When it came time to choose my bridal party gifts, I searched high and low for the right presents for my favorite gals and pals. I found many wonderful ideas while shopping around, from engraved trinkets to matching jewelry, the options were endless but my budget was not and that made making the right choice feel very difficult.
It was not that I did not want to spend big bucks on my best friends and family, it was merely a budgeting issue that prevented me from picking any number of appropriate items I found on my search. I finally decided that since I had to go inexpensive, I would have to get creative. I was going to have to go DIY but the gift had to be good! I wanted to make sure that whatever I chose, it was not going to be something that would go unused or unappreciated by our much loved friends family members.
My husband and I chose to go with a non-traditional wedding, so this did allow me some freedom when it came to gift selection. What we ended up choosing was something practical and perfect for our group; we purchased and assembled the makings for what we called hangover first aid kits. Now, some of you might be thinking this is a way to encourage our friends to drink in excess and that is not cool, but let’s be honest, encouragement or not, people love to drink at weddings! We also planned ahead by having a wedding where everyone could stay overnight if they wanted, so no one had to drive which was what we really encouraged people to do.
For these kits, we purchased the bulk gift bags and tissue paper that can be found at Target. We then hit up the travel section for all the travel sized goodies that people find themselves missing after nights of carefree debauchery, like mini toothbrushes and toothpaste, mouth wash, hand sanitizer, and small bottles of Advil or Tylenol. To complete the kit we got reusable water bottles for every person. All of these things combined made for a perfect hangover first aid kit.
What was wonderful about these gifts is that they gave everyone a good laugh and were definitely put to good use the day after our wedding. Two years later, and many of our friends and family still have and use their water bottles! When we are together and they realize where they got the bottles we pause to appreciate how much fun we all had on our special day. In the end, we made a good choice by sticking to our budget. We were able curb our spending to about $15 per party member. We could have saved even more if we had made our decision sooner. We could have shopped around a bit more or possibly purchase our items online, but being that this was a last-minute endeavor, the savings were still considerable.
If you and your friends like to keep things fun and light-hearted, I recommend constructing your own kits. They can have anything you can think of in them so there is plenty of opportunity for personalization. You could even go as far as to get your bottles engraved, though that does up the price a bit. Whatever you decide, be true to who you and your husband-to-be are and your friends and family are bound to love whatever gifts you choose!
You can use free samples and more for your bridal party goodie bags! Grab more free samples here!
By Tara, Free Stuff Finder Contributor
