OOT Bags?

[SarahLovesJS]

Are you doing them, did you do them? If so, post them here! I want to see (a.k.a. mercilessly steal) your ideas. Hehehe.

 

[mimzy]

i'm not doing them because less than 5% of my guests are coming from out of town, BUT if i were doing them i would probably include a framed picture of me and the guest (mostly family or super close friends) or FI and the guest (if they were his friend/family). depending on how much money you want to spend you could include a gift card to a nearby restaraunt and movie theater if they don't know many other guests. you could also do a state theme (for MI i would put in vernors and some mackinac fudge or something) which i think is pretty popular

the couple that i recieved mostly had information about the area, a couple bottles of water, granola bars and a bag of popcorn or something. i wouldnt' stress out too much about it! I know it is a nice touch and another way to make people go "wow!", but most people wouldn't except them, and they are a pretty unnecessary expense if you have a tight budget

 

[musey]

Can I add a question?? What was/is everyone's budget for OOT baskets?

90% of our guest list is OOT (um, LITERALLY, I just calculated it out). It's practically a destination wedding

(for everyone but us!). I'm starting to think more and more that gift baskets for OOTers aren't completely dispensible in my case...

If I were to put one together right now without researching it, I'd probably put in a mini bottle of wine or champagne, a couple of water bottles, a map of the area marked with nearby attractions, and something sweet (hopefully locally made). I'm sure there are better ideas out there, though.

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Ooh great question!

 

[Elmorton]

No pics, unfortunately. We did ours pretty low-budget - I think they were about $5 ea and DH and I put them together the Thurs before our wedding. We took white lunch bags and put a wedding cake stamp on them. Inside was a map of our wedding location, a bottle of water, a bag of kettle corn (don''t laugh- this stuff is a local treat and sooo good) a post card, a pencil, and a letter from us that explained what events were where and when and who would be there, things to do around town, and thanked them for coming.

 

[Gypsy]

We're not doing them.

But I would, if I were to do them, include: A map either of attactions or roads (if they are driving) or both. Water, definitely. Gum or breath mints. Something local and special to the two of you in terms of food (so I would do, maybe an expensive bottle of wine-- not 2 buck Chuck, but TJ's has great 4 buck bottles), a couple of snacks, and some hand cream, chapstick and maybe, for the ladies, slippers. I wouldn't spend more than 10 bucks each though. Just me. I'm frugal. If I'm buying in bulk, I want a discount. A personal letter would be especially nice. SIGNED by HAND.

 

[violet02]

All of my guests will be from out of town and we''re still not doing a full welcome bag or anything just a welcome packet with printed info about the area, maps etc. That''s it.

 

[zoebartlett]

These little bags can certainly become quite pricey so I''d suggest doing a little research before deciding anything. We had wanted to include locally made chocolate, small jars of Stonewall Kitchen wild Maine blueberry jam (made in Maine), homemade chocolate chip cookies, water bottles, granola bars, and other stuff. When I added everything up it was more than I had hoped it would be.

We don''t need to do our bags quite yet but here''s what we''re including:

-- a handwritten note to each couple or family that stays at the hotel, thanking them for coming.

-- bottles of water

-- the Stonewall Kitchen jam I mentioned above (60 13 oz. jars for $150 or something close to that) -- 1 jar per bag.

-- Maps and attractions that we picked up for free at the local Chamber of Commerce

We''re not sure how many bags we''ll need. We may have A LOT of jam left over if we wind up not needing all 60 jars. We may have enough left over the give everyone 2 jars. If I can buy granola bars in bulk and if it''s worth it (budget-wise), I may spring for these as well. We''ll see.

 

[glueck]

Since I just started planning, I only have ideas so far! We are having a destination wedding in Heidelberg Germany, so EVERYONE will be OOTers.

FI and I are going to heidelberg next weekend to meet with wedding planner, and while we are there, I want to buy a bunch of cotton tote bags that say heidelberg and have a pic of the castle on it (we will be married in the castle.) Later I want to put "Mr and Mrs Gluck July 11, 2009" on the back. We can put the contents in this bag.

Including
a welcome letter-more of a newsletter, including photos when available of the guests and their relation to the bride and groom.Also including long weekend itinerary (thurs-sun) of optional events and wedding events, and contact sheet.
restaurant and activity recommendations
list of necessary german words
2 heidelberg postcards
Water
snacks fruit and of course some german chocolate
mints
pocket tissues

I will have the hotel staff deliver the bag and a single rose to each room.

That is the plan so far!! We will see how it works out!

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Thanks for sharing everyone! Hmm I think this could be expensive like 50%+ of our guests will be from out of town. Maybe I will just put together a little package for them with maps and whatnot. I think that might be best since we are cutting costs.

 

[EricaR]

Everyone will be coming from out of town for our wedding, since we are going to be in Mexico. I''m already planning out the bags and have picked up a few things as I''ve found them on sale. So far my bags are going to include:
Spanish-English Dictionary
Sunscreen
Flip-flops

I''ll probably include some bottled water and other assorted snacks and goodies.

 

[Keys-Girl]

I''m making about 30 OOT bags. I bought blue canvas tote bags and will be including
- bottled waters with labels that have our names and wedding date
- individual sunscreen packets (bought off ebay)
- the book The Last Train to Paradise which is one of our favorite historical novels about the area
- Burt''s Bees Head to Toe starter kit (includes lotions & soaps)
- key lime jelly beans
- welcome letter w/ local info


This was an area where I splurged b/c lots of guests coming over from Europe

 

[Mandarine]

Hi there! very late responding, I did make them and they were a huge hit! I hand painted canvas bags to be used as beach bags. My guests loved them because a lot of them forgot to bring a beach bag! the next day everyone was carrying theirs!...

Inside I had a visor hat, a water gun (hehe), water, welcome letter, area map, and goodies (nuts, chocolate, etc)...

 

[Mandarine]

all of them...

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Those are so cute!

 

[CJ2008]

Mandarine...where did you get the bags? and you hand painted them yourself? Wow! Do you want to do mine? I know you live in Florida. haha

 

[zoebartlett]

Hi Mandarine!

You are so talented (I think I''ve said that about everything you''ve posted that you did yourself)! Those bags look great!

 

[Neveah]

We are doing this on a gable box with ribbon. Since we are having a wedding downtown, we are doing gifts that are "city themed"

Hopple Potatoe Chips
Skyline oyster crackers
Buckeyes
Bengals Busken Cookies
Etc, Etc. (If you''re not from Ohio you won''t "get it" : )

Also a welcome note from us, and a map with things to do/places to eat close to hotel location. I did it myself, it was very inexpensive. I ordered the gable boxes from www.nashvillewraps.com and then did the cityscape on powerpoint (one pictured is not mine.. was the inspiration photo I used... mine is too big and don''t want to mess w/ the dimensions just to upload! But you get the point!)

If you can afford them, they are a nice personal touch for your out of town guests!

 

[Neveah]

This is what a "gable box" looks like. I got them in white. I printed the cityscape w monogram on white cardstock, then got a shimmery cardstock in matching (w/ monogram/wedding colors) and matted it on. They turned out great! Sorry don''t have a pic of the finished product!

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Wow cool! Where did you buy them?