Welcome Bags and Booze Problems

jenijoyk

I'm wondering if anyone else who has put together welcome bags has run into issues with their hotel not letting them put booze in them. My hotel hasn't said this, and I'm definitely a proponent of "Don't ask permission, ask for forgiveness" so I'm not planning on bringing it up to them. But I got a little carried away this weekend putting our welcome bags together (for whatever reason, this has been THE MOST enjoyable wedding task for me, of all wedding tasks) and I included a bottle of champagne and some local beer. Now I'm freaking out (of course, after I spent a fortune on booze) that when I drop them off at the hotel they are going to refuse to hand out alcohol to my wedding guests. Even though I went through the list of people with reservations and everyone is well, well over 21. Like the youngest person with a room reservation is 30. Anyone else done this?

I guess the worst that can happen is they refuse, and I just ask for a list of room numbers and visit all the rooms myself. "Surprise! The bride's here! And I have champs!" Because I'm sure I'll have an extra hour to kill the day before my wedding to do that.

jenna8984

I probably would have asked first to void that. But can you put them in large bags so the hotel doesn't open it or know what's in it? Like a large gift bag from the dollar store?

theartistformerlyknownas

Can you just staple the bags shut?

jenijoyk

Yeah. They are in large bags, and I wrapped the glass bottles with tissue paper to reduce clinking noise. We did ask the hotel about welcome bags and they said they'd happily hand them out. They just didn't elaborate on what we could and could not put in them and I didn't think to ask.

I'll just waltz in with my box of welcome bags, a huge smile, and my friendlist charming demeanor and hope for the best I suppose.

ashley8918

lolo883 said:

Can you just staple the bags shut?

Yeah, this is what I would do.

ashley8918

scribe95 said:

I never thought to put alcohol in the bags but I understand how that would put the hotel in a bad position. I personally wouldn't try to sneak it past them. 

How so? I mean, how is this any different from guests bringing in their own booze (which is totally allowed).

jenijoyk

ashley8918 said:

scribe95 said:

I never thought to put alcohol in the bags but I understand how that would put the hotel in a bad position. I personally wouldn't try to sneak it past them. 

How so? I mean, how is this any different from guests bringing in their own booze (which is totally allowed).

I was thinking it puts them in a position where they might feel like they need to check people's age, before handing over a bottle of champagne. Although, people order hotel champagne all the time, and I've never been carded. I'm pretty sure you can even order it ahead of time and have it sitting in your room when you arrive. But I'm probably just being paranoid and overthinking this. I'm sure people put booze in welcome bags all the time (helloooo pinterest), so if it was a problem, they would have mentioned it. I'm assuming. I'm just going to go with that.

lyndausvi

ashley8918 said:

scribe95 said:

I never thought to put alcohol in the bags but I understand how that would put the hotel in a bad position. I personally wouldn't try to sneak it past them. 

How so? I mean, how is this any different from guests bringing in their own booze (which is totally allowed).

There could be a liability issue in making sure the bags didn't get in the hands of underage people.   

We did not put booze in our bags.  In the islands people often did.  But they have more relaxed alcohol rules and the drinking age is 18 down there.    

 Depending on the local laws there might be an issue for the hotel to hand them out.

jenijoyk

 

 

 

scribe95 said:

Yes, liability is key - not just for the age of the drinker but if someone drinks the item and, I don't know, sets the hotel on fire. 

And frankly alcohol is heavy. Pretty sure the hotel will catch on.

Luckily, I have not spiked my champagne bottles with hallucinogens.

amelisha

And not everyone who drinks gets drunk and crazy. Why would your mind even go there?



OP, I don't know about liquor laws in your area, but chances are this is fine as there is no sale involved for the hotel. It is a guest courtesy rather than an actual provision by the hotel. Obviously don't quote me, but I would stick with not asking and delivering it personally if the hotel actually says something, which should be very unlikely.

wandajune6

Interesting question. I never thought of this.

Oddly, only 1 couple (one of my bffs and her husband) is using our hotel block. I decided that instead of making a traditional hotel bag, I'd buy a 6 pack of their favorite beer and some snacks that I know they love. I hope that isn't a problem. If it is, I'll just text her that the beer is in my room!

jenijoyk

 

amelisha said:

And not everyone who drinks gets drunk and crazy. Why would your mind even go there?

OP, I don't know about liquor laws in your area, but chances are this is fine as there is no sale involved for the hotel. It is a guest courtesy rather than an actual provision by the hotel. Obviously don't quote me, but I would stick with not asking and delivering it personally if the hotel actually says something, which should be very unlikely.

I think this is the way to go! I'll just act like it's all good! What lovely bags! If they say something I can decide in the moment whether I have the time to distribute them myself, or whether I should take the champagne out. And then invite everyone to the bridal suite for ridiculously copious amounts of bubbly.

princessofgenovia

I know when I worked at a hotel we handed out welcome bags with booze in them. But in order of us to take the welcome bags and hand them out, regardless of what was in them, they had to sign some kind of paperwork stating they were bringing X number of bags to be handed out to these guests (we'd print out the names) and some other stuff was stated in there. Basically covering our rear ends.

jenijoyk

@princessofgenovia you have the best username EVER.

Bubblegum5586

jenijoyk said:

Yeah. They are in large bags, and I wrapped the glass bottles with tissue paper to reduce clinking noise. We did ask the hotel about welcome bags and they said they'd happily hand them out. They just didn't elaborate on what we could and could not put in them and I didn't think to ask.

I'll just waltz in with my box of welcome bags, a huge smile, and my friendlist charming demeanor and hope for the best I suppose.

We had nips in ours and had no issues, I say go on with your plan!

ashley8918

bubblegum1309 said:

jenijoyk said:

Yeah. They are in large bags, and I wrapped the glass bottles with tissue paper to reduce clinking noise. We did ask the hotel about welcome bags and they said they'd happily hand them out. They just didn't elaborate on what we could and could not put in them and I didn't think to ask.

I'll just waltz in with my box of welcome bags, a huge smile, and my friendlist charming demeanor and hope for the best I suppose.

We had nips in ours and had no issues, I say go on with your plan!

So, um, I'm going to need to know what this is. Usually, I would just google, but I'm going to go ahead and not google "nips" at work.

jenijoyk

Hahaha! I'm assuming little mini-bottles? Like the single shots of hard alcohol?

theartistformerlyknownas

You might as well just give people ecstasy and flame throwers, since things are going to get so crazy anyway. Go big or go home.

jenijoyk

I was saving the shrooms and hash brownies for the actual wedding favors.

I do like the flame throwers though. Flame throwers > Sparkler send off.

princessofgenovia

jenijoyk said:

@princessofgenovia you have the best username EVER.

Thank you.

jenna8984

ashley8918 said:

bubblegum1309 said:

 

We had nips in ours and had no issues, I say go on with your plan!

So, um, I'm going to need to know what this is. Usually, I would just google, but I'm going to go ahead and not google "nips" at work.

Yes it's the mini bottle that's like the size of 2 shots. Didn't realize that was a regional name for it?

jenijoyk

Woot! Update: My hotel does not give a crap what I shoved in my welcome bags. Booze for all!!!