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We didn't make them. They weren't in our budget and I would have made them for practically everyone and I didn't have time for that at all. Just do it if you want to but if you can't afford it, no one will miss it.
OOT bags are usually for the guests who have to travel, and they're meant to kind of make them feel welcome and at home. Usually things like water bottles, snacks and maps of the area go in. Some brides make them themed for the city.
But if you don't have the room in your budget, it's not necessary at all. We did them because people had to travel six hours by car, or fly. Plus, our town had a lot of specialities, so it was easy for us to come up with goodies (the town bottles its own water).
But for you, considering that the average travel for each guest isn't super expensive, I wouldn't worry about it.
I don't plan on doing OOT bags, and a good deal of our guests are traveling for the wedding - it's just an extra expense that we don't really have room in the budget for.
It is definitely not a necessary thing to do!
Yes it is nice if it is in your budget but it doesn't seem like it is in yours so I wouldn't bother!
NOT necessary, but certainly nice to have.
They were VERY low on our priority list, so we aren't doing them (we also aren't having many OOT guests).
I don't think they're necessary, but they're definitely nice to receive... if you have the money and/or the time. Usually I've received them upon checking into the hotel, so someone must have dropped them off beforehand and told the front desk at the hotel the list of wedding guests who were staying there.
We are going to do them for our guests -- we're including bottles of Poland Spring water, small bags of chocolate-covered blueberries, bug spray wipes, local information that we plan to get for free from the local tourist booth, and a weekend schedule.
A weekend schedule! THAT is such a good idea! Maybe I will just leave one of those.
If you want to do something small for your OOT bags, just get a bottle of water and a 2 pill pack of asprin tied to the bottle with a ribbon- per person. Ask the hotel if they can pass them out to the rooms while everyone is at your recpetion (the asprin is great for the morning after a party!) or maybe place them all in a basket/box at the entrance/exit of your reception at the end of the night for people to take as they leave.
Do you have a wedding website? If so, you can include a link on there for special places to visit or eat around the area where the wedding is or any wedding-related events as well.
I had actually never heard of OOT bags until I saw people talking about it on Wedding Bee. I have a good amount of out of town guests, but I don't think I will be doing them....it's not really in the budget and I'm not sure I want to devote my time to it.
anything you can give your OOT guests to make them feel appreciated / at home would be welcome. If you don't have the budget to do it up, hit costco and buy a cart full of the 4.50/case waters and hit michaels and buy some of those bulk cute cheap note cards. 25 envelopes and cards for a couple bucks. But i'd do SOMETHING if i were you. We are having elaborate ones, but then again we're having a DW with 60 guests - doable.
They DEF arn't necessary, but after joining this site I just had to do them! We handed them out at the RD & overall I was kinda bummed b/c our guests wern't as excited about them as I thought they would be :(
haha Annie as far as you're concerned, they were the best OOT bags ever and they were so in love with them that they couldn't find the right words to tell you. :) Hehe I will be taking on this attitude in 5 days when we get to our destination - whatever happens, happens! and it totally rocked.
IMO, OOT bags are nice, but not necessary. Unless you have spare money for them, I'd just skip them.
I think anything that makes your guests feel welcome (especially if you aren't going to have enough time to spend quality time with all of them) is worth doing. It doesn't have to be very expensive...I LOVE Cristy's advice about bottled water & aspirin! Even a double-sided card with info about the area's specialties on one side, a more personal note thanking them for making the effort on the other would be appreciated. In this economy, even with the people closest to you, it's not easy to make the effort to travel to your wedding...OOT bags is just another way to show your guests how much it means to you that they came.
I voted "other" cause I am really set on having OOT bags but they are by no means necessary. You can do them w/o spending a lot, though. A schedule with a personal welcome note from you and FI, maps and visitor guides are free at the Chamber of Commerce, bottled water, pain reliever and a snack makes for a great, but low-cost welcome for your OOT guests.
im doing them because my FI and mom think its necessary (i KNOW it is not). I found little plastic "beach" bags at Target this weekend and got 25 of them for a $1 each. They also had $1 fuzzy slipper socks that I will put in each one. I plan on putting a chapstick, 2 water bottles, some advil, a sweet snack and a salty snack. All of this is pretty cheap. I plan on including a schedule and some brochures/coupons for the area. I'm hoping i can do them for about $7/8 each. My mom said she'd pay for them since she is the one that wants them so bad.
Not necessary at all, especially if you are on a budget. The majority of couples in real life, despite what the magazines tell you, don't give them and guests don't miss them either. The hospitality you are providing at the ceremony and reception is plenty.
I voted other as well because while i dont think they are 100% necessary, theyre definitely really nice to have. Like others said just get a cheap case of water from Costco (even 5 cases wont cost you more than $25) and then you can just have cards that say thank you and enjoy your stay and maybe the times and locations of each thing going on.
