Desination Wedding Welcome Basket Ideas Needed

[beautifuldisaster]

Hi guys!

I am having a destination wedding on Hilton Head Island and I wanted to make baskets for my bridal party, FI’s guys and guests to put in their rooms… I will be doing nicer ones for the wedding party, including more things, but does anyone have any ideas on where I can get some cool stuff at reasonable prices since I will be making a lot of these suckers?
Thanks!

 

[Mara]

For our Hawaii destination wedding, I did small jute bags with a small bag of Kauai coffee, a mini sunscreen, a customized travel candle (got the candles on ebay and custom stickers online), and a pair of flip flops, along with our itinerary for the wedding days.

Jute bags: Blissweddings.com I think
Coffee was at Lion Coffee...we had found this coffee on our first trip and loved it so it had special meaning for us
Sunscreen: eBay on a bulk deal
Travel Candle: found candles on eBay, made a bulk deal on 30 with the vendor; had customized labels made at Blissweddings.com
Flip Flops were from Old Navy for $3.00 each I think...on sale.

Tied the itinerary to the handle of the bags with ribbon and put them in every cottage for our guests as they came in, oh also threw some loose orchids into the bags as well.

I found Google and eBay to be my best friends when I was searching for things. I really like Blissweddings.com too..they have lots of cute small ideas like that. For baskets, check out your local Cost Plus or similar, possibly even local wholesale florist type place (aka SF flower mart)..but I found the bag route to be the cutest and cheapest route, and the jute went with our Hawaii rustic kind of theme and the bags were $1.50 each or something.

For alot of types of bags, papers, ribons etc, check out www.papermart.com, I love them! They also have things like jute string for tying and they also carry mini burlap bags etc.

 

[flopkins]

bd-
I''ve seen a bunch of pics where they put cute custom labels on costco bottles of water, and picked up a bunch of free maps from the visitor''s center and threw those in too... Flip flops are a great idea, IMO! I bet you can find them super cheap... I think I saw some in the dollar bins at Target recently... and like Mara did, including local snacks
are fun too!

I''m not sure how you''re going to coordinate all the bags if it''s a DW, but you can order bulk gable boxes from here for less than a dollar each.

and nicer totes (maybe for the bridal party) from lillian vernon - they''re on sale right now!

 

[eks6426]

When my best friend got married in Key West a couple of years ago she included the following in her bags:

sunscreen (packets from Ebay like Mara suggested)
SPF lip balm
visors with their wedding logo on them
blow up beach ball
maps of the area
wedding itinerary
coupons from local vendors for drinks etc. She talked some of the Duval street bars into some "Buy 1 get One free coupons." This was a total win-win because the guests loved it and the bars made money because very few people stopped at just one drink
packets of gum
And most importantly--a personalized note thanking each guest (using their names etc.) for traveling so far to attend their wedding. I think this personalized note is what set her bag apart from all the other''s I''ve seen.

Good luck!

 

[royalasschergirl]

Hi beautiful disaster! My boyfriend and I are getting married in Hilton Head also, April 2006 -- where are you doing it, have you selected a location? We will be going down next month to look at venues, etc., i would love to hear your opinions and get any advice you can offer? Congratulations, its a gorgeous place -- that''s where we met which is why we are going back there to be married!

 

[njc]

We are doing bags for OOT guests. I am just going to go to the dollar store and buy a solid color gift bag and fill it with things like gum, maybe some fruit, NAB crackers and a local specialty (either peanuts or apple butter). Im also going to raid the visitor center and pick up maps, coupons, tour guides etc for them.

Date: 6/20/2005 1:56:41 PM
Author: flopkins
Flip flops I think I saw some in the dollar bins at Target recently

and nicer totes (maybe for the bridal party) from lillian vernon - they''re on sale right now!

Flop - We are totally on the same track!!! I bought my BMs the black $1 flip flops from Target to wear for the reception and im going to wrap blue ribbon around the straps and add a little plastic crystal/bead to the middle of the flower! I bought myself a pair of the white ones. I couldnt get over them only being a buck!!!

