Gift Bags

I am putting together some gift bags for our thirty guests,so far I have some totes,water bottles,tylenol and dramamine. I was just wondering if anyone would be willing to share some of thier creative ideas for the bags.

We are putting mini first aid kits, disposable cameras, drrink holder foam things which I got at kustom koozies,com, sandal candles, a bottle of suntan lotion and a cd of songs that we love!! Good Luck!!!

I think those are great ideas. In addition to some of the items above, we're including a waterproof disposable camera, mini photo album (one of the flip ones that ties) and sarongs for our bridesmaids.

We included many of the items above in our bags but the custom Tshirts we had made that said "I went to Kadie and Mike's cruise wedding and all I got was this lousy Tshirt" were the most popular gift by far and at around 3.00 a piece (bought them on Ebay from a guy who designed them for us making it look like a vintage cruise ship logo) they were well worth it.

Good Luck & anything you do will be appreciated by your guests.

Kadiebug -- do you have the ebay/t-shirt guy's email? Also, how many did you have to order to get that price? And how long did it take?

I added journals with pens, highlighters, small bottles of aloe vera, gel hand sanitizers and baby powder (helps to remove sand off the feet...it really works!) I also included insulated mugs since most cups for water, soda, etc are so small. Enjoy!:)

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Mugs are a great idea! Adding that to our list.

I put in pink post it notes for leaving notes on cabin doors (pink for wedding color! :-) )

Also put in first aid, flip flops, waterproof cameras, towels embroidered with guest's first names, and I added some cute photo frames for post trip remembrances. Also, tums, advil, chapsticks, sunscreen, little "suitcases" full of gummy bears (found those at the "Dollar Spot" at Target)

I think I want to do kadie's t-shirt idea but I don't know if I'll have enough time. Hmmmmm....

We had custom scented/colored bars of soap made for all wedding guests (sailing and non-sailing) They are SO cute!!! (And great prices!!!!) you can get them at http://www.darngoodsoaps.com

Those are all great idea's. We are doing canvas tote bags, 2 custom beach towels (per couple), sunscreen, gum and little packets of Tylenol, Pepto and Dramamine in a baggie. I will do a welcome letter and tie it with a ribbon on the handle. I am also doing a guest list on cardstock so all the guests know where everyone's cabins are.

You all have really great ideas!! We are doing canvas tote bags that will contain a Welcome letter/program of the upcoming day, Aloe vera gel, Purell hand sanitizer liquid and wipes, Dramamine, Pepto, Tylenol, Band-aids, A photo album, two personalized water bottles and a personalized towel, which we ordered from Towels4Less.com. Good luck with all your choices, there are alot of good ones.:p

I bought the same t-shirt from the ebay guy that Kadiebug use. I bought 40 t-shirt for $104 plus your shipping which is about $14 but it was worth it and I know that my guests are gonna love them. Drop me a email at Tensie8@AOL.com and I will give you is information.:)

I'm out of the country so I dont have his contact info with me, but if Karita has it and is willing to share that's great. Let me know if you need anything else. We were very pleased with the Tshirst and bought about 30 or so for close to what Karita paid, maybe 10 bucks less since we ordered less shirts.

Good Luck!

Karita- What kind of design did he do for you???

Hi Kadie, I got the same t-shirt you got. I really loved yours alot so I got the same pattern. So how is married life so far? Enjoy your trip:)

Karita-

That's soo cool that you got the same ones. Your guests will love them I'm sure. I haven't even worn mine because I want to save it forever. LOL

Married life it good so far. My guest room still looks like a "wedding" bomb went off in it. There's pictures, supplies, etc. everywhere. Currently I'm working on making a DVD for all guests and family members who couldn't make it that includes a slide show of the pre-wedding cruise events, the video of the wedding itself and a slideshow of the pictures from the wedding. I am hoping it turns out nice. To get it done professionally would cost me 500-800 dollars so I decided to do it myself. Luckily I work for an IT company so I'm surrounded by lots of helpers. :)

We're shopping for a house too, but that isn't going so well. The market here in South Florida is terrible for first time homebuyers. We'll be lucky to find a townhouse for under 350K (in a good area).

