"Treat" bags in hotel rooms?

brunchbride14

We are about a month out now and yesterday my mom called me up and asked if I've started putting bags together yet to put in the hotel rooms for OOT guests.  Honestly I hadn't really thought about them until this point! About 85% of our guests are OOT and the past few weddings I've been at have had them at the hotels for when you checked in.  It seems like the cost of these will add up quickly!  My questions are: Are these necessary? What did you put in yours?

WinstonsGirl

We did them instead of favours, but the are not necessary.  We went to Hawaii and put in info cards with times of the wedding and optional activities, a map on Waikiki, small packs of macadamia nuts and a small sample of cookies from the Honolulu Cookie Company.  For the few kids who came out, we added either sand pails/shovels or air mattresses for the teens.  

We tried to make them edible stuff, so people didn't have to lug tuff around and back.  And they are not necessary.  Nice if it's in your budget but not required

lyndausvi

They are not necessary at all. Although I do like and appreciate when I do get one. I do not think badly of the couple if I don't get one.

 Our wedding was in South New Jersey. We put in:

 bottles of water

salt water taffy

Tastykakes

pretzels

Advil

bottle/can koozies (our guests are big koozie people and think you can never had enough)

Advil

welcome letter

timeline (we provided transportation and needed to let the guest know when the trolley was picking up at their hotels).

ETA - yeah for paragraphs

manateehugger

1. Not necessary; if you're stressed and on a tight budget, don't worry about them.

2. Usually brochures, snacks, and water are in them.

climbingsingle

They are not necessary. I'd skip them. 

FutureMrsN3312

We made about 30 bags for under $100 bucks.  We bought everything at Costco.  Chips (doritos, plain chips, and pretzels?) granola bars (chocolate chips, peanut butter, can't remember the 3rd), chocolate bars (peanut butter cups, snickers, etc) Cookies (chocolate chips, nutter butters, nilla wafers, mini oreos) 2 bottles of water and advil.

Being that my DH is not a good sharer we put 2 of each thing in there.  This way there was enough for both people, kids, etc.  Not necessary but it was a nice touch.  Our guests had never gotten a hotel bag before and were thankful and impressed.  We received a lot of compliments on them.

JCbride2015

They aren't necessary. We all stayed in a hotel for FBIL's wedding last month and we didn't get them-- nbd. If you want to do them, it might be nice to put some water, snacks, and local brochures.

sarahufl

I wanted to skip, but MIL wouldn't hear of it. I think they are unnecessary, but nice.

We went to the Chamber of Commerce and got a bunch of free maps and brochures. Our reception was at a museum, so we tossed in one of their brochures as well. Everyone got water, cookies/candy, a handful of mints, and some crackers. I also made a map of weekend activities.

They cost around $150 total and took us a couple hours to assemble and deliver.

If you are under a budget crunch, I say skip them.

manateehugger

Oh, check in with your hotel as well if budget is an issue. A friend of mine got stuck paying the hotel staff to pass them out.

wandajune6

We're on the fence. The only OOT guests are on my side and it's mainly friends of the family (family is staying with local family). So far, only 1 hotel has been booked so it may be a non-issue.

When my sister got married, she decided she needed them at the last minute so my parents and I ran around taking care of it- and ultimately offloading the cost on to my parents. I'm tempted to do them myself so the same thing doesn't happen but don't want to spend the money.

Still undecided.

mysticl

I don't think they are needed. My guests were spread out through at least 7 different hotels around the city.  I did not have the time to run to all those hotels to leave bags for people.  

brunchbride14

Thanks everyone!  The last two weddings I've been at did them so I didn't know if it was expected now.  I've already paid for and put together all of the favors and now I'm kind of wishing I had just thought about it before and put together nicer bags. I think I'm going to price some things out and see what I can come up with, water and snacks are always good options I think!

