Guest bags

soontobeamrs2012 · January 2014

Hey guys! Happy New Year! I'm 7 months out...ekkkkk! Woke up this morning and told Fi, "guess what, we get married this year" - cheesy I know, but just couldn't contain myself!! Can anyone recommend where they ordered tote bags for their guests (to have delivered to their rooms upon check-in) and also some useful ideas as to what to put in the bags??!! Thanks so much!

Carters0908 · January 2014

Hi....

Ive seen the bags at michaels...hobby lobby....or even do a google search...amazon is good as well...Im traveling to jamaica for my wedding June 7th,...Im going to put hair ties...Ive also seen where brides do a waterproof wallet that guests can keep money card and i.d in.....Koozies would be great personalized....maybe a pen.....if your going overseas I would say american food that you and DH like....Im going to put Now'n'laters in there cuz DH will sit up at 3am and eat them lol....Also try doing google. image search on welcome Bags...Have you thought of any items to put in it yet and where are you going

ROBINRENE5 · January 2014

I just used large brown lunch sacks for my goodie bags so I'm not helpful with the bag part - but we put Advil in our goodie bags which was a big hit among our friends. We also put koozies, several snacks, gum, and a thank you note. Simple, but everyone loved them!

saric83 · January 2014

I can't remember where we got our bags, but we ended up putting Advil, Pepto tablets, gum, aloe, sunscreen, and chapstick in it along with a handwritten thank-you note and an itinerary of the wedding events.

Kella0223 · January 2014

I have this same question @soontobeamrs2012! More so, how do I get the totes and stuff there and delivered in a reasonable and cost efficient way.

Fortunately (and unfortunately) though, in addition to the above ideas, I have so many ideas gifts inside that I almost can't choose. I thinking of getting nice wine totes or canvas totes with monograms from Land's End and filling them with some of the below and above. Depending on how many you have to but though it could get expensive, but they are having some good sales right now. We have kids coming too, so I have ideas for them included below too. Hope this helps and good luck!

Hat/visor

Paper fan

Hand sanitizer

Dry feel sunblock

Dry feel bug spray

Flip flops

Shell collecting bag (etsy)

Local food or liquor nips/beer

Beach ball

Beach inner tube

Frisbee/boomerang

Kite

Coloring book & crayons

Note and map with things to do, see, eat

Local postcards and stamps to send back

Waterproof instant camera

Carters0908 · January 2014

@ROBINRENE5 how did you get your goodies to DW with you....and was there and issues bringing the advil overseas through customs

Carters0908 · January 2014

@soontobeamrs2012 I was looking at amazon last night you can get several canvas totes for about $20....

soontobeamrs2012 · January 2014

You guys are great!!!

Love all of these ideas!!!! Now I'm on the hunt :-)

Carters0908 · January 2014

let me know how it goes @soontobeamrs2012 :-)

TerriHugg · January 2014

I got all my bags from the Dollar Tree. I put a mini spray fan, welcome note, magnet, and something else in them. I can't remember what it was.

princessleia22 · January 2014

I really wanted zippered tote bags, but for a cheap price. Here is link to where I bought mine: http://www.bagiva.com/Zippered-Shopping-Tote-Handbag.html

I am very pleased with the quality. Then I have stencil painted a design on them to personalize it. Since I am getting married on a cruise ship, I got navy blue bags and painted an anchor on front and horizontal stripes on back to make it more nautical looking. I then wrote, in small print, the month & year on it to help personalize it to the wedding a bit more. I didn't want to put our names or anything on it that would prohibit people from reusing them after the wedding.

To get them there, I plan to just pack them in my checked suitcase. I'm going to be there a couple days before everyone, so I can pack everything most efficiently then put the bags together when I get there. I have seen some people that shipped it to their hotel ahead of time. Or packed it in those cheap plastic tote boxes as checked luggage then just left the tote box behind so they didn't need to carry it back.

Here are the items I am putting in mine. I've been slowly adding to it for over a year, so I've got quite a bit in there now. It helps that I only have 10 of them. I've also spent a lot of time on forums about what is or is not used in the OOT (Out of Town) bags for DW's. Some of these may not apply to land based DW, but most will work for both:

Folder containing a Welcome Letter, A sheet of cruise themed cocktail ideas, map of the ship, info about which rooms everyone is in, schedule of planned events

In the folder I also put together a scavenger hunt for the first day so people can check out the ship and learn where everything is. Then we are all meeting before dinner the 2nd day to go over answers and I have cruise gift cards as prizes, that they can use during the week.

