Welcome bags

I did this. People appreciated it, but they aren't necessary of course!

1. Our hotel handled it fine, although one of them did charge 1-2 dollars per bag, which was so stupid. It was against their policy to label them per guest, but they just handed them out upon check-in.

2) I kept them simple. Bottles of water, snacks and chocolate, gum, tissues, and a local snack.

3) I did make an itinerary and I gave a copy to the front desk staff at the hotel so they were aware. I used a template off of Etsy. They were helpful since we had shuttle transportation info, and a brunch scheduled for the following morning.

1) haven't done it yet, but have seen hotels do it well and do it poorly. Easiest (and usually fee-less) way to do it is to have all of the bags be generic and have the staff hand them out when you guests check in. Some places charge a fee to do specific bags to certain people.

2) water bottle, granola bars, gum, mini aspirin, thank you note, suggestions of things to do while in town... are just some ideas. Maybe something personal for your wedding/venue (sunglasses, bubbles, maple candies).

3) a basic itinerary could work. If all of your out of town guests aren't invited to the rehearsal dinner, having that on the itinerary isn't a good idea. Something basic (like what would be on the invite, or where you're planning to go for the "after party") could be a nice touch.

Thank you ladies, we live in a small touristy town. So I was planning to add somethings that they would want to buy anyway. Our local winery also , sells small plastic bottles of wine that people use to take to lake ect. So, planning on adding those as well.

Along, with some of the items pp have listed.

I just hope handing them out goes well. Ive been at the hotel a Couple of times and also, have worked them with my job. They have some amazing employees and some that i wonder about. But, its the nicest hotel with maintaining a decent price.

Our hotel did a great job, and so did the others we had to use because of where the guests were staying! We had no problems, and lots of compliments on the bags. We did water, snacks, medicine, and an itinerary, as well as info about what to do on the island.

We did this.

The hotel handled it perfectly. No additional charge.

We put snacks, gum, mints, ring pops and play dough for fun! I also put in an apple spice candle and matches and people really liked that!

We didn't have any local specialities otherwise I would have put them in too.

We didn't have an itinerary but I made up door hangs with our names and Thank You's on them from Esty.

DO NOT PUT NAMES ON THE BAGS! I can't stress this enough. I've been in the hotel industry for 12 years, and I can tell you that nothing pisses off a front desk team faster than seeing names on guest bags when they walk in for a Friday evening shift, the busiest of the week.

That being said, depending on the hotel, you may be charged a fee. It could be $1-$2 if they hand it out at checkin, but it could be more if you ask them to place it in the room prior to arrival. As someone who as handed out countless bags, make them generic and have them handed to your guest at checkin. There may be 1 or 2 that get missed, but it will keep the team at front desk happy.

As for what to put in them, I've seen everything from just water and Advil to local beer, food, maps of things to do in the immediate area, shuttle information, snacks, door hangers, you name it. I definitely think it's a great way to go.

ETA: Also, make sure the desk knows if there is someone who booked outside of the block that is supposed to receive them (there's always one person who pricelines their room to save money) and always make a few extra, just in case.

I did welcome bags and it went smoothly with the hotel. I did not put names on them.

We put in some local treats: a well known chocolate fudge sauce, local chips, and two cans of sodas that are local and only sold in Michigan. We also included a guide of things to do in Detroit and a welcome letter

We got them once. Stayed over two nights only. Threw 3/4s of what was in the bag out, rather than pack in our suitcase, to go home.

The wedding was poorly hosted. We wished they had skipped the bags, and had put their budget into food, at the reception.

The hotel gave us cold water bottles, warm cookies, and maps/things to do in the area, at check-in, and the bathrooms were well supplied with toiletries and such.

My Dad flipped out that they included hang-over cure pills; our side of the family has been non-drinking, for generations.

I did welcome baskets (I got baskets at Michaels, and wrapped them in cellophane and tied them off with a nice ribbon) for the people that stayed at a hotel. We only had about 10 couples that were in hotels, and they were all at different hotels. Here's what we did:

The morning that they were arriving (at like 10 am) my husband and I dropped them off at the front desks of the hotels. We tipped the hotel people for doing this. Everyone was staying at different hotels, so there wasn't more than 1-2 baskets at each place. We DID put names on the baskets, because I put custom stuff in each basket. And if they were the only ones staying at that hotel... you see my point.