Hope all your planning is going well!

Kadie

For anyone interested in a great gift bag idea, or just something for you to take on your cruise. I found a beach mat from IKEA that folds great to carry and it's huge. They come in great colors and I have showed them to a couple guests and they loved them.

how 'bout some drink coupons?!

*hehehe*

GREAT IDEA, can you buy those on the ship?

i've read on here that people have ordered them and that the coupons were waiting in the stateroom...

i've never ordered any, so maybe someone else can help here :)

I got some "captain's cookies" from trader's joes. They are little graham crackers about a half dollar size in the shapes of pirates, parrots, treasure chests, compass, treasure X markings, and mermaids. I put some into little baggies and then hot seal them, folded card stock over the top and then put sticker labels with our names and date. I figured that it is going to be a long wait from breakfast to the reception, so it will be a nice little snack.

I got some "captain's cookies" from trader's joes. They are little graham crackers about a half dollar size in the shapes of pirates, parrots, treasure chests, compass, treasure X markings, and mermaids. I put some into little baggies and then hot seal them, folded card stock over the top and then put sticker labels with our names and date. I figured that it is going to be a long wait from breakfast to the reception, so it will be a nice little snack.

hehe! those would be so cute!!

call 1-800-princess to do the coupons. we had goodies in our room pretty much every night (shrimp cocktail, guac and chips, choc dipped stawberries, champagne, and our TA sent everyone a coupon for a bottle of wine (up to 20) and a tote bag).....all items ordered ahead by guests/friends.....you will need booking number i bet, or at least name and sailing date, maybe.

and anyone else doing oot bags. How did you carry them on board. I have 25 guests in 12 rooms- we have LLBEAN bags with a lot of stuff for them. Do you think I could pack them in a box? We don't need to fly to the port so I thought I would pack everything in a box and put the bags together when we got to the room and give them out at dinner the first night. Any insight? How did you pass them out? TIA

We just bought five huge "athletic" bags (academy) to put our 22 OOT bags in. We're going to ask each of the guys to carry them since most of their luggage will be checked. We don't have to fly either, so it makes it a bit easier. I already have them put together and we are going to use them as decos for the ceremony, then each guest can pick one up as we leave the ceremony. (no recept)

Someone else mentioned using the layered pant hangers (bed bath beyond) and hanging bag covers (walmart). I tried this, but they were too heavy to carry comfortably.

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I found another great item for oot bags. I found them at target in the dollar bins. They had a small case with sunscreen,aloe and after burn. It's called a sunburn kit. The size is perfect for the bags,and they were only a dollar.

We shipped them down there 'unpacked' by Fedex. Then we packed them up in the hotel. Our big LLBean bags we had our best man carry on (there were 7 of them) -- he just put 3 on one arm and 4 on the other. They were big but not heavy really. I guess if you have more, the pants hanger thing would work too.....TWE took them from us right when we got there, before any of the sailing guests had time to see what they were (the BM wasn't sailing). Unfortunately, they ALL got delivered to our room despite assurances that they'd be in each GUEST's room. It worked out alright -- we went around and handed them out.

We also had gift bags for every guest -- with rolled up t-shirts, custom soaps and toys for the kids -- these were about six inches wide and 9 inches tall, if that....we had all of those filled and put tissue paper in them at the hotel, and then used our Fedex boxes and set them all in there. They were taken to the reception site by TWE once we got there. One regret in this area -- we rode with my mom in her rental......she was non-sailing and we parked in the ramp and then had to traipse all our luggage and this stuff down the ramp. A cab would have dropped us off right in front. In hindsight that would have been worth the cash!!!! :-) Little things you don't think about until you are dragging all your luggage/stuff down the ramp and sending the BM and a helper back up for more!