For those who missed the announcement: wedding content will be moved to 2x a week on Monday and Wednesday with regular blog content happening on Tuesday, Thursday + Friday! I thought it was an easy way to break everything up but keep it even for those who do and don't want to see wedding-related content.
So this week will focus on gift bags! We did two different sets of gift bags: ones for our family and friends staying in the house and ones for those who were invited to the weekend party. Our entire wedding group totaled 14 people, including myself and Andrew, plus two kids. So there were 6 couples: two sets of parents, two sisters, and two friends.
And for those people, I wanted to give them a little something special for coming all this way and taking a week off to celebrate our wedding! Just like with all my gift-giving (the best example being my bachelorette goodie bags), I wanted to give them things 1. that I love and use daily, 2. that speak to us as a couple and 3. that they could use and/or wear during the week.
I set these up in everyone's room before they arrived at the house, so they were able to walk into this on their beds! It was a fun way of showing everyone their room AND a perfect way to welcome t them to the house! Here's a breakdown of everything below:
LL Bean Boat + Tote c/o: This was what I was MOST excited about for these gifts: my all-time favorite bag. I cannot say enough good things about this bag and how genuinely awesome it is to use and have. We honestly use it every. single. day. from laundry to groceries to running on shoots or traveling! It holds so much, and I really wanted to get these for our guests.
Everyone got a monogrammed bag in their favorite color and style. There are a lot of options to choose from, so admittedly I did ask the girls in each group to pick what they would prefer without actually letting them know what it is! Everyone seemed to love them, and the best part is they are allowed as carry-ons! I always use mine as my "personal item" and surprisingly have never been stopped.
Details: We got the XL with regular handles and the zip top!
Custom Golf Balls c/o: If you remember this post in our larger customizing of items from Zazzle, we ordered these golf balls. The guys were going golfing on the rehearsal day, and I wanted to provide them with some balls for the trip. We added our monogram to it and gave each guy a dozen balls to do with what he wished!
Custom Golf Towel: In the same vein, I wanted to get them golf towels as well. I found these on Etsy, and they came out better than I could have imagined. I originally wanted to get everyone beach towels but knowing they would have packed so much, to begin with, I thought this was the next best option. Everyone got navy towels with the same color monogram!
Custom Socks c/o: Like the above, you've seen these in our Zazzle post! We made custom socks with our wedding print for the guys and asked them to wear them to the rehearsal dinner. Thought it was just a cute little memento. I'm usually not one for getting super custom/personal things that relate to Andrew and I, in fear of people never using them again, but these I just couldn't resist!
Nantucket Basket Bracelet: I actually picked these up during a Nantucket trip. I think the first time we were back on the island after being engaged. It was a little shop on Main street called Vis-a-Vis that has cute and affordable jewelry. They aren't the best bracelets ever made, but I have one that I love to wear and thought it would be a cute thing to give to the girls. The moms got them in silver, and the sisters and friends got them in gold!
Nantucket Playing Cards: I was very close to creating a custom set of playing cards with our monogram and personalized watercolor cards, but I did limit myself for some things! The great thing is Lou Lou Baker already had a Nantucket set, so I just picked one up for everyone in the house to have as well.
Andrew and I got these cards I think like a year or two ago and use them all the time. They are great cards, and one thing about both of our families is that we love playing cards! So this was a little something that meant even more to us to give because it was very us!
A Goodie Box: Our actual welcome bags for the rest of our guests were initially meant to be the white little gable boxes shown in this post but the number of items got to be too big so we moved them to larger bags (which you'll see on Wednesday) so since we had 100 of these white boxes I thought why not make a smaller box for our house guests with some of the same stuff!
I couldn't let these boxes go to waste, so everyone got a mini box as part of their gift. Hopefully, they were able to use some of these in their rooms during the week! And the best part of all is almost all of these were sourced on Amazon, so we were able to get them pretty much in bulk without prices being crazy!
- White Gable Box -- We got these from ULINE as they were the most affordable option. The annoying thing was they were a minimum of 100 which I didn't need in any situation, so I have 90 boxes if anyone is interested in buying them lol! We got the large size, and they held a decent amount but were still kinda small.
- Navy Ribbon -- This was actually leftover ribbon from our wedding invitations (coming soon), so I'm glad we got to repurpose and use the extra in different ways!
- Personalized Stickers c/o -- These are again from Zazzle. We got a ton of small and large stickers with our full crest and some with just the monogram. I now also have 100 of these as well leftover with an unclear plan of how best to use them. Maybe on our thank you notes??
- Custom Koozie c/o -- This was a last-minute add (again from Zazzle) but one I'm happy we went with. I have a big rule on not giving wedding branded items to our guests, so this was a subtle way of doing so. One that will help them remember the wedding but not have it be like "KRISTA AND ANDREW ARE MARRIED" all over it, you know?
- Tide to Go Pen -- I use these all the time and thought it was good to just give them in the box. Especially with all the white during the week -- it's a good thing to have on hand!
- Advil Packs / Liquid IVs -- these were there to help with the hangovers and/or just overall exhaustion that came from a week of partying lol. My sister swears by these IV packs that you just add into your water to help rehydrate you.
- Mints / Gum -- Seems like a good thing to always have with you.
- Cape Cod Chips / Candy (chocolate and sweet) -- For some late-night snacks!
WHEW! And that's it!! Fun goodie bags, right? On Wednesday I'll be sharing our welcome bags for the rest of our guests, so be sure to check back then. For more wedding related content, you can check our wedding tag HERE!