Small First Aid kit: Bandaids, antibiotic ointment, pepto bismal, imodium, single dose advil packets, motion sickness meds

A small 4' roll of duct tape & a few safety pins

Shout stain remover wipes

Wet Ones wipes (single use pouches)

I was going to include hand sanitizer, but they have those set up everywhere on the ship.

Sun Screen (travel size)

Aloe Vera gel (travel size)

Bug repellent wipes

Chapstick

Hangover Kit: Asprin, electrolyte drink mix... I'm also debating some cheap sunglasses. I'm not allowed to include alcohol due to cruise regulations otherwise I'd include a single shot liquor

5-Hour Energy drink shot

Bubba Mug - to keep drinks cold or hot (apparently reusable travel mugs or water bottles are used a lot when included in the OOT bags, even if you go with the dollar store ones)

Card holder lanyard - it also has zipper pouch so it can hold room key card & money

Water proof pouch for cell phone

Crystal Light & Iced Tea single drink mix pouches

Small notebook, pen & highlighter

A few single serve snack items - I'm thinking of going with cruise/nautical themed snacks like, goldfish crackers, chips ahoy cookies, etc.

Purex Laundry Sheets- has laundry detergent & fabric softener in one sheet. I figure this may be useful on a 7-day cruise.

I'm also debating waterproof disposable cameras

Since it will be rainy season for a couple of our stops, I plan to include either rain ponchos or small umbrellas. I found a website that sells small umbrellas in bulk (12 min.) for $3 each.

And for the kids I'm including color book & crayons

soontobeamrs2012 · January 2014

Great list nicoann!!!

Carters0908, I will keep you posted :-)

SoonToBeMrsP2014 · January 2014

Nicoann, that list is amazing! I will be stealing some of your ideas when the time comes!

StephP13 · January 2014

I'm doing a welcome "bag" as well (actually using the Koozies to hold all the goodies) and I was wondering where everyone got their travel sized sunscreen from? Did you order it in bulk online or go to Target or a store like that to buy it?

fallbride57 · January 2014

These are all great ideas! I was also wondering where everyone purchased items like sunscreen and aloe vera from? I am going to have around 50 gift bags to make so I want to provide goodies but not spend too much.

missmo14 · January 2014

Amazon!

ROBINRENE5 · January 2014

Carters090I

I just put the Advil in my luggage, and had no issues with it. It wasn't in my carry on bag.

soontobeamrs2012 · January 2014

Purchased our guest bags yesterday from Old Navy. Not only were they on sale - $2 off per bag - I had $40 worth of Old Navy bucks so I ended up getting these bags as a steal!!!!!

soontobeamrs2012 · January 2014

Here is our bag...meant to attach it in my previous post!

Crocam68 · January 2014

Did anyone have trouble bringing their welcome bags into their destination? I am worried about the whole customs situations

princessleia22 · January 2014

I've bought most of my travel items on Amazon. Some on ebay.

I am actually getting my sunscreen, chapstick, aloe, and lotion from my SIL who has a bath/body store and makes her own products. Before she offered, I was going to buy empty travel size containers (you can buy in bulk on ebay for cheap), then just buy a couple big bottles of sunscreen & aloe to fill the travel bottles. Then put custom labels on them.

Here is another good site for single size products: http://www.minimus.biz/

Dollar stores can be awesome for some items, too. They also come out with seasonal stuff cheap. They have halfway decent travel mugs and cups for $1. Also, you can often find hand sanitizer there in 2 or 3 pack for $1.

Target $1 section has been helpful for some items, too, such as the Shout stain remover wipes.

I got notepads, pens, and highlighters from Staples & Walmart at end of summer when everything was cheap for going back to school. So, if you have time, pay attention to when the best sales are for specific items. A lot of summer & beach items got on sale at start of summer but may also be clearance items after summer.

For some of the travel items, such as sunscreen, sanitizers, snacks and meds, don't buy them too far in advance because they can expire or go bad. You don't want to give your guests a bunch of expired products. I bought all the other items first and plan to buy the "perishable" items a month or two before wedding.

ROBINRENE5 · February 2014

Crocam68 We had no issues. Just put what you want to bring into your luggage and it shouldn't be a problem. I assembled our bags when we got to the resort because we arrived about 5 hours before any other guests.

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