Welcome bucket idea I had not thought of . .

3catmom

While working on my welcome buckets for my guests (Nag's Head in July) I came across an idea for something to include in addition to things like obx maps, candies, original Coppertone lotion (Love the scent of the original!), small watter bottles, etc, I saw a list of the local radio stations online so I printed it off so guests would know where to get local news, weather and info. It also had a list of what type of music they play in case someone had a preference. I also included a beach ball (deflated!) in each bucket as well. My nephews play hockey and I was able to get them a beach ball in their hockey team colors from beachballs.com. If you want beach balls in your wedding colors, it's a good place to look. For example if your colors are green & yellow, they have solid colored beach balls in those colors. What items are you all including in your welcome bags? I'm always open to new ideas!

missJ2014

This is such an awesome idea! I hadn't considered this at all. Do you mind me asking how much the buckets are going to cost you? 

3catmom

For couples and individuals, I was able to get smaller buckets at Wal-mart or party city for around two bucks. I was able to find larger buckets from oriental trading.com and ebay at reasonable prices for families. All were just your average plastic beach buckets, nothing fancy. I included little packs of chocolate M & M's ( I bought them in bags during Easter When you could get them in bulk!), I included a cheap hand towel in my wedding color (blues or aquas) You can sometimes get them at the dollar store or at Wal-Mart. A small sized bottle (or two!) of drInking water (Store brands are cheaper, but check for sales on name brands), The beach balls from beachballs.com range in price from $1.25 for a nine inch one,1.65 for a ten to 12 inch one, to 1.75 for a sixteen inch one. The sixteen inch ones have the largest selection of colors, but children are just generally happy with any size or color! The obx street maps are available at the outer banks chamber of commerce where it will cost you around ten bucks for a bunch of them-not a bad deal. The radio stations I found on a post on the obx connection message board, but you can probably find it online in different websites. I just printed those off on my printer. Last but not least I included a bottle of sunscreen that I got at the dollar store. Once again, just check around for prices. I'll enclose a photo of a smaller bucket shortly with an inflated and deflated 9-inch beach ball so you can get a idea of their size. Hope this helps-you may even think of some even cheaper ideas as you research more! 

3catmom

Here is the photo I told you about - Please understand that it is taken on our front porch and the picture is nothing to write home about! But you will get the idea-and maybe even improve upon it!

hibiscus118

We included some snacks such as cookies and crackers in snack size packages, got them in bulk at BJ's.  We also included lip balm with SPF in it and got personalized labels for them with our names and wedding date, bottled water with a few crystal light packets, salt water taffy from Forbes, travel size packets of advil, local brochures of Hatteras Island, and a wedding brochure of details of events for the wedding week. 

missm810

We got info packages put together by the Outer Banks Visitors Center which I picked up our first day down there. I got small tote bags in all diff colors from Dollar Tree (they're actually pretty cute and were the perfect size). We also included boxes of ibuprofen, ear plugs, sweet potato biscuits from Kelly's that included a label saying "Courtesy of Maura & James" with the Kelly's logo on it. We put a shot glass in for each member of the family (We did bags by family/couple, not by individuals), some mints and blue OBX cups.

Hope this helps!

3catmom

I really like the crystal light packets,advil, and lip balm ideas! Thanks!