DIY: Canvas Welcome Bags

A guest post by Chandra of 'Oh Lovely Day' comin' atcha... Have a great weekend everyone!

From Chandra:  Hey y'all!  Chandra from Oh Lovely Day here.  I'm so happy to guest post for Kristin while she is on a much needed hiatus.  I wanted to share with a DIY project I did for my own wedding.  I've been to a lot of weddings.  AAAAA LOT!  And as an out-of-town guest, I have always appreciated a good welcome bag.  So when I was planning my wedding and knew a majority of our guests were coming to California from all over, I vowed to make them as comfortable as possible.

I wanted to make my welcome bag a little more personal than the generic brown or colored paper bag with a couple of things thrown in.  I wanted them to include what I believe are necessities.  And I wanted them to be easy and inexpensive for me!

Materials for the bags:

• Canvas tote bags (from cheaptotes)
• Iron-on printer paper (from office depot)
• An iron
• A printer
• An image to print

We had a monogram that we included on our save-the-dates, invitation suite, and other wedding details, and I wanted to put in on our welcome bags.  I had to reverse the image so that when it was printed and ironed on it would read correctly.  I bought enough tote bags to accommodate each out-of-town couple or guest for our wedding.  I printed a coordinating number of monograms.  Then I found a hard surface (a table works well- an ironing board does NOT work as well).  Follow the directions on the transfer paper packaging.  I laid an old pillow case down on the table, put the tote on top of that, and placed the printed paper where I wanted it on the tote.  Then I ironed each image on until I had done enough totes for everyone.

Next you have to fill the bags.  Here are what I consider essentials:

• 2 bottles of water (this is the most important thing, and one bottle is NOT enough unless for only one person!)
• Snacks (in ours I included special K cereal bars, a bag of chips or crackers, and a small bag of Isabella's Cookies, which are made where we had our wedding and are my absolute fave!)
• Hangover helpers (tums, advil, etc.)
• A map of the area and activities & restaurant recommendations
• Mints and/or gum
• An itinerary of events, including any shuttle departure times (if applicable)
• Sunscreen (if in a beachy area)

Here is a picture of our finished product, complete with itinerary and other items with our monogram:

Total approximate cost per bag = $6

Making your guests feel welcomed, comfortable, informed, and hydrated....priceless.

Thanks Chandra!  {Make sure you stop by Oh Lovely Day to show Chandra some love!}

xoxo Kristin