MJKH - Wedding week survival bags are done!!! Lots of pics : )

[MJKH]

Ahhhh yes, the budget.  Here's what I can tell you:

• my FI and I are very lucky that my parents and his mother will be paying for the actual wedding and AHR costs, which has freed us up to do a few more of these "nice little touches" for our guests.
• our DW will be on the smaller side...final payments are due in 8 days...but it looks like we'll have around 30 friends and family with us.  
• starting early is KEY...especially being able to shop for things at the end of the summer season when warm weather/beach-y items go on clearance.
• get to know if/where your local stores and supermarkets have clearance items...ASK!  I have purchased many items off of the clearance rack from the Shoppers Drug Mart down the street and last week I got a really good deal on Nivea and Softlips lip balms ($1), Dryell stain removal pens ($2.49) and travel-size Downey Wrinkle Release ($1.49) all on clearance at Safeway.  It's hit and miss though...I went to every other Safeway in the city in vain...no one else had more of these items for me : (
• couponing takes time and energy...start looking closely for pads of coupons hanging off the shelves in stores...rip some off (if it's for an item you'll ACTUALLY use) and start watching flyers and looking at couponing websites (for your area of the country) every week.  They will make reference to these coupons, where these items are on sale that week, and what your total cost would be.  Read your local flyers!  My Aveeno lip balms were all free thanks to a great offer at London Drugs a while back...the boxes of Advil Nighttime were all free (on sale at Shoppers Drug Mart for $3.99 and I had $4-off coupons for all of them)...the Aveeno hand lotions were all free thanks to the local Roots store (they were a promotional item sitting on the counter by the register in the summer, with a sign saying "help yourself"...when I asked her about them and told her about our DW, she gave me a whole box for free!).  The Puffs Tissues were mere pennies a pack because I used coupons for them.  The larger clear bottles of hand sanitizer were .20 each at Staples (a month or two ago?) when they had their 20th anniversary sale.  The Kleenex wet wipes were on sale in the summer for $1 a package at Superstore/Extra Foods.
• I "liked" (on Facebook) "websaver.ca"...and get up-to-the-minute notifications related to coupons and free sample offers in Canada.  We've received oodles of sample/travel size containers/packages of Pantene, Gillette, Kotex, Gain...you name it!  But samples are limited, so you must sign in quickly and stay on top of the offers as soon as they pop up.
• as for an actual breakdown, well...other than cosmetic bags for the ladies ($3 - $4 on sale at the end of the summer) and the travel-size cans of dry shampoo (3/$9.99), every item on that table was $2 or less, including the lip glosses (3 for $5) and hand sanitizers (.50) and their hangers (.05) and travel candles ($1) from Bath and Body Works (all purchased in the States over the July 4th holiday...another great time to pick up items on sale for your DW!)  I spent MANY lunch hours at Dollarama looking for items for the bags (my burlap bags, tissue, the Advil and Tylenol tubes, shower sponges, Blistex and Chapstick, lens-cleaning cloths, Sudoku books, playing cards + all came from Dollarama).  The wet bathing suit bags came from La Vie en Rose for $1.  I placed one order to www.minimus.biz for the eco bamboo mini foot files (which is my favourite item in each bag...it's the one thing I was dying for on our last trip to Mexico because my heels got so dry!)...they were $1.33, the eco nail files were .99, the Ms. Manicure pink bag with nail file and clipper was $1.99. The remaining items were purchased from the travel toiletry sections of Wal-Mart, Shoppers Drug Mart, Target, etc.  
• I like to shop...I took my time...I watched for sales and deals...I didn't get hung up on number of items (if I could only get a handful of something, I still took them if it was a good deal) because we kinda customized the bags for each guest.
• As for the clear plastic bags for the survival kits, I found them at a crafting wholesaler in Regina called "Gales Wholesale"...they're a heavier-grade plastic than a typical Ziploc I think. I realize that doesn't help most of you, but if you're not happy with the size of a typical Ziploc, try looking at your local food/restaurant/craft wholesalers for other options.  I think 100 cost me around $6.  

 

So folks, that's about all I can tell you...these bags were my labour of love...sorry, I don't have a cost per bag breakdown...each bag was somewhat different anyway.  

 

I hope our guests enjoy/appreciate/use them!!!

 

 

Originally Posted by Gin Bootles 

ok i know we all agree your bags are AWESOME!!! but i am going to ask the question no one has asked but i am sure they are dying to know... how much did you pay for all the items, and also where did you get the amazing coupons/deals!!! do share!!

 

 

Originally Posted by MsFoxxy 

Where did you buy the clear plastic bags for the survival kit??

 

Originally Posted by lucy<3woody 

Also wondering about where you got the bags.

 

[MsFoxxy]

Thanks so much for sharing the details!!  I found some heavier grade plastic bags on eBay.  They're a little pricey though.. I'm going to keep searching for a little while to see if I can find something cheaper.  If not, I'll just go with the eBay store (Home Town Sports Heroes).

[MsFoxxy]

Just found a less expensive store on eBay, if anyone is interested... they have TONS of sizes.  I'm thinking maybe 8x10... the price is about $6 for 100 of the 1mil thickness bags.  )   The store name is Mallqui Store.

[MJKH]

I just found the package from my bags and they were indeed 8 X 10...and, like I said, the oversize postcards printed the long way and folded in half fit perfectly on top.

 

Originally Posted by MsFoxxy 

Just found a less expensive store on eBay, if anyone is interested... they have TONS of sizes.  I'm thinking maybe 8x10... the price is about $6 for 100 of the 1mil thickness bags.  )   The store name is Mallqui Store.

 

[SS2012]

wow! these are amazing! good job

[MJKH]

So last night's project was the flip-flop basket. I moved our DW stuff all up from the basement to the office in the afternoon and felt overwhelmed by the amount to pack. Decided to put the flip-flop basket out next weekend with the wedding survival bags when everyone is here for the open house. That way, ladies will take them if they will use them and can enjoy them the entire week they are in Mexico. The flip-flops are from Old Navy (metallic silver, bronze and pearl...which btw are still available on their website!). A little part of me wants to challenge the ladies to a "who can best bedazzle their flip-flops" contest...but I think at this time of the year, people have enough to do! ; ) 

 

The tags are Vistaprint business cards (printed a slightly different way with our departure monogram), trimmed slightly, corners rounded with a punch...tied on with pink raffia. 

 

[yunric]

you are my hero! How amazing!! Your guests will love love love these!!

[MJKH]

Passport-style information booklets are done and ready for distribution this weekend.  Our page headings were:

 

"Before We Go"

"Remember To Bring"

"Day of Departure"

"At the Cancun Airport"

"Resort Information"

"Resort Dining"

"Local Area Information"

"Local Transportation Information"

"Money Matters"

"Notes" (Blank/Last Page)

 

The passport covers are from Michaels (purchased this last summer)...the cardstock paper covers are Vistaprint oversized postcards with a saturated pink (reverse) side.  About 1 inch was trimmed off the left side of the card to fit the cover...then the corners were clipped.  I'm not going to lie...as helpful as some of the examples were that I found here on BDW, the formatting of the booklet was a nightmare.  But neither my FI nor I are stellar when it comes to the world of computers.  I attempted to put some clip art in here and there, but eventually gave up : (

 

[lashesforever]

Wow! You are amazing.  Thanks so much for posting this.  It gives me great incentive to shop around for the deals!!

[Saniya]

wooowww great....!!!!

 

 

 

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