Welcome bags for guests

[skyblu]

Hi all,

We're having a destination wedding at an all-inclusive in Mexico. Instead of favors, we want to do really nice welcome bags to put in our guests' hotel rooms.

I was hoping for ideas for useful stuff to put in there. They won't need snacks or water because, well, it's an all-inclusive. We don't want anything bulky or heavy that will be a PITA for them to travel back home with.

We thought beach towels, but no, the resort of course has their own. So far I only have maps of the area (with activities and tours and stuff), and little rubber duckies dressed up in sombreros (for the Mexican whimsical part).

Ideas, please? Also, if you have a link of where I can find what you're suggesting, that'd be extra helpful.

Thanks so much!!

[lil_geek]

Beach Towels - an option regardless since you may want your own to know where you are sitting! At most resorts I go to you can only get one beach towel at a time, and if you loose it it's $10-20 to replace.

Travel Mugs - we always take our with us.... the cups at most all inclusives are pretty small and flimsey.... and if it's HOT your drinks don't stay cold too long (on our honeymoon the couple handed out mugs to their guests at the airport, they had them all engraved with 'Mother of the Bride', 'Maid of Honour' etc. They LOVED them and you saw them with them all week!!

Visors - just for fun, get everyone cheap matching ones in the wedding colours (or something like pink for girls and blue for boys)

Bug Repellent - Maybe not fun, but I ALWAYS forget it when I go south and there are still mosquitos and such!

ETA

Playing cards or something similar to play down there around the pool or in the evenings

[skyblu]

Great ideas, lil_geek, thank you! I especially love the travel mug idea. I do remember we brough our own when we went to an all-inclusive in Jamaica. Thanks again!

[kk junebug]

a few random ideas:

sunscreen/lip balm: i know when we went to mexico, we went thru sunscreen and chapstick multiple times a day.

aloe: ya know, the green stuff! might be handy for any pale skinned guests

small bottles of tequila: its mexico afterall...

disposable camera: in case anyone forgets their camera....?

[sublime311]

Bottles of water
Sunscreen is a MAJOR necessity!
Nuts or other snacks (mexican candy (http://www.mexgrocer.com/catagories-mexican-candy.html), maybe)
Blow-up beach ball (http://www.orientaltrading.com/application?namespace=browse&origin=searchMain.jsp&event=link.itemDetails&demandPrefix=12&sku=80/4081&mode=Searching&erec=15&No=16&D=beach&Ntt=beach&Ntk=all&Dx=mode%252bmatchallpartial&Ntx=mode%252bmatchallpartial&N=0&sd=6%22+BEACH+BALL) or this one (http://www.orientaltrading.com/application?namespace=browse&origin=searchMain.jsp&event=link.itemDetails&demandPrefix=12&sku=49/396&mode=Searching&erec=13&No=32&D=beach&Ntt=beach&Ntk=all&Dx=mode%252bmatchallpartial&Ntx=mode%252bmatchallpartial&N=0&sd=INFLATABLE+WEDDING+BEACH+BALLS).
Mexican shopping bag (http://www.latinworksco.com/marbagbrbol.html)
Beach safe (http://www.orientaltrading.com/application?namespace=browse&origin=searchMain.jsp&event=link.itemDetails&demandPrefix=12&sku=8/218-IP&mode=Searching&erec=3&No=32&D=beach&Ntt=beach&Ntk=all&Dx=mode%252bmatchallpartial&Ntx=mode%252bmatchallpartial&N=0&sd=BEACH+SAFE-IMPRINTED) (for money, etc)
Mexican postcards with stamps
First aid kit
Spanish-english dictionary
An empty jar for shell collecting
Mexican pastries
Coffee/tea

I know you want it to be "really nice", but using a beach bucket instead of a "bag" per se, would be fun!

[Shapsgrl]

I was married last month in Cabo and we did pretty elaborate OOT bags. I have some photos to share...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v396/nabumbah/ootbags.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v396/nabumbah/koozie.jpg

they were not cheap, but all of our guests seemed to really like and appreciate them.

[ejs]

We had a destination wedding in Hawaii. Our bags for guests included:
ChapStick
Sunscreen
Aloe vera
Inflatable beach ball
Frisbee
Hand-held battery-operated fan
Tropical-print bucket hat
Rollable beach mat
Pain reliever
Purell
Flip-flop key chain
Tropical temporary tattoos
Welcome note
Directions to all wedding-related activities
We put it all in a big mesh beach bag.

[laura]

I like the mesh beach bag idea. I have started packing one, but for a long time I always forgot to include a smaller bag to take to the beach, so I would always have to dump all the stuff out of my carry on bag and take that. ITA w/ all these things:

sunscreen/lip balm: i know when we went to mexico, we went thru sunscreen and chapstick multiple times a day.

aloe: ya know, the green stuff! might be handy for any pale skinned guests

small bottles of tequila: its mexico afterall...

disposable camera: in case anyone forgets their camera....?


Also, you could include 1 thing from the place you are from if you wanted. I also like the flip flop keychain idea (er, I may be partial b/c that is what I use regularly!) - or actually, I like ejs' entire list. I think you could still include candy/snacks even though it is an all inclusive. Unless there's a free mini bar.

[skyblu]

Thanks so much, everyone! I just completed the bags and they came out great!

I didn't include any snacks or bottled water because the resort has all-inclusive/free minibars as well as 24-hour room service. However, we're also doing little Chinese take-out boxes with personalized M&M's in our colors as wedding favors, so they'll have a little extra something to snack on.

Our colors are chocolate brown, aqua, and apple green. This is what we did:


Chocolate brown tote bags with our logo on them.
Apple green leather luggage tag on the strap, with a welcome sign that could be reversed to put on the guest's information.
A 2-pocket folio in our colors (88 cents at Wal-Mart!) containing our welcome letter, weekend itinerary, map of the area, information on what to do in the area, and tickets/information for the tour that we're taking everyone on the day after the wedding.
Little brown box with sunblock, aloe vera, bug spray, and lip balm in it.
Small leather-bound photo album (we got some in lime green and some in aqua).
Green and aqua flip flop key chains.
Tin pails painted aqua, with a little votive candle in it.
Bath salts packaged in really cute aqua or green little pouches.
Bath fizzies (6 of them) in wedding colors.
6 postcards (with Mexican postage!) tied in a little package with matching ribbon.
Little tequila bottles (we're picking them up there) with 2 personalized shot glasses.
Little Mexican rubber duckies, dressed in sombreros and whatnot. :D



Whew! Now I REALLY hope the airline doesn't lose our luggage.

Thanks again for all the great ideas!