Peaseblossom55

We did them and people really appreciated it.  We did one person and each had

Water bottle

chips

mini snickers, milky way ect

fruit

crackers

small packet of gum

Individually wrapped items advil, tums and emergen-c

We also included a little note with a thank you, some local restaurant and things to do while in town and all of the details again of the ceremony, reception with shuttle times.

garnetandgold60

They're not necessary, but they're always appreciated if you can swing it. We did about 40-50 of them for pretty cheap (Costco is your friend!) Included were: 1) A free brochure from the Chamber of Commerce 2) Two kiddie sized water bottles 3) Two granola bars 4) A travel pack of Advil 5) A small bag of assorted chocolate (like 4 pieces of Hersheys, just as a sweet snack) ETTTA (Edited To Try To Add) Paragraphs...why TK, why?!

Cookie Pusher

We did them, and they were fairly inexpensive. We got the 50 packs of Advil doses on Amazon for around 10 bucks, a 24 pack of bottled water for $2.50 on sale at the supermarket, some fruit snacks (22 packs for under $5 at Walmart) and some granola bars (24 for under $6). We ended up needing 13 bags, which I got at Michael's using a 40% off coupon. I also made some homemade chocolates (I always have supplies for those handy). We put the extra packs of Advil in the bathroom baskets so there was no waste there, and the leftover water/snacks were used in our lunches for the next week - so again, no waste. The welcome letter we printed on card stock at home, and since most of our guests were checking into the hotel after the wedding, we didn't even have to include brochures or maps. Easy peasy.

lizandmark2014

Your call but not a must have.

StitelME

mysticl said:

I don't think they are needed. My guests were spread out through at least 7 different hotels around the city.  I did not have the time to run to all those hotels to leave bags for people.  

My FI and I made the decision to opt out as well. Every single person at our wedding is OOT and everyone is spread out all over the place (some are in hotels, some are renting houses, etc.) so the cost and logistics ruled it out for us.

cafarrie

My MIL kept bringing this up so we decided to let HER handle it if she thought it was important (we felt like you, OP, they're nice but not necessary).  She put:

bottles of water

trail mix

individual Chicago mix popcorn

tylenol/advil

frosted cookies decorated like our college mascot (we got married in our college town where we met!) 

I typed a quick "thanks for traveling" note and included some restaurants/shops/attractions in the area that my DH and I really enjoy. 

It ended up being really great because our hotels, ceremony, and reception were all within walking distance of each other and the downtown area.  I've gotten lots of feedback from guests that they loved having suggestions of where to eat lunch the next day, or go out after the reception since most had never been to that city before!

cafarrie

I should note, MIL purchased in bulk at Costco and made individual bags of treats - got bags from the dollar store.  So it was not a huge expense - more time consuming than anything!

iloveotters2014

we had a lot of out of state guests so I wanted to do a little something extra for them making the trip.

Our wedding was in Michigan so I did "michigan" things - Faygo, Better Made Chips, and Sanders chocolates. I also made a little welcome insert with things around them to do (nearby malls, restaurants that H and I liked) for in case they got there in time to do some stuff.

Honestly it really wasn't expensive. The stuff we bought were things that came in bulk packs so we were able to keep it in a nice budget.

csuave

iloveotters2014 said:

we had a lot of out of state guests so I wanted to do a little something extra for them making the trip.

Our wedding was in Michigan so I did "michigan" things - Faygo, Better Made Chips, and Sanders chocolates. I also made a little welcome insert with things around them to do (nearby malls, restaurants that H and I liked) for in case they got there in time to do some stuff.

Honestly it really wasn't expensive. The stuff we bought were things that came in bulk packs so we were able to keep it in a nice budget.

Faygo pop, I love it!  Vernors would also be cool.

theartistformerlyknownas

iloveotters2014 said:

we had a lot of out of state guests so I wanted to do a little something extra for them making the trip.

Our wedding was in Michigan so I did "michigan" things - Faygo, Better Made Chips, and Sanders chocolates. I also made a little welcome insert with things around them to do (nearby malls, restaurants that H and I liked) for in case they got there in time to do some stuff.

Honestly it really wasn't expensive. The stuff we bought were things that came in bulk packs so we were able to keep it in a nice budget.

