Welcome Bags For a Destination Wedding
If you’re planning a destination wedding, you want your guests to know how grateful you are that they’ve come. So what’s the perfect way to thank them? By greeting them with a destination wedding welcome bag! Guests love getting a goody bag, especially when it’s full of fun, useful or tasty items. When you’re planning the welcome bags for your hotel guests, there’s a few things to keep in mind.
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What to Put in Destination Wedding Welcome Bags
When you’re deciding what to put in your wedding welcome bags, think of things that will be convenient or helpful for your guests. You can go with a theme - like snacks or first aid. Or you can choose a mix of items that your guests will enjoy.
Remember, you have to travel with all these things. Choose small, light items, or sample sizes so you won’t end up with overweight luggage.
Don’t travel with bottles of water. Most resorts have free bottles of water in every room, every day. They are good fillers for a welcome bag, though. If you want to put water in the bags, order personalized stickers and bring them with you. You can buy the water when you arrive at your destination, put the stickers on and then put them in your welcome bags.
If you want to save room in your suitcases, you could buy a few local treats when you arrive at your destination. For example, mini bottles of alcohol are easy to find and inexpensive. If your wedding is in Mexico, look for tiny bottles of tequila. Or for a wedding in Jamaica or Dominican Republic, local rum is easy to find and add to your welcome bags.
Some more popular wedding favors for destination weddings:
Travel cups
Water bottles
Koozies
Waterproof room key holders
Do not disturb signs
Sunglasses
Shot glasses
Luggage tags
Mini First Aid Kits For Destination Weddings
Guests love sample size items of necessities, in case they’ve forgotten something. Having small sizes makes it easier for them to toss it in their purse or tote bag. Here’s some items that always come in handy:
Mini sunscreen
Aloe vera
Bug repellent
Lip balm
Hand sanitizer
Stain remover
Eye masks
Pain killer
Antacid
Tissue packets
Tasty Treats For Your Welcome Bags
Snacks are always popular items for a gift bag. There’s lots of snacks that are easy to fit in your suitcase. Plus your guests will enjoy a treat that they don’t have to pack for the return trip home.
Nuts
Granola bars
Trail mix
Popcorn
Pretzels
Chips
Crackers
Cookies
Candies
Beach Toys to Include in Wedding Welcome Bags
If you’ve got the budget, and the packing space, you can choose bigger items like beach toys, towels or flip flops. You can buy them online or at your local dollar store.
Beach towels
Beach balls
Drink floaties
Floaties
Flip flops
Local Treats or Souvenirs For Your Welcome Bags
If you want to include local souvenirs, you can buy them once you arrive at your destination. It’s easy to find inexpensive items, like magnets and keychains to fill out your welcome bags. Look for items that highlight your destination, like exotic flavored candy, liquor or spices.
Magnets
Key chains
Bottle openers
Postcards
Maracas
Mini bottles of tequila
Mini bottles of rum
Tote Bags or Beach Bags For a Destination Wedding
Canvas tote bags are always a hit with wedding guests. They can use them as beach bags during your wedding week. Then they make a great souvenir to use at home. You can choose tote bags personalized with your names and dates. Or you can find canvas beach bags printed for your destination wedding location.
Personalized Destination Wedding Welcome Bag
Destination Wedding Welcome Bag For Jamaica
Customizable Destination Wedding Tote Bag - Ocho Rios Jamaica - Wedding Welcome Bag. By: JamieLessemDesign
Destination Wedding Welcome Bag For Mexico
Destination Wedding Welcome Bag - Mexico, Cancun, Mayan Riviera, Cabo San Lucas - Customizable. By: withloveandconfetti
Destination Wedding Welcome Bag For Dominican Republic
For more tote bags, wedding favors, stickers, tags and treats, check out my curated list of favorites on Etsy: Destination Wedding Welcome Bags
How to Pack Welcome Bags For Your Destination Wedding
Your first instinct is probably to get everything ready ahead of time. But that’ll make it a lot harder to fit it all into your suitcases! It’ll be easier to pack if you wait until you get to the resort to assemble your welcome bags. When you pack your suitcase:
Keep like items together. For example, if you’ve got travel cups, stack them together to save space.
