Gifts for Guest coming to a Destination Wedding

I think if you are providing them with not one, but two dinners with drinks, you don't need to give them an actual gift. No one is going to want to bring more stuff back froma destinatuion wedding. Maybe a Welcome and Thank you package of things to do in the area and an intineary?

I don't think you need to give a gift. Dinner and drinks are enough and purchasing a 5 - 10 dollar gift would be a waste of money (IMO) because chances are you won't be able to find anything worthwhile enough for anyone to save. Chances are they will just get thrown out If you do I'd recommended something edible like local cookies or chocolates, those will at least be eaten!

I agree with FMS, gift not necessary. If you have favors in your budget then that will suffice. HOWEVER... if you like the idea of a gift, you can do little travel packages. Get some inexpensive gift bags and fill them with stuff for their hotel room or the trip in general, like throw in a bottle of water, a pkg of microwave popcorn, travel size hand sanitizers, maybe some brochures of activities of stuff they can do or see in the area while they aren't at your wedding. Just some little things to make the trip a little easier for them. The popcorn and bottled water work out to way less than $1 each when taken out of the bulk packages, the brochures can be picked up from the hotel you've blocked rooms at for free, and you can look for other items from the dollar store (or try the dollar spot at Target)

I have a little suggestion for you from something we did at my wedding in 2009. For the favors I wanted to make sure I got them something they would keep/use so I ended up getting the men nice cigars and for the women we made earrings just like these in 4 different color combinations so everyone did not get the same exact color. http://www.etsy.com/listing/52927665/mystic-black-swarovski-pearl-with-black

I know both gifts were a hit as the cigars were all pretty much smoked that night and I have seen many people wearing the earrings at events after that. So having the men get one gift and the women get another may be a way to go. Also, if you would like to get earrings for the women from us let me know and we can discuss some discount options because you would be ordering so many.

Thanks ladies,,,,i just want everyone to know how much we thank them for coming. I thought of doing the Message in a Bottle and writing a personal message to all of our couples. Is that stupid?????

Another thing I thought of was giving everyone a seashell, along with a few other things to bring to our wedding and do a 'Wish'! We all throw our seashells in the ocean after the wedding and make a wish to us????

Your idea about the personal message in a bottle sounds great too! Plus, it would mean a lot to the people that are there because it would be so personal :-)

@ August, both your options are both personal and thoughtful, you should go for it

@ Jennifer, I will send you a message on Etsy!

I'm also having a destination wedding but I'll just be doing OOT bags.

@Bethania, what are OOT bags?

OOT bags ~ Out of town bags like @Konichiwa mentioned, you get a gift bag and stuff it with lil things, ex: candles, matches, personalized water bottles, treats, something from the island, maps, a personal note...etc... I'm having mine delivered to the rooms before the guest arrive...

I figure instead of a favor for each person I can save and do it per room and have fun with it.

Good idea! All of our guests are getting villas, so I have to give them something at the dinner, but maybe i will do that!

There are so many ideas, just google OOT and you will find so many things to put in the gift bags, have fun

The OTT bags will end up being more than your $5-10/guest budget most likely. FS and I are doing what we call 'wedding 101s'. We're sending each family an envelop the week or two before the wedding with a list of what to pack, activities we're planning to do that we think they'd enjoy, and a general set-up for the week. Little pop-planes if they have kids, speedy spanish books, fish ID cards (for the divers/snorkelers), and maybe a shell or two. This way, guests start to get excited even before they go and we don't have to pack more stuff.

@August - Sounds great I look forward to hearing from you :-)

@ Jessica, OOT Bags are what you make of them, they can be over the top pricey or they can be sweet and in budget.

I've been to DW and I've helped set the OOT bags, its doable Autumn...

Let me know if you need ideas

@ Bethania, how much are you spending per bag and what are you including?

I'm including mini candles(.90 - beau-coup), personalized matches(17.99 - the knot shop), personalized water bottles(I'm buying cases of poland spring/$3.99/case of 24 ~ I'm putting two water bottles in each bag, I'm getting labels for the bottles from mywaterlabels.com.... I'm shipping alot of stuff to the resort including decorations), candies & cookies (BJ's), travel size sunblock(.99 -target),getting married in DR they're known for certain sweets so I'm doing bite size sweets, a note and I don't know what else yet, I'm sure I'll keep on adding more stuff...

Everything I've gotten has been in bulk, I'm doing 40 bags

I'm still under $10 per bag....

@ Bethania I said 'most likely' over budget, not most definitely. I priced them out as well and with the few simple things I wanted to include and potential shipping cost/over weight fees it was going to be well over. Out of curiosity, does that $10 per bag include shipping them to your destination? A case of water is quite heavy.