By Mary Casey
Want to treat your traveling wedding guests like the deserving people they are? Design your own out-of-town gift bag just for them!
An out-of-town gift bag can be as elaborate or as simple as you want. Start with deciding what type of container you want to use for your "bag." Will it be a reed basket lovingly made by local artisans? Or a linen tote embroidered with your names and wedding colors?
If your wedding's on the informal side, consider these: an oversized Chinese takeout container, a wooden crate (both available online or at party stores), or even a rustic fishing creel basket to hold your goodies in.
And not to worry — even if you don't have a creative bone in your body, there are plenty of inventive ready-made baskets awaiting online.
Getting the Goods ... and Giving Them
Once you decide what type of container you want, you get to decide what to put in it. Guests from afar are sure to love a bag you've stocked with regional favorites, such as handmade soaps, small containers of
honey or syrup, distinctive local snacks (smoked salmon or
chocolate-covered espresso beans for Seattle; "buckeyes" for Ohio) or other intriguing food items.
And your out-of-town guests are often staying for a few days, so gift certificates to tasty local restaurants (or even spas) will be appreciated. Plus, area maps and entertainment guides are always welcome. So if you're holding your wedding in Boston, you could stock your gift bags with lobster bibs, a gift certificate to Legal Seafood restaurant and a box of candied Boston Baked Beans, plus assorted maps and guides.
Don't forget to add a few basic items designed to welcome (and spoil) your guests. Try tucking in a pretty washcloth and some sweet-smelling soaps, along with a bottle of spring water (get creative with the labels) and maybe a small bag of gourmet coffee. Another thoughtful idea: travel-size sundries like toothpaste and hand creams, especially since airlines often won't accept those items now.
Making it Personal
For guests you know personally, take a moment to reflect on their hobbies and interests. Does Aunt Sue
garden? Maybe she'd appreciate some heirloom seeds from your area. Does Uncle Joe golf? Directions to the hottest nearby golf course (plus some
golf tees in your wedding colors) would be a treat!
Are your guests traveling with small children? Including a few magnetic games like checkers or miniature Etch-a-Sketch would be thoughtfulness itself.
Finally, with your out-of-town bags, give your guests something to remember you by. Tee-shirts with the wedding date on them, custom coffee mugs or personalized pens are easy, memorable additions to your gift bags. And don't forget to drop in a little personalized note to thank your guests for traveling to your special day.
Mary Casey is a regular author for
www.Prye.Com — and a guest who loves gift bags!
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May 15th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
I’m preparing gift boxes for our wedding and have found that you don’t have to spend a lot to make a nice box. We’re using gable boxes that we ordered online (just google “gable boxes). We’re putting in: minisize cans of coke and spring water, hershey chocolates (weddings in pa), Utz chips (from PA), travel size tylenol, toothpaste & body lotion, small nailfile and pnut butter crackers. Then adding a local map and brochures from the welcome center which are free. Most guests are staying friday and saturday night so we’re including a schedule for the weekend events along with directions and important phone numbers. Just use your imagination!
May 7th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
I really like the picture of the pink gift bag shown above with the names Jennifer & Aaron on the front. Any ideas on where I can find that bag? Thanks!
April 24th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Hi Elizabeth, go to Blissweddingsmarket.com, put “jumbo” in the search box, that should get you there.
If you have a chance and want to share the pics of your creations when they’re all done, I would love to see them.
April 24th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Could you give me the Bliss Wedding website. I am actually going to do this for my destination wedding and put them in the hotel so when they arrive they will have these fun bags. I agree you can do something very simple and the guest will appreciate the fact that you thought about them. If anything they are making this long trip to be with us on this special day. It will show them that you appreciate them being a part of your special day.
April 24th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Hi Pam, sorry I haven’t seen those boxes, I wish I could help!
Elena, great idea, aspirin/advil should be first thing on the list! You can get the small foiled two or four packs in bulk, that’s a cute addition.
I wanted to post this cute idea from Bliss! Weddings, they are really great about personalized packaging, they definitely have their own Martha vibe going. Anyway, they’re suggesting jumbo-sized takeout boxes to put your goodies in. What I especially like is the way they’ve personalized them … I love the peony stamp in addition to the monogrammed label, it completely transforms an empty white box.
The other thing is that this box really lets you stack up your goodies so they pop out the top, gift-basket style, instead of letting them sink inside the bag unseen like so many do. I think this is a VERY cute display if you are stacking these up on a table or can personally deliver them to guests’ hotel rooms.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
I am looking for some ideas for travel bags for our out of town guests. I love the ideas you ladies gave. Each wedding I have been at which I stayed in the hotels, I have received guft bags. They are so much fun . One idea, which we needed and did not have available to us, travel asprin or advil in the bags
Congrats all. Enjoy!
February 11th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Hi, my wedding is at Disney World, so all our guest are “out of town”. I really want special welcome boxes for them since they are traveling such a long way. I saw these boxes on theknot.com, they look like travel suitcases with handles(brown with “travel sticker”) and I’ve been looking on the web for a month now to find them. It was under the real wedding section so there is no supply site. help please, thanks.
February 5th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Few more! One, a lovely country chic bag for a sage and gold Pear themed VT wedding, by Burlington Bride. And some lovely gift baskets all stacked up at the hotel and ready to go, and some hunger-quelling bags by Kimba714.
Cute filler ideas I found along the way: vintage postcards for your region, small boxed imported cracker/sweet treats, personalized “your name in Hawaiian” stickers for a tropical wedding, Metro cards for a NY wedding, bath fizzies, personalized packs of notecards or post-its (with the guests’ initials!), eye masks (how cute is that?), travel candles, homemade CDs, personalized lifesavers, personalized mini-chocolate bars, mini peanut butter and cracker packs, TicTacs, sunscreen.
What are you putting in your bags?
February 5th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I wanted to post some pics of cute OOT bags. One’s a beach theme with funny inexpensive snacks, a cute hand fan and bottled water, tucked in rainbow mesh bags. One’s a swanky personalized monogrammed tote bag containing champagne and Lindt truffles, among other goodies. And one’s just a cute presentation for a pink and orange wedding.
September 17th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
I guess I’m totally oposite from everyone else who read this article. I’m putting together out-of-town bags for guests staying at hotels and I loved the variety of ideas. I have received some great bags and not-so-great bags at different weddings. This reminded me that I loved the maps and guides on what to do around town.
July 4th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Michael’s has really cheap bath soaps (like, 10 for a dollar). Also, buy stamp kits- you can personalize everything with stamps and fancy calligraphy pens for cheap. Divide bulk candy into little bags. It looks like you spent more than you did.
June 27th, 2007 at 10:12 am
Thank you, “Jenn.” The article didn’t answer my question, but your response gave me some GREAT ideas! Question - who gets the out of town gift bags? I have friends making the 2-3 hour drive that will likely stay the wedding night in a hotel. Then, I have some friends and family that will be flying in and staying multiple nights in a hotel. Do I stick with just the folks that fly or everyone? I’ll probably have about 200 guests, 150 of which will be traveling, either to the lesser degree of driving or to the degree of flying…
March 27th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
This is for Jen…
You said you spent 10$ on each one, you made 26 of them…How does that total 100$$???
$10 X 26 = $260
February 7th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Those are EXACTLY the kind of ideas that I was looking for, and did not find in this article. We are absolutely doing OOT bags for our numerous hotel guests, but in no way do we have the money to do what this particular article is suggesting. Creative finds at the dollar store etc was what I was looking for, not spending gads of money on gift certs and clothing. So, in a way, you agree with me - I just didn’t make myself clear enough!
February 7th, 2007 at 9:18 am
Sorry, but I disagree with you both. I made out of town boxes for our guest and spent around $10 on each one with a total for everything of less than $100. I made 26 of them. I purchased colored gable boxes for $1.50 a piece and put some of the crinkly cut up paper inside (it was the same as our wedding colors). I purchased that from the dollar store. Then, I put in certain things that represented my fiance and I such as: bottle water (what he drinks), Diet Pepsi (what I drink), small bags of gummy bears (his favorite candy), small bags of m&m’s (my favorite candy…with the candy I bought large bags and then put the candy in smaller celophane bags and tied each bag with a ribbon), a pencil that had a July 4th eraser on it (that’s when we got engaged..got packs from the dollar store), visitor’s guide and other local materials from the local visitor’s center (free), cardboard coasters from the college that owned the hotel where we got married and had our reception (dollar store again), then, since my husband and I are both musicians, I bought some confetti from Party City that was shaped like guitars, microphones, etc. and sprinkled that all around inside the box. To top it off, I bought really pretty paper in our wedding colors and printed off what each item in the box represented about us. I trimmed the note with decorative scissors and placed it in the top of the box before I closed it. I tied the box with pretty ribbon and attached a note to the outside that said “When family gathers together all are friends. When friends gather together, all are family. Thank you, our friends and family, for sharing this special day with us. Love, Jenn and Rick.” All you have to do is be a little creative!
Our guests loved the boxes!
February 7th, 2007 at 8:44 am
I’d have to agree with MarchBride up there - who has $50 per person to drop on personalised t-shirts, pens, tote bags and gift certificates to restaurants? This article is, unfortunately, useless for the common bride!!!
February 5th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
Nice article, but I admit I’ve never received a gift bag for an out-of-town wedding. I don’t mean to sound snarky, but isn’t the point that the guests should be providing the gifts? I’m not marrying Donald Trump here…. after $100/plate for dinner, I can’t afford all these fabulous “goodies” for 20 out of town guests.
November 12th, 2006 at 5:46 pm
I’d like to have a saying, such as a poem, to attach to my gift bags. Any ideas?