I don’t believe there are enough ways to thank everyone for attending our wedding, but I figured making OOTG goodie bags was the least we could do for all of our friends and family who are staying in hotel rooms during our wedding weekend. So before we go any further, I need to ask all Sword guest to leave this blog post. I mean, they can probably guess some of the items that will be included, but still, I want them to have a slight element of surprise!
The first item on the list was finding the right bag. I was in love with Mrs. Wallaby’s reusable canvas totes, but since we have such a large amount of OOTG’s I decided that wasn’t going to be cost-effective enough for us. So, I went hunting for small paper bags in large quantities. Unfortunately, our local dollar store didn’t have any pretty colors so we ended up purchasing a few packs of eight (half ivory, half dark greenish/brown) from JoAnn for six dollars a pack. Mom Sword and I decided to go with the smallest possible bag size that would fit everything. It’s a good idea too, because it makes the bag look nice and full and it saves on money/paper/space.
Can I just say I’m super proud of this next picture? I’m so happy I was able to figure out how to add words to the photo without anyone else’s help! Big deal for this Sword. 
Our guests will be getting a few chocolate candy bars, a bag of peanuts, a roll of mints, two mini water bottles, a few hand sanitizing wipes, a Chicago postcard, a personalized DND sign, and an information sheet for the weekend (not pictured).
I know our hotel charges something like a dollar or two to have them delivered to each room, so we’ll probably just have them handed out as the guests check into their rooms.
These are the OOTG bags all put together (minus the cute tags I made):
The trickiest part was deciding how many to make, the question being—do you make one bag per person, per couple, or per family?? We have hotel rooms reserved that range from one guest to five guests. In the end we made 48 OOTG bags and we have about 30 hotel rooms reserved under our room block. I figure some people might get two and it’s always good to have extras!
AND just because I don’t want our guests seeing the boutonnieres just yet (and I’ve found out that people actually pay attention to my “go away” notices)…here is the finished product on those! Thank you Sister/MOH Big Eyes and Mom Sword! I like to think I helped, but all I did was add anti-fraying goop to the edges of the tartan fabric. It looks blue in the photo, but it dried clear in the end!
I had a silly idea the other day that we should make a little sign or note asking the guests to locate and count all places we have used or placed the family tartan throughout our ceremony and reception. Still undecided on whether it’s an actual idea or just a joke in my head!
(all photos personal)
Are you making little goodie bags for your out-of-town guests? Do you like the final boutonnieres? Can you think of all the places we are using tartan at the wedding?
I love OOT bags! I haven’t decided if we’ll do them or not. Pretty much all of our guests will be OOT/staying at the hotel, so it’s a big undertaking. It’s been pushed to the ‘if we have time’ list for now. We’re definitely doing water bottles though and I think we might have them set up for the end of the reception, as guests exit.
Our OOTG bags looked a lot like yours with a nice spread of things to eat. We also included one bottle of Montana beer for each person.
Great goodie bags. We were planning on doing OOTG bags because all of our guests will be coming to the Cincinnati area for the first time and I think that the bags are just a nice way of us saying “thanks so much for coming to our wedding” and welcome to the city. We were going to add some of the items you have listed with the addition of travel size advil/aspirin (you never know when you may need it) and a bottle of pink moscato from Barefoot as pink is one of the wedding colors and moscato is just yummy after a long flight/drive. As only 10 people are OOTG we know that the cost will not be too much.
sorry, I should clarify all of our 10 OOTG (who are coming are new to the area. my original post made it seem like all of our wedding guests we OOTG..that would be a lot of bags 
We are going to do OOTG bags but it’s a little trickier for us because we are getting married on an island and everyone is renting houses or villas. We can’t just deliver them to the front desk of a hotel.
The good thing is that we will be arriving on Monday so we have time to get them put together and most of our friends won’t arrive until Wednesday or Thursday. We will either give them to the front desk of the resort (if that’s who people rented through) or just hande deliver them since we know the houses everyone is renting. Only having 50 guests makes it pretty easy too.
Your boutonnieres are perfect and I think your guests will love the OOT bags, there’s a little bit of everything in them
@StephK527: It’s definitely something that is on the “if there is time list! Good idea on the water bottles!
@Mrs. Bracelet: The Montana beer is such a smart idea!
@keytabell: I was actually looking to add travel size aspirin or ibuprofen! Where did you get yours?
@courtoni: Yea that is a bit trickier but how awesome to get married on an island!!
@Mrs. Pony: Thanks Mrs. Pony, you’re so sweet!
I love how the bouts turned out.
I can’t remember if you already mentioned it, but it’ll be fantastic if you can include a sign somewhere with a piece of the tartan explaining the importance of it being for your family.
These turned out really great! I bet your guests will totally appreciate them.
Mrs. Sword, Chicago Age and Occupation: 28, Nanny/Actress Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Software Engineer Engagement Date: February 19, 2012 Wedding Date: March 2013 Venue: Embassy Suites Bloomington West in Bloomington, MN About Me: I am a true girly-girl originally from the great state of Minnesota and my fiancé hails from the beautiful country of Scotland. We met and fell in love in our favorite city, Chicago, and are having a blast blending our cultures for "A Highland Fairy Tale" wedding! We are truly a case of opposites attract in that he’s a world traveling introvert and I’m a social butterfly who is never too far from home. We both love hanging out with family and friends, fine dining, and laughing at ourselves. He drinks a lot of beer and I talk too much. We wouldn’t have it any other way!
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