Bridal Party Swag: Christmas Ornaments!

How on earth can one have a Christmas wedding without Christmas ornaments?  Not possible, I tell you.  So early in the planning process, I started the research to figure out how I'd make some for our bridal party gifts.  Initially I thought I would purchase and decorate plain ornaments but in April, they were somewhat difficult to find.  But you know what isn't hard to find?  Christmas clearance at Crate and Barrel, and CB2!  Pottery Barn also had some cute sale ornaments, but CB2 definitely had the most affordable options- the only concern was making sure I purchased something with a vintage enough vibe.

So when I stumbled upon these blown glass cuties at CB2 for $.50 apiece, I immediately snapped up 30 of them.  And to my surprise, the arrived individually packaged in perfect square boxes!  So I got to work getting them gift-ready.  I ordered green paint pens and coordinating ribbon from JoAnne , and then I wrote our names and the dates on each piece, adding a heart later after deciding it needed a heart.  It was not as easy as it looks to use paint pens on ornaments... but the great thing about paint pens is that you can use a wet paper towel to wipe off paint and then re-do it if you have to.  And so 5 nights and two cramped hands later, we had these!

[caption id="attachment_1782" align="aligncenter" width="242" caption="I love how cute the scrolled decoration is!"][/caption]

While the ornaments had originally come wrapped in plastic, I decided to re-wrap them in coordinating green tissue, and then I placed them back in their boxes.  But that wasn't good enough for me.  Oh no, it was April and I was not yet oversaturated with "wedding" so I kept going.  I wrapped the boxes in gold paper (from the Christmas Tree shop, where I bought 10 rolls for $1.99 apiece!) and used green ribbon (purchased on clearance from Michael's for $1 per roll), and sealed the ribbon using a white embossed sticker with our monogram.

[caption id="attachment_1783" align="aligncenter" width="279" caption="Ta-Da!"][/caption]

So the total cost for this project, even with shipping costs and gift wrap, came in at about $30 for 30 ornaments.  Which was perfect, since we still wanted to give other goodies to our bridal party.  Stay tuned to see what they got!!