Bridal Party Swag: The Bridesmaids!

Up next, the bridesmaids' gifts!  I seriously, seriously had to stop myself from buying bridesmaids gifts on a regular basis.  It is a small miracle that I stopped here.  It seemed I was constantly running into amazing bargains for off-season goodies.  But thankfully I did stop eventually, because nothing else would have fit into the gift bags!  So here's what the girls got:

(1) their big gift: monogrammed white cashmere scarves from Land's End.  My only regret is that I didn't get one for me!

[caption id="attachment_1802" align="aligncenter" width="280" caption="Ok, I admit this isn't the exact scarf but you get the idea. Click image for source."][/caption]

(2) Christmas candles from Crabtree and Evelyn. (sorry, no photo for this one...)

(3) Amber bath oil and bath salts from the Body Shop. (I'm a bad blogger and didn't get a photo of this one either)

(4) Flip flops that went with their bridesmaids dresses, in chocolate, for the reception (hey, cute shoes are generally painful shoes, so I made sure there was a plan B!)

[caption id="attachment_1801" align="aligncenter" width="223" caption="Old navy flip flops- affordable, basic, perfect."][/caption]

(5) "Bridesmaids Survival Kits" which were a combination of (a) handmade cosmetic bags in Amy Butler fabrics which I had custom made by Woodly Creations; (b) gingerbread lip gloss from Philosophy; (c) tiny "love" sewing kits, bandaids for feet, tylenol, safety pins, and shout wipes.  I was a girl scout after all- gotta "be prepared"!

[caption id="attachment_1800" align="aligncenter" width="222" caption="As an added bonus, these matched the gowns so well that many of the maids used them as clutches on the wedding day!"][/caption]

(6) Vintage handkerchiefs, wrapped with a poem on the back about friendship (I'm a cheeseball, I know, but apparently my ladies are too because they loved them).

[caption id="attachment_1799" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="You can find great vintage hankies on ebay!"][/caption]

(7) Little scrapbook-thank you notes, which contain photos of me and each bridesmaid through the years, and have a little note from me at the end.  These were such a hit, and there are so many cost effective ways one could re-create this project.  I highly recommend it!

[caption id="attachment_1798" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="I loved how each scrapbook was different!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1797" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The finished gift!"][/caption]

And of course, a Christmas ornament. To top it off, I tied pretty bows on the gift bags- and followed Beyonce's advice, since I like them, and put a ring on it!  (I had to buy a package of faux rings at the craft store for the ring bearer's pillow, and I had some extras so I used them to bling things up).  To my surprise, these also turned out to be a hit- everyone was wearing them!

[caption id="attachment_1803" align="aligncenter" width="222" caption="ba-ling!"][/caption]

I hope they liked them as much as I enjoyed making them!