A lot of folks from my family’s side will be coming to Washington, DC from out of town and staying in 
hotels, so I really like the idea of a welcome bag to be waiting for them at the hotel room when they arrive. I think it’s a nice way to demonstrate our appreciation for traveling to celebrate our wedding day.
But, I’ve been trying to figure out what to include in it. Here are some initial thoughts.
- Road Map of Metropolitan DC Area – I can get these free from the local AAA office since I’m a member. I realize road maps are a bit old-fashioned at this point, but it’s a nice touch!
- Printed Driving Directions from the hotel to locations they might want to visit
- Lots of brochures (DC, Northern Virginia, etc.) – These would be free from the local tourism offices.
- Metro Map – including what stops to use for key landmarks and a list of metro fares
- List of nearby restaurants and their price ranges
- List of contact information in case they get lost on the way to the wedding. I’m not sure who’s contact information I would provide though.
- A reminder of the wedding day events and start time!
- A highlights page, pointing out some things they may want to check out in the DC area, going beyond the basics of the National Mall, including pointing out lesser-known areas they may want to visit, such as Old Town Alexandria, Mt. Vernon, etc.
- Some sort of welcome snack, TBD. Maybe a small baggie of variety snack-size candy bars, a small bag of chips, and an apple or orange. I realize there are a lot of “local” type candies you can buy, but I don’t want to spend that much. For instance, there are candies in the shape of like the White House and Washington Monument, but they’re close to $4.00 each! Although I do feel a little bad saying that considering the fact that the guests have to spend money to get to the wedding.
- One or two bottles of water
- A quick thank you note telling our guests that we’re excited they could come and can’t wait to see them at the wedding. Maybe this could just be a gift-tag type note attached to the welcome bag handle
All of the paper items could go in an inexpensive folder. I think I would print things out on heavier cardstock paper so that it would look a little nicer
And then we would need just a plain canvas bag to put everything in. Most of the items would be fee, but I’d have to figure out the average per-bag cost if we included some candy, fruit, and bottled water, plus the cost of folders and cardstock.
What do you think? Anything I’m missing?
