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Monday, April 27, 2009

The Out of Town Bag Wiki

The Out of Town Bag: To do or not to do? I hadn't initially planned to put together out of town bags, but after talking with my Future Mother-in-Law I came out with a new stance on the issue. I'm not going to stress over them, and they won't be super fancy, but I'm going to do them.


FMIL has had the opportunity to travel to a number of weddings in the past couple years, friends of the family in New England, nieces and nephews in far off islands and New Jersey. With all the traveling to distant and not-so-distant lands, she said that she and FFIL, were always grateful for a little note from the bride and groom, and at the very least, a couple of restaurant suggestions where they can grab a bite or get some coffee.


Whenever I travel someplace, I go to town with the Google maps. If you've never used the "My Maps" function you should check it out stat. I'll wait.

Pretty cool, no? But I realize not everyone is like me, mapping out everything and researching before they travel somewhere. Hence, there will be out-of-town bags for our out-of-town guests!


I've already got a short list of places I'll recommend to guests and we've started composing our welcome note, but what else should we put in? We don't have much budgeted for this, but I want to include one unique item. Preferably something local that says, "You're in Virginia!"

I checked out WeddingBee's wiki section to see what they had to say. They have a great wiki on OOT bags, with ideas for special items for specific cities...but NOTHING FOR VIRGINIA, DC or MARYLAND! What?!


So come on, let's get the ball rolling! Leave me your ideas for unique out of town bag items in the comments! Let me know what state or region (i.e. "Virginia," "the Eastern Shore," They Northern Neck," "DC," etc.), and what item you would suggest (and why! if you want to). Also, what do you consider a great essential? Bottled water? Granola bars? Local map? Leave it in the comments! Can't wait to see what great ideas we come up with!!

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14 Comments:

Blogger Ashley said...

I'm having the exact same problem.

I'm def. thinking old bay, a crab hammer and a crab cake recipe.... but I'm also from Maryland.

Monday, April 27, 2009 3:32:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i'm in the same boat, but i have a lot of time. our wedding next year will be in richmond and all of the guests, me, and my fiance are ALL OOT! I am thinking of just putting some restaurant recommendations, maybe tickets or coupons to a local attraction, a nice VA magnet, and maybe something else small and cute that ties the wedding to the bag. The definite items in the bag will be a schedule of events for the weekend and maps to get to and from. We are having a small wedding and only going to do one bag per invite, so it shouldn't be too pricey.

Monday, April 27, 2009 6:28:00 PM  
Blogger Gabrielle said...

From DC (Northern VA) -- I always loved the state motto "Virginia is for lovers". This is a random idea that pops into mind:

a personalized license key chain (when I first got to the area I was overwhelmed by how many customized plates are there, then I learned VA has the most. You could get your names or something VA related printed on license plate key chains...)

Monday, April 27, 2009 8:41:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Ha! 2 people already took my first ideas: Old Bay and something with the old "VA is for lovers" logo. So, I definitely second those.

And, you can always get some silly DC tourist stuff (memorials, etc) down on the Mall, plus those guys on the street corners sell t-shirts 2 for $5 a lot of the time (I <3 DC).

Other things from VA: peanuts (peanut brittle),

From MD: Rosebud salve!, Under Armor

Have fun!

Monday, April 27, 2009 9:52:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

If you're going to be right in or around DC, this might add up too quickly, but you could include a Metro card with a small amount of $ on it (or at least a Metro map). Also, I don't know when your wedding is, but you could also include sunscreen/bug spray, since DC gets so hot and swampy in the summer.

Good luck!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009 8:25:00 AM  
Blogger mrc said...

I had planned on including virginia peanuts, personal notes to each guest, maps of the area and activity pamphlets, directions to all wedding activities, bottled water, chocolates, postcard from the area, tissues, breakfast snack, fruit, crackers, some type of homemade cookies , sewing kits. little bags with everything from band aids to cotton balls and q-tips, travel sized packets of Advil, small chocolates or candies, chex mix, gum

Tuesday, April 28, 2009 8:46:00 AM  
Blogger violarulz/ducksandbooks said...

