Traveler's Survival Kit

Hey guys!  As promised, I wanted to share a little closer look at the “survival kits” that I put together for our welcome bags when we got married.  I may have major OCD, but when it comes to travelling, especially when there is an event involved, I tend to forget the little things.  In order to ease this stress for our guests, I tried to compile a list of items that I, myself would need.

The idea was to keep it thorough, yet compact.  So, I started with the adorable 5 x 7.5 chevron favor bags.  These are actually extremely inexpensive and there are tons of choices, from which I chose coordinating colors to our wedding.  I found these on Etsy, my go-to supplier while planning my wedding, in a shop called DimeStoreBuddy.   Her shop has tons of great party supplies from paper straws and bags to decorations and wooden utensils.  The pricing is also lovely when buying in bulk, these bags coming in at $.17 each!  I planned on 40 survival kits and ended up with extras, but as a planner, too many is always better than not enough.  (These bags can be found in lots of places now, including Hobby Lobby in a smaller version, or custom pre-printed from stores like Swoozies.  Pre-printing is adorable and arguably easier, but know that you will pay around double per bag in that case.)

I wanted to personalize my bags as much as possible, so I designed my own labels for each side.  Simply made in Word, printed at home on full sheet label paper.  This made customization fairly inexpensive as well.  The Mason jar “Love” stamp is one that I also found on Etsy and wanted to incorporate, as they were part of our décor.  Sugarskull7 has lots of designs and does custom work too.  She made this one custom for only $12!  The baker’s twine can also be found all over now, but I had only discovered it during this time, so I used it in several places, and of course in matching colors.  The beauty is, they come in over 30 different colors striped and solid, so you can match them to any theme.  And, at only $15 for an entire spool, you can’t beat it!  (My favorite brand is Divine Twine)

As for the contents, I started with the dollar store.  Yep, even though I’m not the biggest fan, for these purposes, it is the most wallet-friendly store when you need multiple items in bulk.  For the Band-Aids, mints, Plackers, nail files and alcohol pads, all items came in boxes of multiples; the grand total for my 40 bags being around $15.  The medicines were actually something I ordered off of Amazon  at decent prices.  Their pantry section has some steals and if you’re a Prime member, shipping is always free!  They also happen to have individual dose packs for quite a few meds that certainly may be necessary during or after a wedding.

I was especially excited about the wipes collection that I included.  That sounds like a messy baby situation, but I guarantee if you’re a germ freak or travel a lot, these are amazing.  The first time I saw these, it was in a pack with several, purchased at Marshalls.  I knew they would be essential for these little bags!  LA Fresh has quite the collection of travel wipes that run the gamut of personal care from makeup remover and polish remover to shoe shine and deodorant.  As we got married in the sunny, buggy South, I chose sunscreen, insect repellent and antibacterial wipes for our purposes.  If I had had a bigger budget, I have no doubt that it would have gone entirely to them.  They work out to around $.42 each when purchased in packs, so the pricing is very fair. In retrospect, I probably would have added a few more odds and ends that I always seem to forget, like bobby pins, safety pins and a hair tie, but in all, I loved how they turned out.

When all was said and done, I ended up spending about $3 per survival kit.  Given what was included and how personalized they were, I was extremely pleased!  Our guests absolutely loved them and most ended up saving the contents they didn’t use to keep in their travel bags.  What a relief for them and also a nice little reminder of you and your hubby on their next trip!  Now, they are tedious to assemble, but you can enlist the help of your bridesmaids to join your assembly line, as long as you have the space to spread out.  Or, take the easier road in a few short weeks and enlist the help of your friendly Golden Hand sisters and purchase them made especially for your event when our marketplace is up and running.  We will take all of the tedium out and put in your personalized touches!  Trust me, y’all, your guests will thank you!