*inexpensive* welcome bags for destination wedding

Following. I have the exact same question! We are getting married in punta cana... Travelling from Toronto... so I'm thinking light easy to pack items... So far FH and I have brainstormed lip balm, sunglasses, inflateable beach balls, hangover kit (Advil earplugs etc). I'm really stuck on this and was hoping to figure it out soon! We also have about 90 guests (approx 45 rooms) so they can all add up real quick!

We are just doing paper bags we ordered through a local store in town...they are like gift bag size and just filling those...but they aren't forever bags...I wish I had found some of those at a good price.

There's tons of stuff like this at

http://www.orientaltrading.com/

ETA: When I went to a destination wedding there was a brochure about local stuff to do, water bottle, Advil, a little bag of chips and a local snack (pralines, we were in New Orleans).

Here's a piece of advice. Keep in mind that I am THREE days away from my wedding. DON'T DO IT! I am currently baking cookies, that were supposed to be in the shape of Virginia - HA! I should post a picture. They look horrible. We have personal water bottle labels, but we got totally bored and tired after putting about 35 of them on. I forgot to order the local potato chips on time, which was not a bad thing as they would have cost me $100, by the time I had them shipped to me. I seriously think I'm just going to scrap the whole idea. That, and I'm not getting to the hotel until most of my friends have already checked in, which means I would have to make a separate trip to drop them all off.

I have seen some awesome things on pinterest and if I had an unlimited budget I would totally do them, but considering I need to pack enough for my trip of two weeks, plus my dress, and the usual supplies, I need things that will be small.

Here are some ideas I have had:

Door hangers with "do not disturb we were up all night parting at A and I's Wedding!"

Welcome letter with events at the resort we are doing. (bachelor/ette parties, outings, welcome meet and greet, and a goodbye breakfast?)

That is pretty much it so far.....

Bottles of water, a sunscreen stick if you can find them on sale, cheap sunglasses (the kind you can get at Party City), travel-size Motrin, and a couple of granola bars/ bags of trial mix/ whatever snack you like. Throw it in one of those paper gift bags and print stickers for them. IMO, just getting some welcome goodies and knowing they thought about you is enough-- it doesn't all have to be personalized or reusable, just thoughtful things for the trip. Besides, how many people want to pack up a ton of extra stuff for their return trip, and how many people will use a bag with your name on it?

I love the brochure and door hanger ideas! Those would be easy to carry

While the welcome bags are a pain I think it is such a nice touch. It truly does "welcome" your guests and let them know you're happy they're there. Especially for a destination wedding!

Here is the link to my post about this. We got married in Nassau. I had a carry on with everything to put in the bags. I kept the bags folded and made them in my hotel room the night we got there because we got there a day before everyone else. I bought the snacks at Sam's in bulk and split them up between the bags and found that to be the most cost effective. I bought the hnd sanitizers on sale at bath and body works. I spent less than $10/bag with everything.

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/hotel-gift-bag-pics/5a02058bfa03e22d.html

We are getting married in Boca near the water, and beach, pool and eating on the water will be a big part of the weekend. We are getting cardboard six-pack carriers, that look like the carriers a 6 pack of beer at the store comes in, but plain white. We'll put bottles of beer (bought on sale) in three spots, water bottles in 2 and a bottle of sunscreen in the final slot. We'll have a welcome note as well.

I'm pretty excited to put them together, but my tune might change the week of

ETA: We expect to spend $150 on this project, for 20 six packs.

I'm not doing welcome bags, I don't think is worth the headache. I am already hosting a cocktail hour for all my guess to mix and meet each other the night before, not to mentioned the whole wedding event, and a brunch the day after. All my guess will have plenty of moments to collect great memories. Material things will not make a difference in my opinion. "Oh look, a personalized water bottle, and a bit of this and that. Now I will remember this wedding for ever".. said Nobody, ever!lol!! Soo, if is not in your budget, and is starting to be a headache, take it off the list. just saying

I purchased canvas bags from cafe press. They have tons of beach design options. The only things going in the bags are a hotel refillable cup, a personal letter, and a hotel gift card for $35.

I'm making a "welcome envelope" for each room that contains info for the weekend (rehearsal dinner, ceremony/reception time/location, nearby restaurants, things to do etc.) as well as a thank you letter from us. 90% of our guests will be from out of town/country so putting together baskets would have been too much. I figured this would be a gesture they would still appreciate.

We're doing welcome bags but we also expect to have less than 20 guests at the wedding so that makes a difference. Also, my parents will be on site a week before me so they'll be picking up some of the local things to put in the bags before I touch down which is a huge help.

We're coming from NY and getting married in St. Thomas. Right now we're planning on an itinerary/brochure of the local things to do, bug spray/wipes because apparently the sand mites are ridiculous (from reviews of the resort, joy), sunblock, local chocolates, and for the non AA members of the group, Rum.

All of it will be bought locally and won't take more than a couple hours to put together. Mainly, I just want to thank people for making the trek and put things in that I know they will need just in case.

We are doing welcome bags at our hotel, but we aren't have a destination wedding. We will be putting things like water/snacks/advil/shout wipes, things like that. There are a ton of ideas on pinterest....since you are traveling though it may be difficult do to as much stuff due to the bulk of what you would have to take and weight. I would do some research and see what is down there that you can buy.

If you go to the tripadvisor.com they have forums with people that travel to the areas a lot or actually live down there. That's what I used for the research of where we wanted to honeymoon. GO to the forum for your area and post your question about what it around there and advise what you need info for. People might be able to suggest more local items that you can put in your bags!

Most cities in the US have a Chamber of Commerce or Visitors Welcome Center or Convention Bureau. Some will provide bags with maps, coupons from local businesses, menus for local restaurants, etc.

Here is the link to my DW welcome bag thread:

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/welcome-bags/482161ceb502052c.html

It looks like the pics were lost in the Great WW Crash of 2014, though. I'll try to find them.

We bagged the bag idea. We are already doing a welcome cocktail party the night before, then the wedding, then the brunch the next day. We think that is plenty. Also, the hotel wanted to charge $5 a bag to hand them out. No. Just no.

MrsZ, our resort wanted to charge us, too. We ended up handing them out ourselves as people arrived.

Everyone who came really loved and used the hell our of their bags. I simply cannot find a picture of them anywhere though. Perhaps on my computer when I get home.

We did our wedding bags ourselves and we did them for under $50 for 30 bags.

We got reusable little tote bags from Amazon and I ordered stickers for cheap off Vista Print to personalize them. We got a lot of stuff of Amazon like baby packs of gum and the mini packs of ibruproffen. We knew we wanted TastyKakes since we're from Philadelphia so I found a coupon for buy one get one free boxes.

Last DW I went to was in Honduras and the bride had welcome bags left in our rooms:

-Foldable beach tote (super cute idea and would have been used had I not brought one)

-Bug spray (sand fleas were bad that time of year)

-6 pack of the local beer

-Gallon of water

-Welcome letter

-Sunscreen

I assume you will be at a resort but I think the best welcome bags are the ones that hold things that people will most likely forget...sunscreen/tanning lotion, totebags. Also things like munchies (chips, nuts, candy, trail mix, popcorn) and water are always a nice thing to have on hand