AND i bought the bag you posted in black for them as well... those bags are HUGE!!! I mean, they are still small, but you can fit a lot of stuff in there. Ill try and post a pic of the inside for everyone. And for $8 a pop, they are the cheapest around cause i looked EVERYWHERE!

 

[Mara]

oh yeah we also had the Kauai What to Do map and listing in their baggies and also on the itinerary we said welcome and thanks for coming type note.

the gift bags went over very well...everyone was wearing their flip flops and using the stuff inside. plus each cottage had their own little kitchen so the coffee was perfect for those early morning rehearsals. hehee.

 

[flopkins]

njc- we are totally on the same wavelength... I had to stop myself from buying the lillian vernon totes though, because I KNOW they will go on sale again in a few months, and I dearly need to keep my spending UNDER CONTROL until my fellowship comes through... not to mention I ought to be figuring out bm dresses, and not their cute totes, dangit!

but.. they''re... calling to meeee!!!!

for those of you out there going what the heck is she talking about:

 

[njc]

well, with only 6 weeks to go, i just bought them. I actually need to thank AME for talking about the bags she bought her girls, because i totally forgot about Lillian Vernon and was ready to drop $20 x 5 for ones from LL Bean. And im being bad and putting it all on my credit card... although i pay it off every month, so i guess im not being that bad. It just bites me in the butt sometimes!

 

[beautifuldisaster]

mara,

thanks so much for your ideas..

i am in search of the sunscreen and the candles on ebay.

hope i will be able to find some

 

[beautifuldisaster]

royalasschergirl hey! awessome we are both getting married in hilton head. i will pm you and tell you what sites i have looked at thus far.

 

[beautifuldisaster]

i love those lillian vernon totes, but what is the quality like?

also, what are you guys filling yours with?

i am not sure if i should give them a gift and then a bunch of little stuff in the baskets and the jewelry they will wear in the wedding, or if the basket should be their gifts. i dont want to seem cheap at all.

i guess i need to figure it all out in my head before i shop

 

[Mara]

I don't remember who I used no eBay for the candles..but they were kind of like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=46777&item=4388943031&rd=1

where they were hand-poured and soy, she made them in her home.

i bought 30-40, can't recall, and paid I think $2.00 each.

she made them all in two scents and left the lid entirely blank, instead putting the ingredients/label on the bottom of the tin.

then i got the custom labels from blissweddings (or maybe its blissweddingsmarket.com ..that sounds moer familiar) and stuck them on. our labels said 'keep the fire burning, love greg and mara' and our wedding date. i figured they could use the candles to scent their cottages!

edited to add, it was blissweddingsmarket and here is the link to the personalized labels, it was fun to create them and they are cheap! they also shipped them way faster than they said they would.
http://www.blissweddingsmarket.com/store/000074.htm

 

[njc]

Date: 6/21/2005 3:52:15 PM
Author: beautifuldisaster

i love those lillian vernon totes, but what is the quality like?

also, what are you guys filling yours with?

The bags are really nice. It is a thick/heavy canvas, they are lined on the inside, have a zip pocket and another smaller pocket i guess for a cell phone and a snap to close it. The bottom also has a lined form kind of thing to keep the bottom flat (know what im talking about?). The handles are nice and sturdy as well. I will try and remember to take some pictures of them for you tonight. They really are nice and have a super price.

I am using the Lillian Vernon bags as part of my BMs presents. They will be filled with colored tissue paper, the flip flops, their jewelry to wear for the wedding (necklace & earrings) and a nice little note from me. I have been keeping my eye out for something else small to add like lotion (bath & body works as a bunch of stuff on sale). I am having a luncheon the day before the wedding and the girls will get the bags then.

OOT guests will receive a regular paper gift bag full of random goodies (as i mentioned above) when they check into the hotel. Some BMs are OOT, and so they will get both bags, but the others will have houses and kitchens, so i dont feel bad about them not getting one.