Anyone making out of town guest bags? Or recieved one?

lynninco · October 2009

So, we have a number of guests coming from out of town. They are all staying at the same hotel and the hotel had asked if we would be dropping off welcome bags for the guests. I hadn't really thought about too much. At any rate, so far I have come up with canvas bags that I was going to do an iron on Thank you for sharing our day on the front of. I found spa slippers on ebay so I was going to put one pair in each bag along with specially labeled water bottles with our names and the wedding day. I thought about getting some Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Chocolate. (We live in Colorado) maybe some post cards. I could use some feedback on what to put in the bags that won't cost me a fortune but will be appreciated by the guests. Oh yeah and won't be stupid and corny!

ggmae · October 2009

Nah, we didn't do that. We had about a dozen OOT guests and I really didn't want to spend the money on the bags.

janedoe1113a · October 2009

We're doing them. I'm going to do some regular gift bags in white and tying a welcome tag around the handle. I'm going to fill it with homemade cookies and some kind of salty snack (maybe pretzels). Then I'm also going to put a couple water bottles in there. I'm also going to make up a packet with information about the wedding events as well as restaurants and things to do in the area.

carrieoz_76 · October 2009

Links are in my bio, under OOT bags.

mwhitson14 · October 2009

The bags are a cute idea but would be a waste. Stick with regular gift bags and fill with pretty tissue. People aren't going to reuse a bag with a thank you on it. Spa slippers = no go too, unless they are single and aren't bringing an SO, because that's not fair for one guest to get a pair and the other to not. Water bottles and chocolate sounds fine, I'd stick in chips, pretzels, or some sort of other salty snack like navy suggested. As a hotel employee who has delivered many of these OOT bags, let me tell what NOT to do: Random picture frames, either no pic or pic of bride and groom Fancy snacks that people don't know what they are HUGE bags of a snack, like large bags of pretzels, they won't get eaten Also, PLEASE include: directions to your venue directions to your reception directions to your RD (if they're invited) A personal note from y'all (a lot of guests think we put the bags together) Some other cute things I have seen are DVDs (our rooms have DVD players), magazines, books, cocoa and coffee packets, and travel sized items like shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, etc.

julezlee · October 2009

I went a little over board with our OOT bags since we only have 5 to do. I got canvas bags with our subway stop on them, created a newsletter with info about NYC, the area where everyone was staying, descriptions of all the items in the bag and the wedding activities. I also included: Water bottles (NY spring water) Chocolate bars from a famous NY candy store Apples A couple other snack things like little bags of pretzels I<3NY tee shirts An NYC guide Subway map Miny bottles of Purell Cute wedding tissues Gum Mints and Rosebud salve from a local apothecary Everyone was really complimentary and my MOH was so excited about the snacks b/c they had been traveling all day and hadn't eaten when they got to their hotel. I think everyone likes snacks and water. I didn't put our names or anything like that on the bags b/c I wanted people to be able to use them again (which they did).

lyndausvi · October 2009

We did. We spent about $8 a bag. (it was a year ago, so I'm a little fussy on the exact cost).We bought paper gift bags from papermart.com. Pretty cheap, maybe 50 cents a bagBottles of water - one foreach guests in the room. Got them on sale at Costco for less about 40 cents a bottle.Advil packets - I forget the website, But they were only 35-50 cents a packetBeer koozies - (beach wedding) 2 per bag. $1.25 each kustomkoozies.comSnacks - Each bag got a bag of pretzels and crackers. Not sure the cost. But bought in bulk at Costco. Less than 50 cents.Saltwater taffy - in bulk. Not sure the costlittle candy bags - for the taffy. Not sure, maybe $5 for 100 bags and ties?Custom Stickers for front of the bag - Zazzels.com 25 cents eachTimeline card - $50 for 75 of them. I created the card but had Staples print and cut them. Well worth the time and money.

carrieoz_76 · October 2009

minimus.biz is a site that has tons of travel-sized stuff. I'm not sure if it's cheaper than just getting it at the store - haven't comparison shopped yet. We'll also be buying some snack items at costco, then individually filling cellophane bags with them.

stina93446 · October 2009

Gum, mints, candy bars, aspirin, alka seltzer.... you can find mini sized things at minimus.biz

stina93446 · October 2009

Oh I should tell you what was in OUR bags. 12 piece eclipse gum pack 5 spearmint life savers 1 pack of granola bars 2 packs of advil 2 mini water bottles 1 candy bar (we bought assorted packs from costco so everyone got something different) a letter from the 2 of us thanking them for coming

mhande · October 2009

I second the Costco idea. That's where we shopped for the goodies we included: Apple, granola bar, chips, cookies, chocolate, bottled water.I also went to the hotel's concierge and got a ton of brochures about area attractions and transportation. I put those in a 9x12 envelope and glued a welcome note to the front from me and my FI. All that went into a gift bag that matched our theme.Word of advice: Just keep it simple and do one bag per room, regardless of how many people are in each room. We did big bags for all the couples, with double the goodies. And we did separate bags for the singles, even if they were staying together. But the hotel completely screwed it up; some singles got double bags, some rooms got extra bags, and some people got nothing at all. We should have just done one per room.

lynninco · October 2009

Thank you so much for the input, I have put together a good list. I figure every trip to costco I will check out some ideas. Pick up stuff here and there. We went pricing the wooden boxes of candy from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate factory, that will be $11 so I think we are going to nix that idea. Maybe just get one item in a bag from the place. I don't know yet, but I might have as many as 10 couples coming from out of state. I planned on one bag per room. I had figured with the slippers only the girls would wear them and I was going to try to find something for the man in the couple too. I fiugred on one bottle per person. I found the water bottles at costco and figure i will put the labels on them for a little added bit. But I hadn't thought of stuff like gum etc. I figured for people coming in a few days before I might plan a day trip with everyone. We will see and then the following day will be a breakfast at our apt. to say thanks before everyone leaves. I was thinking that perhaps I would make little invitations and put them in the bags that looked like eggs out of cardstock.

Anyone making out of town guest bags? Or recieved one?

Re: Anyone making out of town guest bags? Or recieved one?

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