I am making "folders" and will put maps and brochures for points of interest, driving directions and phone numbers in them but not much more than that. I think it will be crazy enough without worrying about getting them to my guests.
I am getting married on a Friday so Saturday everyone is doing their own thing, sight seeing etc... there is no way we can be with all of them.
I did find some Evian water in really pretty glass bottles that I got for my bridesmaids who are staying in hotels but no one else.
they are not necessary at all. but, when i traveled to oklahoma for a friend's wedding and was greeted at the hotel by that bag, i was SO impressed and pleased... and i'd love to do the same for my guests!
I plan to have them, but I don't at all think they are necessary. If they don't fit your budget, don't do it! Plain and simple, there are tons of things that seem "necessary" when you enter the world of weddings, that truly are not necessary.
Maybe just a small packet with the weekend itinerary, directions to the wedding etc...?
I voted "other" based on a good friend's experience recently.
I never thought they were necessary, but a friend of mine was checking into the hotel for a wedding, and apparently there were other weddings there that weekend, because friend could see the other bride's OOT bags behind the counter at check-in and saw other guests getting them. For that reason alone, friend was a little dissapointed she didn't get an OOT bag.
That said, people will SO get over it. This is just an anecdote. If it's not in your budget, don't stress. There are so many other things that are way more important.
We are doing them but our wedding is also about 2000 miles away. I would say for people who are traveling for only a couple hours to get there don't worry about it.
We had them. I think they are nice espcecially when people travel to see you.
Our hotel passed them out for us. I filled them with half salty treats (chips, pretzels) and half sugar treats (candy, granola bars, etc.), also gum, mints, water and tissues. I also added an info. booklet about the town (which was probably totally overkill). I also put our monogram backed with cardstock on the front of each bag and a thank you tag hanging from the handles. But I enlisted my parents' help to put them together and it took a 1 hour shopping trip and about 1.5 hours of assembly. We did ours the week before the wedding. No biggie...
I've never traveled and stayed at a hotel for a wedding without getting one. I don't think they're necessary but I think they're nice.
If you don't want to put together a bag, at least have some sort of welcome letter available or something. One place they offered a letter, map, and customized coozie - stuff like that is EASY but thoughtful. Even just offering a schedule is helpful.
Honestly I'd never heard of them or received them at any out of town wedding I'd ever been to. We're doing them, largely because we want to- and because it is within our budget. It is most certainly NOT expected, so I'd say if you can't do it- that's just fine!
we're going to do them for people who are staying for the weekend, which only a small handful are. i'm going to include a lot of pamphlets on things to do for the weekend and some goodies. people who are staying just for sunday night, i'm going to get small baskets and put some water and food in there for them, so they have something for their ride home on monday morning.
I didn't even know about OOT bags before I started reading bridal mags and this board. Been to three OOT weddings before and never got one.
They are cute if you have the time to put into them, if not then don't bother. I've only gotten one at a wedding before, and it had some snack food, and bottled water, and then brochures for the area stuff... they put them together because the hotel's in-suite snack bar prices were outrageous and they didn't want their guests to be tempted into a 10Dollar candy bar.
I agree with @melissa...do something (gronola bars, bottled water and a cute note pad...easy and suuuper cheap!)
I think they're necessary if there is either a substantial drive or a flight involved in getting to the destination. Who wants to have to race out to go buy some water or get a map at the hotel after a day of travelling to somebody else's wedding?
I'm making them and have contacted the local chamber of commerce to get some maps, flyers, etc. Also will have bottled waters, and local postcards in it along with a treat or two!
We're also having made some really cute doorhangers from an etsy vendor and putting them in there! Very inexpensive but such a personalized touch!
They don't have to be expensive either. Check out oriental trading (www.orientaltrading.com ) for some fun stuff to put inside! I'm even doing kids favors for the wedding too! Also quite inexpensive.
Never seen them in real life. Definitely not necessary even though the wedding industry wants you to believe otherwise.
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So our wedding is semi-destination, which means most of our guests will have to make a 2-4 hour drive to get there, some will be a little longer, and some will be in town. We are having our reception at a hotel, so nobody has to drive afterwards. I had never even heard of OOT bags until I joined WeddingBee. Now, I'm wondering if I need them or not. They really aren't in our budget, and I have no clue what I would put in them, but I'm not have a favor at the wedding either. Maybe just make them up for family? But where does that line end? I have a HUGE extended family, like 80 of our 200 person guest list is just my family. And FH has 60 on his family side. So if I did just family, I would only be cutting like 40 bags out....
Are these really that necessary? I just don't know what to do. The other problem is that I have TONS of stuff to do in the next month, not sure if I could get these done by then!
And how do you pass them out to your guests? The only accomodations we are paying for is parents, BMs and GMs. Do we have the hotel pass them out when they check in?