Stuff I put in the baskets:

-A bottle of wine they like or their favorite beer. And a bottle opener/corkscrew. (required research)

-Their favorite Bath and Body Works scent shower gel/lotion for the ladies and a loofah (required research)

-Their favorite candies and some beef jerky and some Kind granola breakfast bars

-Two bottles of Fiji water

-Dog treats (Greenies) and a new dog toy for the families that had brought their dogs to stay at the hotel with them

-Favorite tobacco product for those that use tobacco

-A gift card to their favorite restaurant that was near the hotel or venue

-A handwritten thank you note for traveling to our wedding telling them it meant the world to us that they were there

Everyone gushed about their baskets. It was worth all the work!!!!

I agree with krclark7. I've also worked in hotels for years and the front desk team will hate you if you put names on bags on a Friday night. Less of your guests will end up getting them in the long run because it is too time consuming to go through them all.

I work at a hotel and often coordinate the delivery of gift bags since I work at the front desk. These are things I have learned when we have gift bags to distribute in some fashion:

1. Personalized gift bags are more difficult to deal with then non-personalized gift bags. The reason is because many people will make reservations under ONE name (for example, if you've invited your aunt and uncle and all of their children (assuming they are adults, BTW), the aunt and uncle will make ALL of the reservations under their name and not individual reservations under their name and their children's names). So those responsible for the delivering the gift bags will have zero idea who is who and where things are supposed to go. Point being- I would recommend not personalizing them.

2. Itineraries and things to do make EVERYONE'S life easier- The most important being your guests'. I don't know where you're getting married but my hotel is in a small tourist town in Vermont. Although there are tons of things to do and see, not many people know it. We've had brides and grooms provide this information to guests and it has made their stay that much better. You could also put it on your wedding website, but a printed back up would not be a bad idea.

3. Yes, your hotel will probably charge to deliver them. But they probably won't if they "hand them out at check in." However, the much more effective way to make sure your guests get your gift bags is to have them delivered. If they are checking in on a Friday night, chances are the hotel is expecting a large check in for the weekend and with it being busy, some of your guests may not get the gift bags if the front desk is responsible for handing them out. I work at the front desk and I would like to say we are perfect and we never miss anything, but let's be real. We're still humans.

4. Provide the front desk with a list of your guests staying at the hotel- especially if they are not in the room block! We NEED to know who your guests are and cannot rely solely on our system to tell us.

To actually ANSWER your questions (sorry, got off on a tangent):

1. The hotel will handle it as smoothly as they can. My next comment might be received poorly but please hear me out- it will depend on how easy you make it for them. For example, we had a bride and groom who personalized every gift bag for EVERY PERSON...not for every room. So we had NO IDEA who half the people were or where they were staying because their name wasn't on the reservation. So to clarify- they had ONE bag for "Mary Jane" and ONE bag for "John Smith" but the name of the reservation was John Smith and Mary Jane was staying with him but we didn't know that. The gift bag should have been for "John Smith AND Mary Jane." I really hope that makes sense...

2. My cousin put water, candy, and mints in her bags. They were awful. The mints made the chocolate taste minty. And not like "mint chocolate" flavored, either. And everything was just thrown to the bottom of the bag. Water, candy, mints, granola, etc. are all great things to put in the bags but I would recommend actually paying attention to how the bags are "stuffed." Also, if your guests are traveling somewhere that is known for something (for example, Vermont being known for Maple Syrup), it would be kind of cool and creative to add that (or representative of that thing) into the gift bags as well. When I was planning on getting married by Lake Champlain, I was going to put Champlain chocolate in my gift bags instead of just generic chocolate.

3. I already said this, but YES itineraries are a MUST. If you don't do gift bags, AT LEAST do an itinerary.

WOWZA sorry that turned out to be so long! Hope it helps! Good luck!

Thank you all for great responses. I really appreciate all the feed back it has helped a ton.

I was thinking about labeling each bag but, now i will leave them generic.

The guests are traveling across counrty. Almost all guest are getting in Tuesday before our Friday wedding and leaving the Saturday or Sunday after. They are getting in on a slower day of the week.

That being said, im confident that most food items and drinks will be well received.

We are the home of a super hero character. So i was thinking a magnet with the town name with that character. We have a tourist book that is very well done. I was going to add. Some form of alcohol wine and maybe a liquor.

The itinerary im excited about making. All out of town guests are invited to everything bc they are either immediate family or in the wedding party. So rehearsal dinner, wedding times, where the girls are getting ready and the guys, and brunch times will included. Im sure other things that im forgetting.

My goal is to properly host our guests and make it as easy as possible for them. Have all/most thier questions answered and make them feel appreciated for coming.

I will say, I'm sorry for the caps at the beginning of my first post. I had a terrible night with a groom and had just woken up. @FutureMrsJennings definitely said everything I wanted to say!