Out of Town/Welcome bags-- Important?

harpsdesire

How important is it to give out-of-town guests welcome bags/baskets?

I'm working on a pretty tight budget but I don't want to be rude to my guests.  There are 35 hotel rooms in our block, so that's a lot of bags.... eek.

Also, what should be included in the bags?

Avion22

I think it's a nice gesture if you have time and it fits into your budget, but it's not necessary.

We're going to do a small bag with directions/maps/timeline of events for everybody, a list of churches and services if people wish to attend on Sunday morning, a few bottles of water, granola bars, maybe gum or mints -- easy stuff that's cheap to pick up at Sams Club.  We might also get some brochures/maps from our local Chamber of Commerce (for free) so people can go exploring if they want:-)

Peavy

They are completely unnecessary.  Nobody expects them.  Even if you're not on a budget, they can be skipped.

OBX2011

We did OOT bags for our guests b/c they were taking time off of work to travel and pay for hotel stay to come to our wedding, so the least we could do was give them a welcome bag.  We ordered 50 of them from Oriental Trading for about $25 and filled them with mini bottles of water we bought from Costco, a welcome brochure that we made with games & puzzles about the bride & groom as well as different "events" we would be hosting throughout the week (we were at the beach for the week) and local brochures from the Island...I think there were packs of Tylenol that we also bought in bulk and something else, but I can't remember what.

We only gave 1 per couple, so it dramatically cut down on the cost

mashavoo

well, lets see....we're having alot of out of town guest also...I think it's that mportant...but my mother thinks so...so she's going to pay for these baskets to be done...simple things like what was suggested above..remember your giving your guest enough by iviting tem to your wedding...don't go overboard with filling these baskets...get small baskets...maybe tea bags is each, info on the surrounding area...a good used book from your collection of books you've read...

j-harvey