Fold the tote bags flat and lay them at the bottom of your suitcase.
Stack the flat items on top, like your welcome letters, stickers and tags.
Tuck in any odd shaped items last. Snacks or favors can be tucked in around the rest of your stuff.
If you’re not sure how to fit everything in your suitcase, read this next: How to Pack For Your Destination Wedding
How to Save Money Making Destination Wedding Welcome Bags
Don’t make them. I know - this is lol advice! But the bag really isn’t required. If you’re on a tight budget, it’s ok to skip it. Your guests do need an itinerary or schedule for your wedding events, but a whole goody bag isn’t necessary.
If you’ve got some wiggle room in your budget, it’s nice to give your guests a welcome bag or wedding favor.
To save money, you can make smaller bags. Instead of a big tote bag, you can choose a smaller bag. Put your welcome letter inside plus a few small treats.
Tiny hangover kits are a useful, fun and inexpensive welcome bag.
Instead of canvas tote bags, you can save money by picking up some paper bags at your local craft store or dollar store. Personalize them with a printed sticker or tag.
DIY For Destination Wedding Welcome Bags
The easiest way to DIY items for your welcome bag is by buying inexpensive items, then personalizing them with stickers or tags.
DIY Treats or Candies
Buy packs of bulk candy, popcorn or trail mix and put together your own treats in plastic bags. You can close them and decorate them with personalized bag toppers, stickers or tags.
DIY Tumblers or Water Bottles
You can DIY Plastic tumblers, water bottles or insulated travel cups, too. Buy some inexpensive cups from Amazon, then add personalized wedding stickers from Etsy.
DIY Room Key Card Holders
You can buy plastic holders and wrist coils online, or at your local office supply store. Print an insert for it. Remember to keep them separate for easier packing and assemble them once you get to the resort.
DIY Hangover Kits
For DIY hangover kits, buy some small bags - either plain or printed. Fill the bag with hangover necessities: pain reliever, Alka Seltzer, electrolyte packs, vitamin C, Tums or Pepto Bismol. Print a custom bag topper or tag to close it up and it’s ready for your guests.
What to Write In Your Destination Wedding Welcome Letter
Your welcome letter is where you say thank you for coming to the wedding. You can also give the guests the itinerary for the week, or weekend. It doesn’t need to be too formal. If you want your letter to be meaningful, write it the same way you talk. Imagine your best friend just traveled 5 hours to come to your wedding. How would you say thank you to them? Write that down and your guests will feel truly welcomed.
Once you’ve written thank you and welcome to the wedding, write an itinerary so everyone knows where to be and when.
Destination Wedding Welcome Letter and Itinerary Template - Download, Edit and Print. By: AWildBloomPrintables
What to Include In Your Destination Wedding Itinerary
It’s best to give your guests a schedule or itinerary that they can refer back to. You can print it out and include it in the welcome bags. Or you can use a digital template and send it to your guests’ email.
As well as your guests, consider making a second schedule for your bridal party. You can include bachelor or bachelorette parties, the rehearsal, getting ready times, and photo times. That way your wedding party knows exactly when and where to be for each event.
Remember to include the day, time and location for each event. If you have a wedding hashtag, you can share it with your guests on your itinerary.
Welcome party
Excursions
Wedding ceremony
Cocktail hour
Wedding reception
After party
When Should You Hand Out Your Welcome Bags?
Most resorts will offer to hand out the bags for you. They’ll either put them in the guests’ rooms, or hand them over when the guests check in. There’s usually an extra fee per bag. But if you can afford it, it’ll make things easier for you.
If you want to save the money, you can hand them out yourself. The ideal time is at the welcome party. Typically, the couple hosts a get together on the first night. Even if it’s an informal gathering, you can greet all your guests and hand out the bags in person. It’ll give you a chance to welcome everyone and kick off your wedding week in style!
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