Bridesmaid goody bags

As a ‘thank you’ present to our Bridesmaids, I’m making them a goodie bag each, with lots of little (cheap) presents in them, to say thanks for all their hard work in helping to organise Mr M and I’s wedding day. 

I’ll be giving them the goodie bags on the morning of the wedding when we are all getting ready, as some of the items they will need for the day itself.

In the thank you bags, there will be a necklace and earring set for them to wear on the day, a glass jewellery box, a pen, a thank you card, a wine glass to drink from whilst we’re getting ready, and maybe a candle or some kind of ‘smelly-set’, amongst other small things like sweets, mints/chewing gum and a lip balm.

I bought the gift bags themselves over Christmas as they fitted in perfectly with our colour scheme – lots of different shades of golds in different patterns.

The reason I decided to make these goodie bags was because I haven’t found any ‘conventional’ Bridesmaid presents I actually like. All of them are a bit useless – knowing MY Bridesmaids well, I know that they wouldn’t have a use for an engraved ‘Bridesmaid’ paperweight, or teddy-bear with a t-shirt with their name on. Its just not very ‘them’. So I’d rather get them things they can actually use. For example, the jewellery will be worn on the day, the jewellery box will be something useful to keep for years to come, and the wine glass will most definitely be used whilst we’re getting ready!!!

I also don’t want to spend a huge amount; having 3 Bridesmaids certainly adds up after a while!! So in total, I want to spend £20 or less on each of them. I am already buying their outfits, paying for their meals on the day, and organising (and paying) for them to have their hair and make-up done on the morning, so they are being treated to quite a lot I think!

I’ve started collecting the contents of the bag already; I bought their jewellery sets at Christmas (using the M&S 3 for 2 deal) as well as their wine glasses (50p for 3 glasses on the sale shelves in Wilkinsons!!), and the jewellery boxes this weekend (50% off at Sainsburys), when I found some absolutely gorgeous ones in the sale! I also bought the pens from my local pharmacist! They have a lovely range of small gifts, all at FAB prices! The rest of the items I’ll carry on collecting over the next year or so, but I’ll leave the candles or smelly sets till nearer the time so that they are as fresh as possible!

I’ve also made a large ‘label’ for the front of the bag, reading ‘thank you for being our Bridesmaid’ followed by our names and the wedding date. I thought not only would it personalise the gift bags a little more, but it also gave me another DIY project to contend with!