Gifts for out of town guests?

Think of things you wish you could have ready when you get to a hotel. Fresh fruit & bottled water are nice… I'm getting married in wine country so we're going to do a couple wine glasses & a bottle of wine (with opener). and then a map of the wineries in the area so they can do a self guided wine tasting tour. I don't no much about Massachusetts but you could go to the visitors center and pick up free maps & other goodies.

I have been to a few out of town weddings, and what I appreciate in the baskets are bottled water, healthy hotel friendly snacks (pretzels, fruit), and a little something from the area (local treat). Another nice thing to include is a letter welcoming them that includes an itinerary with either transportation information or maps, and a person (with their number) to contact with questions.

Those are great ideas! I like the welcoming letter, and maybe we'll do some sort of food. I'll have to keep thinking of local treats.

We did maps & city guides, a note from us, bottled water, homemade cookies, directions to all the events, taxi cards and I threw in the business card that I made to encourage guests to upload their pictures to our site.

I also got custom bags on etsy that had our logo on them.

Oh, and I forgot - we went to the restaurant that was right around the corner from the hotel and told them we had 50 plus guests coming in so they gave us free appetizer coupons to put in the bags. It never hurts to ask!

Thanks Fins! That's a great idea about the restaurant...we're having a cocktail party the night before the wedding at the hotel, so maybe I'll see if they would give us breakfast coupons.

What part of MA are you having it in? I am from Ma and maybe I could give you some local ideas based on wher eyou are doing it?

We're getting married in Rehoboth, but everyone is technically staying in East Providence, RI, which is where my fiance is from.

LOVE these ideas! I was contemplating this as well. Didn't want to break the bank on it but wanted something meaningful. Great ideas ladies!

@Julie G - sorry I don't have anything to add, I was wondering this too!

Nice, our reception is in Rehoboth. If they are staying in Prov, I would put prov stuff in the bags. http://www.visitrhodeisland.com/ Also the time of year you are having it you might want to include info about water fire. Its a local attraction that is a lot of fun. I would print up some stuff from the above web site and include it. Also I think its really nice if you include that link with your invitations for oot people so they can get some ideas before they get there :-) (if there is anything else I can help with let me know - I live about 25 min from there :-) )

No problem EDubbs, I had no idea that I needed to do this since we're haivng a cocktail party the night before. But I think I can put something together without spending a lot of money.

Thanks Susy, we actually just moved from East Prov 2 months ago, but we didn't get to spend a lot of time in RI, so I still don't know too much about it.

Susy, where is your reception? We're getting married at country gardens.

Julie - we are having our reception at Francis Farm - we are doing a clam back. They are also open to the general public - so its another place you can send you people to be a little different. (also if they are there for a long weekend include something about either the mansions in Newport, or Boston info)

AHHH EP!! I love Rody and my home state of MA. We got married in NH and had TONS of OOT guests. I got plain white gift bags and made personalized stickers. We did bottled water, pretzels, cheese&crackers some chocolate (yum). I also included a tri-fold brochure I made with the wedding timeline, ceremony location, trolley pick up info, directions, local info things to do/resturants. Reminder for guests about the after party and the casual brunch on Sunday

AHHH EP!! I love Rody and my home state of MA. We got married in NH and had TONS of OOT guests. I got plain white gift bags and made personalized stickers. We did bottled water, pretzels, cheese&crackers some chocolate (yum). I also included a tri-fold brochure I made with the wedding timeline, ceremony location, trolley pick up info, directions, local info things to do/resturants. Reminder for guests about the after party and the casual brunch on Sunday

We put in the following:

- map of boston

- fuji water (one of my favs)

- chips/cookies/etc (went to walmart & got the lunch sized ones) so they wouldn't have to go to the vending machines

- mints (got a BIG bag) & just tossed them wherever they could fit/basket

- spa slippers & eye cover

- most importantly, welcome letter

We made them for my sisters wedding in chicago.. you can see how we did them and what we put in them in our family album http://www.celebrationideasonline.com/wedding-gift-bags-for-out-of-town-guests.html they were so appreciated and making the water bottles was so easy.. funny the thing the guests all raved about was the weekend itinerary sheet and the fun things to do in Chicago. Good luck

We are a DW in Vermont. I have all kinds of brochures and maps. I have discount coups for restaurants in the area. I have also had a friend navigate a 4 hour ride, both biker and car friendly, to hit the highlights of sites in the area. This way our guests are out of the inn while the DOC, FH and I are decorating.

Since ours is a biker themed wedding, we chose the contents to reflect things we would normally put in a saddle bag:

tissues; hand wipes; hand sanitizer; lip balm; personalized bottles of water and lots of snacks. We are also including a magnet with our logo. If there is money in the budget, I would like to include maple moose pops. These are my DIY bags:

We are a DW in Vermont. I have all kinds of brochures and maps. I have discount coups for restaurants in the area. I have also had a friend navigate a 4 hour ride, both biker and car friendly, to hit the highlights of sites in the area. This way our guests are out of the inn while the DOC, FH and I are decorating.

Since ours is a biker themed wedding, we chose the contents to reflect things we would normally put in a saddle bag:

tissues; hand wipes; hand sanitizer; lip balm; personalized bottles of water and lots of snacks. We are also including a magnet with our logo. If there is money in the budget, I would like to include maple moose pops. These are my DIY bags: