love Its First Comment
    edited August 2012
    We did that.  Pretty  much ALL of our guests were fromt out-of town, and most were staying at the hotel where we blocked rooms.    

    We did paper gift bags with a few bottles of water, granola bars, individual chocolates (hershey kisses, etc), a pack of gum, stuff like that.  It's nice when you check into a hotel room after traveling to have a bottle of water and some little snacks.We also included a packet of information about the wedding weekend, like times and directions to everything, recommended things to do in town, lists of churches and service times for Sunday morning.  Since everyone had to travel BACK, we were sture not to include anything that they couldn't use that weekend.  
    It really wasn't expensive.  I think for 80 guests (maybe 30 bags?) we spend about $20, and it took my mom and I about 5 minutes to assemble them.

    This is TOTALLY optional, and it was way at the bottom of our priority list.   If you don't want to do it, then nobody will miss it.
    DSC_9275
  • I've heard of putting together information packets for out-of-town guests with maps, suggestions for unique/good local restaurants, local places of interest, etc.  Just a few pages stapled together booklet-style.  An alternative (or addition)  to goody bags, but likewise completely optional.  Just a thought ...
  • So funny and true - things like this have changed since my first time in 1997!!! Back then I made simple brochure packets because most of our guests were first-time visitors to the area. And everyone loved it. Now I see that brides are responsible for a welcome extravaganza! LOL.

    I agree with everything being said here against welcome bags, and I wasn't going to do them either, until I got really freaked out by blogs and "real wedding" writers saying how much they love them, how much they appreciated having water and an extra copy of the Directions packet from the invitation, etc. So I decided to do them only if it fit the budget, and it will.

    I have to do about 20. I'm buying plain color craft bags supercheap from Michael's (with a coupon even!), some matching tissue also from Michael's, and using leftover personal favor stickers to decorate the front of the bag. Inside will go two small bottles of water, M&Ms, chips from a local company, pretzels, a couple nutrigrain bars, apple chips for autumn, small napkins with the local university logo that I ordered wholesale online, a personal welcome note and Directions copy. And that's it, done.

    I draw the line at toiletries and medicine - people should know how to pack what they need or can get it from the hotel, and I read a scary post somewhere about the liability dangers of providing medicine. And of course my next project is bathroom baskets and how much of the same kind of stuff do I need to provide! Anyway good luck! Jennifer

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