I know these are from PA, but DC is as far south as you can get them: Utz chips, and anything made by Tasty Kake (especially the fruit pie Tasty Kakes, yum!).

I'd include a map of all my favorite ethnic resturants, The Mall/museums, and the metro. Just the highlights, there are SO many things to see/do in DC that it's easy to overwhelm people.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009 11:48:00 AM  
Blogger D-Day said...

my wedding is in Fairfax so I was going to put together a list of restaurants/bars/shopping within walking distance/a short drive/a long drive of the hotels and our venue, and then maybe directions to the metro and a metro map in case people have time to take a trip into DC. I have ridiculous hopes of drawing my own map of the area around our venue and hotels, and/or having my artist mother do that. I'd like to include something local, whether food and/or nicknacks, but we'll see what we feel like/what our budget is by that time. And then of course a little note from the mr. & me saying Thanks for coming!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009 12:24:00 PM  
Blogger Bumpy Belly said...

I've been struggling to think of DC-specific food or beverages and coming up with nothing! Our wedding is the first day of Cherry Blossom festival next year so I'll definitely include metro maps and brochures with info about the festival. Bottled water, crackers, and granola bars are always good. Bug spray was an awesome idea too!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009 12:53:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

For the non-googler take a look at a DC pop-out map. At Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Washington-popout-USA-PopOut-Maps/dp/1841393924/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241019657&sr=8-1

Wednesday, April 29, 2009 10:45:00 AM  
Blogger Nat said...

I'm from MD and I say do a canister of Old Bay, people will love it and be excited to show their friends this east coast staple!

Wednesday, April 29, 2009 11:44:00 AM  
Blogger Alexis said...

A few of these were already mentioned... but i'm including virginia peanuts, a virginia is for lovers bumper sticker, travel guides for DC and for Loudoun county (you can also get virginia wine country travel guides for free!). My FAVORITE idea is that we'll be including custom bars of olive oil soap packaged with our logo. I got 50 bars for under $70 on ETSY. See http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5540049

Good luck!! :)

Thursday, May 07, 2009 9:13:00 AM  
Blogger Jess said...

I'm a bit late on this because I was off getting married but wanted to contribute. We got married in Annapolis and had many out of town guests so I wanted something simple but that would share the local flavor with them.
We included an Annapolis guide book and map (free from the visitors center) a brochure of the state park we got married in, a welcome letter that included places to eat, a recipe card with my grandmother's crab dip and another with my favorite crab cake recipe, a couple sample size packets of Old Bay (got them for free at an Oriole's game), crab flavored UTZ chips (while made in PA they were first sold out of state in Baltimore), UTZ pretzels, Otterbein's lemon cookies (also from Baltimore) and a couple bottles of water.
One other thing that we considered but didn't include was a packet of Black Eyed Susan seeds. Sounds like there are some great ideas here!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009 3:09:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I grew up in NoVa but currently live in Atlanta. I'm planning my wedding this October in Loudoun County. At first I couldn't think of any particular food associated with VA except for ham...and that wasn't going to happen! But, because our wedding is in the fall and we'll be in apple (and wine) country I'm incorporating this "theme" into the OOT bags.
I plan to include bottled water with a customized label, mini bag of Jolly Time's caramel apple popcorn (or maybe just caramel, yum!), tylenol packets, instant hot apple cider packets, an apple, mini bottle of local wine or sparkling cider, Shenandoah apple candy, directions/maps to local eats and emergency info, and of course a thank you card. I love the idea of including a Metro card in there too. Isn't an all day pass $6? Not bad.

...after reading all the posts I'm now craving Utz crab chips...and I can't get them in Atlanta - boo!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010 11:07:00 AM  

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