Welcome bags

[Sunnybride]

I'm sure I've read about this somewhere on here but couldn't find anything in the search. I'm curious if any other brides have or are doing welcome bags for their guests? I would love some ideas of what to put in my bags.

I've already decided the bag itself will be a tote beach type bag so they can use that, I plan to get some personalised water bottles, maybe throw in a few island maps and then some stamped and self addressed post cards so the guests can tell me what a wonderful time they're having. But that's all I got, I'm stumped.

[Andrea J.]

sun block
aloe gel
lip balm
can of balashi

[Sunnybride]

Ha! I can't believe I forgot sunblock! Yes, great idea. I also love the idea of the can of Balashi. Great ideas. A few of my guests are arriving a few days before I am so their welcome gifts will be a little late. I'll have to see if my wedding planner can pick up a few of the items so I can at least send the bags out the morning we arrive instead of spending the day shopping.

[danadog56]

sunnybride...if you are buying that stuff on the island why not get it from Aruba Aloe,,,they have the balm, lotion and gel,,,as well as after tanning lotion, so you will be giving your bridesmaids good products and supporting arban made products....

[cindyo]

nice box of chocolates from A Taste of Belgium. small picture frame, flip flops, a blow up tube ( 36"), disposable cameras...

[christene]

We passed on the sunblock because I heard from other brides that it was a waste - their guests knew to bring it. We did put the Aruba Aloe After Sun lotion in all the bags though, as well as lip balm with SPF, and I loaded up on their Aloe Vera Burn Gel. (I created a bag for each of my bridesmaids for things like extra sunblock and burn gel and in the guests' welcome letter, let them know they could contact the girls if they needed those items. None were needed, however we also made sure to bring extra along on the sailing excursion.)

One of the biggest hits - our wedding planner got us some awesome freshly made dutch cookies - they were small and I think I put 10 in each bag. (They came in larger canisters - I had brought with me cellophane 'treat bags' to package them in my desired quantity. There were some left over and after our welcome party my husband and I ate all the extras!) We also put a container of Droste Chocolate Pastilles (you can purchase them at the grocery stores in Aruba - we chose the orange / chocolate since orange was one of my wedding colors).

For the ladies I collected these cute straw visors I purchased on eBay (I was patient and found $15 Nine West visors for $3-4 each). I put the visor around the handle of the bag making the presentation cute. Bridesmaid bags also had mineral water misters (I purchased LaRoche-Posay Thermal Spring Water but there are others that are a lot less expensive). We also made a CD of songs we planned to feature at the reception as well as a few tunes that might remind guests of our sailing excursion. Our totes were kind of small but they were super cute straw totes the guests used all weekend. And we had some other printed materials like the welcome letter, some Aruban / Papiamento phrases, Itinerary, custom CD sleeves... I had a pic of our bag with its contents laid out. I'll see if I can find it if you're interested. Though the totes were only maybe 12" x 15", I was suprised how much I was able to get in them.

[christene]

Found my pics! I had also included custom can koozies, "Mackinac Island Fudge" from Michigan (doesn't melt!), tropical candies, chewing gum, bottled water (less than $1 a bottle I think at the supermarket), postcards... We had a welcome party and while our guests were at the party we had the hotel deliver the bags so they had that little surprise waiting for them when they got back.







I like the idea of the Balashi though! I can think of several guests that would have made good use of it. =)

[dmg66]

Hi Christine

I was wondering where you got the chapstick and how much? Also how did you make your cd cover, I want to do the same thing.

Thanks so much

[soxgirl]

I love all these ideas! For ours we were thinking of adding in a beach towel and clips to hold them to beach chairs. I love the Balashi idea!

[christene]

Lip balm I just purchased through drugstore.com. They had several "Buy 1 or Buy 3" and get one free, plus free shipping. I think it worked out to about $1 each. They had a lot of options available and I purchased an assortment. Aruba Aloe's lip balm is reasonably priced too (maybe around $2?).

For the CDs... I purchased blank CD sleeves (I think they were 40¢ each?). Then I got a label kit for the CDs. The blank inkjet printer labels had the round label for the CD itself, a rectangular label for the cover and even a skinny label for the spine. (I created the design myself in Photoshop.) I glued on the ribbon to tie the CD sleeve together (some were orange ribbons, some were raffia), glued some construction paper on top of that, then placed the sticker on top of that. The CD sleeve also has a pocket in which we put a printout of the playlist and a little thank you note.

Originally Posted by dmg66

Hi Christine

I was wondering where you got the chapstick and how much? Also how did you make your cd cover, I want to do the same thing.

Thanks so much