Welcome bags

Rachmarie23 · January 2012

What are your thoughts on welcome bags? Do you think they are necessary, and if you are doing them, what are you putting in them?

w+c3 · January 2012

I don't think they are necessary at all. Until I came on TK I'd never even heard of them. As a guest I'm sure their nice, but I just sort of see them as another place to pour money haha

cmac3504 · January 2012

I think it's a relatively inexpensive and nice gesture to your OOT guests who may have driven or flown from far distances and are paying for 1-2 nights in a hotel. At the least, I would recommend leaving a note to the guests thanking them for traveling to your special day. My mom wants to bake cookies (they're amazing).. And I'm just planning on getting some gum, water, and small snacks. It's really not that much $ when you look at everything else you're spending on the wedding!

[Deleted User] · January 2012

I think they're a nice gesture, but not necessary.
They'd probably be most appreciated by any OOT guests who are really unfamiliar with the area... then you can include maps, restaurant recommendations, etc... but you can also put a lot of that info on your wedding website.

Like Whitney said, there are better places to spend your money.

kamarks08 · January 2012

We're doing them. But we're having a DW so we definitely felt they were necessary. We're having a few personalized water bottles, snacks (mentos, chex mix, beef jerky, pretzels, chocolate) two local delicacies (they're famous for their honey and pralines) crystal light packets and Starbucks Via packets and then maps of the area and brochures for different unique shops and restaurants. We may add more, we are debating. When we went in August my dad went in almost every shop asking for brochures, catalogs, or coupons to distribute to guests in their bags. Since its a DW a lot of people are going for almost a week, so we wanted to make sure we provide options of fun things to do/see. You'd be surprised how many coupons we got. Almost 300 $5 vouchers for their candy shop, still like that. What's nice about it is you don't have to pay for it. Businesses are more than willing to get their name out there, especially to tourists. If I went to a wedding and didn't get a welcome basket it wouldn't bother me one bit. I honestly probably wouldn't even notice. I think they're nice, but not always necessary, especially depending on personal preferences, situations, and personal finances. Ours is also the favor (honey) so its nice we won't have to deal with people leaving it at the venue, they can just throw iron their suitcase. It'll be with a little tag with something denoting it's the "early wedding favor"

amh04 · January 2012

I think they are a really nice thoughtful gesture but not neccessary especially if its too much on your budget. We are having approximately 25 guests that are all traveling at least 400 miles to attend our wedding, so we are going to do small OOT bags. I coupon, so most of the stuff I got for cheap or free to begin with. We are putting water, gum, a granola bar, fresh picked oranges (for FL), and a nice note in the bag. Just something thoughtful saying that we appreciate the effort they put in to attend our wedding.

In the run of schemes I can understand how it becomes just another place to spend your money, especially when working on a lower budget (like myself) but to me, knowing my guests are traveling so far and paying for a hotel to see us for maybe 6-8 hours it was a thoughtful gesture that I wanted to make sure they recieved.
If you play it smart, and even with the use of coupons, it can be extremely cheap. You don't need the fabric bags (we are using paper gift bags basically). I got the water for free, and the granola bars for $.50 a box (box of 6) and I'm sure with coupons the gum will be just as low cost. I think the most expensive part for myself will be the oranges and the note.
HTH!

rebeccaa12 · January 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_march-2012-weddings_welcome-bags-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:955e4823-0be1-44ef-9ee7-99a63794e103Discussion:d4dc8157-c0c1-4fe0-9113-3371bfc3c2cbPost:b22c2476-243f-4e74-96fe-e10d36b805ec">Re: Welcome bags</a>:
[QUOTE]I think it's a relatively inexpensive and nice gesture to your OOT guests who may have driven or flown from far distances and are paying for 1-2 nights in a hotel. At the least, I would recommend leaving a note to the guests thanking them for traveling to your special day. My mom wants to bake cookies (they're amazing).. And I'm just planning on getting some gum, water, and small snacks. It's really not that much $ when you look at everything else you're spending on the wedding!
Posted by cmac3504[/QUOTE]

I really like this idea :) Besides, I bought like 6 boxes of cookie dough from my neices, so it would be a good way to share (and not eat them!) :D

cu97tiger · January 2012

I've been to many out of town weddings and I have to say I think the gift bag is a VERY nice gesture. Even if all it contains is two bottles of water and a couple little snack backs, it is appreciated and used. We will definitely be doing them. I think we'll include:

2 bottles of water

1 bottle of Arizona iced tea

2 little snack bags (cheezits?)

1 map of area with entertainment and food options

The bags themselves can be purchased from the dollar store. I think they are 2 for $1. Also, you only need 1 per room, not 1 per person, so even if 30 people are staying at the hotel, you might only need 12-15 gift bags. (Clearly I vote for doing them

)

jml1981 · January 2012

We are having a destination wedding in New Orleans and I am most likely doing them for the people who are staying in the hotel we blocked. My hotel will allow it, but some hotels will not. If I get an idea where other people are staying, we might send some to those too if they will let us.

When we did a planning trip, we grabbed a huge stack of colorful NOLA French Quarter maps that will be useful to everyone. I am going to buy little plastic baskets from the dollar tree and then fill them with water, the map, a note with some one the activities and then local goodies from NOLA - pralines, Zapp's chips, little bottle's of hot sauce, Pat O'Briens little hurricane mix, and some other things I haven't decided on yet.

lisa&sean · January 2012

I am doing them for every guest...since it is a DW and everyone is OOT. I am giving them out at the rehearsal dinner the night before (which everyone is invited to) and it also doubles as my favor.

I am putting in them:
Vegas Themed Deck of Playing Cards
Bottled Water
Snacks (something sweet and something salty)
Shout Wipes
Individual Purell Wipes
2 pack of Advil
5 pack stick of gum

I will also include a brochure I am working on now with important info and wedding festivities. I also plan to stop by the Las Vegas Convention Center and pick up free tourist books to put in the bags!

You can find the bags SUPER cheap on Oriental Trading Co. and lots of the supplies I am getting in bulk from Amazon.com or Cotsco...

brittandjp · January 2012

We aren't doing them, but that's because we have very few OOTs. We didn't even have enough guests that would be needing a hotel, so we didn't reserve rooms either. Most guests are in town and those that aren't have family here and will be staying with them.

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