OOT Baskets (for hotels)

NcsuPsych · February 2010

Hey Ladies!
Alright, so when we were first planning the wedding, we had a huge guest list. Well, now our number is 55-60 people (some guests -locals- might not be able to come due to work) but we only have about 10 families booking hotel rooms, so I thought since its such a lower number, its now in the budget to make a little OOT basket.

I was thinking of getting fruit and little individual chip bags and maybe sodas or waters?? Opinions?
What did you put in yours?

Thanks!

sundrop24 · February 2010

Do you give those to the hotel to give to your guests? Or how do you do that? I never thought I would be able to do those, but it might work into our budget too. Just curious.

You could put ...chocolates, mini bottle of Baileys for coffee, brochure of things nearby or something like that, sodas/water, pack of cards, cookies, hmm just brainstorming here.

keserzan · February 2010

All of those items sound great.Just think of things you might want to munch on or have in a hotel room while you're killing time.

For mine, I am including Sun Drop and Cheerwine, because their origin and southern popularity, Lance snack packs of crackers and peanuts, since it's another NC company, and then since FI and I are both pharmacists (or almost) we are doing Prescription vials with personalized labels with M&Ms the color of our wedding. I'll probably throw in some packs of gum too. And then the last thing I'm including is a typed packet with a welcome note, local restaurants, local attractions, and directions to the church and reception site.

Jemmessica · February 2010

we bought brown craft gift bags from target (I think we got 10 for $5 or so) we bought bottled water, a big box of individual chip bags, granola bars & crackers (from costco) for each room. We tied a little note to each one thanking them for coming, and letting them know we were having a small breakfast in the morning...

janice1980 · February 2010

I like the idea of having a list of places to go, ie- parks, restaurants, even stores. Also you can try calling some places near the hotel and letting them know you have OOT guest for a wedding and see if they have any coupons you can throw in the bag (everybody loves to save money)

Also you can make phamplets that lets people know about the city you are getting married in and/or the venue where the ceremony will be held. Just adding things that you and your FI love makes a nice gesture... books, cookies, gum, mints or nuts. And a nice thank you note from you and your FI for traveling is always a good thing.

kgaliger · February 2010

we did some food, home made cookies, chips, some snacks, water, and guides of the town

NcsuPsych · February 2010

Oooh cookies! Another excuse for me to break out my awesome mixer

I'll probably go to city hall and see if there are any pamplets, but due to the amount of time I have and other things going on, we'll probably be leaning more towards the munchy part of the baskets

Thanks for all the advice!

pirategal03 · February 2010

My uncle went to a wedding and thought the OOT bag was the BEST idea he'd ever seen. He won't stop talking about it. The one he got had: a booklet with things to do, locations and directions to wedding stuff and things to do on your own (it was a super-fancy wedding, they'd had the caligrapher make these books...ummm yeah, not realistic), individual packs of tylenol and alka-seltzer (like the ones you'd buy at a convenience store, one dose per pack), bottled water, gum, pack of crackers, bag of peanuts, some snacky things like that, a map of the area and "important" phone numbers (bride, groom, MOB, MOG, taxi company, hotel #, etc.)

kgaliger · February 2010

I made them a couple weeks before and just froze them until the wedding they held up great and I got a lot of compliments on them.

kgaliger · February 2010

I like the idea of a list of VIP numbers!

jrsturde · February 2010

We got some brown craft bags from Michael's for cheap and did 1 bag per 2 people. We put in:
*Welcome/we're glad you could make it letter from DH and I
*Info sheet including: Address of church, DH's cell phone number, hotel's main desk phone number, telling them the hotel has a complimentary shuttle service in case they didn't know, URL for wedding website and map with directions to church, nearby restaurants, shopping places, and things to do (museums, movie theaters; also included addresses phone numbers, hours of operation and cost)
*Brochures we got from the Hickory welcome center, including a map
*NC food/drink items: Cheerwine, peanuts, and lance crackers

My relatives (pretty much the only people to stay at the hotel) LOVED the bags. And since they're from up north they'd never had Cheerwine and bought some to bring home with them because they loved it so much.

tarheelbabs · February 2010

There's a Capital Area Visitors Center. I think it's still located in the Museum of History downtown, but you might want to call to check. They probably have more info than the city does--that's if you're in Raleigh.

LBM7189 · February 2010

I ordered custom bags from Oriental Trading Company. Yes, they are a cheap line of party planning stuff, but I got 24 bags with our names and wedding date on them for $12. Those are what I am going to use for the OOT bags and do little bottles of water, cookies, mints and useful information. Thanks for the tip on VIP phone numbers- I will make a note to include that as well!

Charlotte10210 · February 2010

Depending on the guests you have coming...one really cute welcome present had a small bottle of orange juice (the kind you dont have to refrigerate until opening) and a small bottle of champagne with two (plastic) champagne glasses...it was a mimosa in your bag. There was also a little mini pound cake and some peanuts...I think whatever you put in your guests will appreciate. Ideas about some favorite places to grab some lunch or something I think are good ideas too.

krispychikin · February 2010

We ended up just doing envelopes with a welcome letter and information about the city and what there was to do (we have like, 40+ guests staying in the hotel, making little bags was NOT in the budget). The Raleigh Visitor's Center will give you their visitor's guides for free - you just fill a form out on the website and you can then go pick them up. My guests found it very useful!

wlfpkbride · February 2010

I'll have to see how many guests we have that book rooms before I know if it's in the budget or not. If I can do them I definitely want to include some sort of home baked snack (cookies or brownies), a local map and a few other things that I haven't decided on yet.

shigaites · February 2010

I keep debating whether or not to include something like this in the budget. Pretty much all of our guests are OOT so it could get pricey, but since so few of them are familiar with NC I think it would be a really nice gesture.

Anyway, if I were to do one, tons of brochures from the tourist info center, big bottle of water, and local snacks like Cheerwine, Moravian cookies, peanuts, that sort of thing. Maybe a timeline of the weekend.

jrsturde · February 2010

Overall we only spent about $30 for all of the stuff (we made 12 bags and had TONS of leftover snacks). We bought the food and drinks at Sam's Club and used a 40% off coupon to get a big pack of bags at Michaels.

OOT Baskets (for hotels)

Re: OOT Baskets (for hotels)

Choose Another Board

Search Boards