I kind of want to do welcome bags ONLY because I love Faygo and Sanders so much.

csuave

We had a Pittsburgh theme with a lot of OOT guests that were making their first trip to Pittsburgh. 
We used bags that had a local connection and filled them with colorful tissue leaving 1 per room at the front desk.
Contents:
2 small bags of locally made Heinz ketchup flavored chips
2 local mini smiley cookies
2 fun size Clark bars
1 two pack of locally made chocolate covered pretzels
1 two pack of locally made chocolate covered Oreos
1 welcome letter with a guide to speaking Pittsburghese and local fun facts
1 coupon book for the mall down the street

Total cost was about $5.75 per bag and we made 25 bags.  I also used the bags as a thank you to our cookie making volunteers.

People really liked the bags.  My uncle rode up the elevator with a college friend and when they saw that they both were carrying the bag it was a conversation starter for them

iloveotters2014

lolo883 said:

iloveotters2014 said:

we had a lot of out of state guests so I wanted to do a little something extra for them making the trip.

Our wedding was in Michigan so I did "michigan" things - Faygo, Better Made Chips, and Sanders chocolates. I also made a little welcome insert with things around them to do (nearby malls, restaurants that H and I liked) for in case they got there in time to do some stuff.

Honestly it really wasn't expensive. The stuff we bought were things that came in bulk packs so we were able to keep it in a nice budget.

I kind of want to do welcome bags ONLY because I love Faygo and Sanders so much.

you should give your hotel a welcome bag just to give to you and H filled with sanders and faygo haha - Perfect wedding night

mschristie123

I think welcome bags are a great idea, and as a guest I always appreciate them, but as others have said, definitely not required. We had our wedding reception at a hotel with a lot of guests staying in the hotel. We toyed around with the idea of doing welcome bags instead of favors but ultimately we nixed the idea. I was really anxious of the idea of doing a do big project like that a couple days before the wedding and dealing with the logistics of it with the hotel. We skipped it, and I honestly don't feel like it was missed.

SmileDamnit

Ditto PP - definitely not necessary but a nice gesture if it's in the budget and your so inclined. We married in Montana so 90% of guests were OOTers. My Ma loooooove all things crafty so she made welcome bags with all sorts of MT related goodies (all things huckleberry, Flathead cherry and jerky) and then for the MT locals, she gave North Carolina-themed bags (...she's from NC). They were a huge hit, but she totally spear-headed them so I can't take any credit.

brunchbride14

All of those themed ideas sound so cute!

bucksgirl414

@lyndausvi‌ where did you have your reception. .. if you dont mind me asking. I am looking in south Jersey too.

lyndausvi

bucksgirl414 said:

@lyndausvi‌ where did you have your reception. .. if you dont mind me asking. I am looking in south Jersey too.

The Beach Club in Cape May.  (clicky)  It's a private beach club.  Pretty casual.  We wanted a wedding on the beach.   Most places have limited time you can have a ceremony.  That includes setting up and breaking down.   Since it was a private club we didn't have to deal with that stuff.

The caterer (was exclusive to them back when got married) was the Washington Inn also out of Cape May.   Top notch place.

larrygaga

I have been to a few oot weddings that did this! Let me tell you, it's really important to make your guests feel welcome. It does NOT have to be expensive, I am a bridesmaid in a few weddings that all did this/are doing this. Here are some cheap ideas to fill the baskets. You could also just get pretty paper bags and fill them. Goodwill is your friend!

Trader joes has that two buck chuck in big crates

Good will has lots of wine glasses, we put a glass out for every wine drinking adult per room, plus a bottle of cheap wine. Wash the wine glasses!

Print off activity pages for kids/ a little baggie of crayons

Juice boxes

Little candies

Sparkling juice can be pricier, but is another option.

Make up air popped popcorn by the ton and look up easy flavoring recipes, tie it up in a cute little bag and voila.

If the wedding is outside, sample/travel bottles of sunscreen. People always forget this and everyone needs it!

Information about the town/area and things to look at/go to if they plan on sticking around. 

Food and alcohol are always a safe gift.