DIY Wedding Welcome Bags

If you have a lot of wedding guests coming in from out of town, creating welcome bags for each one can get expensive, unless you shop smart. Here are some ideas for creating welcome bags your out of town wedding guests will appreciate without breaking your budget.

Bags Fancy gift bags and baskets are pretty, but baskets will just end up being a nuisance when guest have to pack for home. Gift or paper bags, on the other hand, are likely to be thrown out rather than packed and therefore there is little need to bother with those. Instead, why not get an assortment of reusable cloth bags, like the kind they offer in grocery stores? These are usually available for 99 cents each or less, they are often available from discount stores without a logo, they are more useful than a gift bag and they can be rolled and stored in a minimum amount of space, unlike a basket.

Snacks If you've ever been stuck in a hotel room, you know that hunger and thirst can strike you at odd times and that after hours you will not be able to find inexpensive food or beverages close by, unless you remembered to bring your own. Even in the vending machines, hotels often charge room service prices, so your guests should appreciate nonperishable snacks and bottles of water. Buy these in bulk at discount or club stores to save money. If you bake, give home made cookies. Try to avoid items with nuts, or too much added sugar, in case relatives have allergies or happen to be diabetic, so that you don't have to buy special foods for different individuals. Depending on how far in advance you're packing the bags, consider apples or bananas, if you can find them cheaply enough. Tea bags are also nice, but you will want to include sugar packets as well.

Convenience Items Most hotels provide the basic essentials for hygiene, so these are really unnecessary. On the other hand, small notebooks and pens come in handy, and tossing in small activity books and a few crayons for families with kids could really be a help. Make copies of a good street map of the area with marked routes from the hotel district to important places like the wedding and reception venue(s), a drugstore, and the closest shopping area.

Thanks To individualize your bags, hand write a thank you note for each person, couple or family, and add handwritten calligraphy name tags.