Wedding Ideas and Inspiration Blog

Posts tagged gift basket

William with Advice on Gift Baskets for Out-of-Town Guests

gift-basket-black-bow-basket Welcoming your out-of-town guests is a detail which shows your guests you really appreciate their attendance at your event. The manner in which you decide to present this thoughtful gesture can be simple or lavish depending on your style and budget. The important thing to remember is that it truly is the thought that counts.

When deciding how you will salute those who have traveled for you special day you should consider these ideas and tips:

-Offer local specialties for which your city or town is known. For example, if you live in Atlanta you might consider offering mini Coca Colas or Georgia pecans.

-Look for freebies. Your local Chamber of Commerce, convention bureau or tourist information center will often provide free maps, pamphlets or magazines, which promote the wedding area and can be included as part of the welcome gift.

-Include a personal letter from you the special couple along with pertinent scheduling information for your event.

-Add your personal brand, logo or design to personalize the gift. This may also include a questionnaire about fond memories or personal experiences your guests share with the bride and groom.

-Keep in mind, hotels normally charge $3 – $5.00 per delivery, so consider this when budgeting your present.

-Consider a theme based on the location – if you are having a beach wedding toss in some sunblock and flip flops

-Share personal favorites whether it be candies or a treat or even a restaurant suggestion. The whole welcome should reflect your personal style and taste.

-Go Green and use an innovative, reusable container like a tote , straw hat or basket from the thrift store. pile-baskets-empty-black-bow

-Get creative and consider homemade treats such as cookies and breads or even simply fresh fruit such as a couple of apples with a note.
black-bow-thank-you-card-gift-basket

The Perfect Out of Town Guest Gift Bag by Offbeat Bride

If you’re planning a destination wedding, you may be wracking your brain over what to do for welcome bags for everyone. Thankfully, around the time I was planning my Hawaiian wedding, I ran across an article with the perfect inspiration for my own welcome bags:

modern-bride-hawaiian-gift-bag-junjul08

Modern Bride’s welcome bag included:

* A woven bag

* Bottled water

* Mints

* Cooling gel and sun block

* Maui guide book

* First aid kit

* Fan

Now, this welcome bag had some good suggestions, but it was also important to me to use as many local products as possible. (I strongly believe in supporting the local economy of both Maui, and the other Hawaiian islands that I love.) So why shouldn’t I try to use all local products? So with the article as a starting point, I started a search for most of those products pictured above, but made locally.

Here is what a thousand hours of online research + months in Hawaii yielded — the perfect “Welcome to Maui” gift bag products:

welcome-to-maui-gift-bags

CONTENTS:

Lauhala tote bags: I discovered the online Ailana Kai catalog. Their large Lauhala Tote Bags were perfect! But, depending on how many products you’re planning on including, they make bags in all sizes.

A map of the island: We grabbed a bunch of driving maps from the airport when he arrived. They were free and EXCELLENT for tourists. We also included a hand-made map of all the wedding event locations.

Sunblock: Of course we had to use Maui Babe SPF 30 sunblock! Ideally I would have loved to give everyone a large bottle, but they’re very expensive. So we contacted the sellers and they hooked us up with small 1 oz bottles.

Snacks:
* We found Wow-Wee chocolate bars — the most delicious chocolate bars ever! These are made on the island and come in eight different flavors. My favorite is chocolate and potato chips.
* Speaking of potato chips, we HAD to include a bag of Maui-style potato chips. They’re my favorite snack on Earth. I have had them shipped from Maui to my apartment in West Hollywood. I don’t care, there’s nothing like them.
* To wash it all down, we also included Hawaiian Springs water, from the big island.

Mini first aid kit: Okay, this wasn’t locally sourced. But I just had to include it because, you know, accidents have happened to us before while on vacation.

Fans: Also, not locally sourced, but from Koyal Wholesale.

Lip balm: I swear by Oils of Aloha Kukui lip therapy. I buy them in bulk when I go to the islands, and they’re perfect for the girls and guys to use.

And here’s how it looked when it was all packed up:

welcome-bag-finished

Of course, I’m always open for more advice or suggestions for affordable local products to make the best Welcome to Hawaii bags. So if anyone out there has any more ideas feel free to leave ‘em in the comments!