Bridesmaid's Gifts Questions

1) the weekend before the wedding for the two local BMs and the night before for my sister who lives OOT 2) Rougly $60 per girl.
3) Makeup bag with stuff from Sephora I know they use (each personalized to their taste), nail polish because they all do their own nails regularly, and booze (two of them got tequila, the other got vodka).

I also got my MOH a bottle of wine to thank her for putting together my bachelorette party.

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Awesome! Thank you for sharing! My sister will probably be my MOH so I may throw in some extra stuff for her too. I think your gifts sound great!

So I only had a Maid of Honor as in traditional Greek weddings, we select one person who is the closest to the bride and groom to "marry" us. Because it's such an important role in the wedding, we decided to go with my childhood best friend. She's very close with myself and my fiance.

According to her personality, and in order to "propose" to her - I bought all of these items from Etsy - I bought a box and filled it with 5 or 6 mini items that meant true to her and our relationship.

If I had bridesmaids, I would have done the same for each other but would have reflected each box according to their personalities.

Candies they love, a personalized makeup bag with their name on it, ribbon pony tails, a shot glass that was wedding themed. It was roughly $40, which is what I wanted to spend (max of $50).

1. I'd give it to them the night before at the rehearsal dinner or if they are getting ready with you in the morning then you could give it to them then instead. (Just think through which of these makes more sense logistically so they don't need to lug a gift basket around with them)

2. $100 sounds like a decent price

3. I'd skip the DVD, most people will have seen it already or won't want to watch it. Also, they can probably find it on Netflix anyway so it is sort of useless filler in my opinion. The puzzle could be cute if you think everyone would like it (I hate puzzles though so I'm biased and, wouldn't want one). If you do the picture puzzle skip the frame it is redundant (though a framed photo is better in my opinion than a puzzle). The rest...meh! It all seems pretty generic and who really needs another mug anyway? I'd shop for them like it is their birthday and get items that are special/unique to them. You do not need to get the same thing for everyone.

For my MOH I'm debating between a Soda Stream, extra bottles and some extra flavors or a beauty box subscription, Sephora gift card, nail polish, bath bombs and other pampering items she likes. These are both things I know she will like and use. She keeps talking about both the Soda Stream and a beauty box but, won't buy them for herself so it will make a great gift.

Also, just to note, your bridal party should be comprised of your nearest and dearest you do not need to choose someone just to even it out or match your FS. Uneven wedding parties are perfectly acceptable.

I have seven bridesmaids, so $100 per girl for gifts was a little much for me. In all, I probably will spend around $80 total for everyone (my sister and my FSIL I spent a little bit more on).

I sent my bridesmaids a small gift after they accepted. I sent them a small champagne bottle, a cute wine glass, and a letter explaining why I chose them and love them.

I also purchased gifts for them for the wedding that I will give at the rehearsal lunch we're doing the day before the wedding. I spent around $60 on each girl here. I purchased gifts for them like it was their birthday - for three girls I bought Alex&Ani bracelets with a different charm unique to each girl; for one I bought a Kate Spade passport case as she loves to travel and is moving to Guatemala in April; for one I bought rose gold Kate Spade earrings; for one I bought a rose gold Michael Kors bracelet; and for my MOH, my sister, I bought her a cute coffee mug (because she loves them) and a ticket to a paddleboarding lesson/tour near her university because she loves adventurous stuff. I also purchased robes for everyone to wear for the wedding.

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This is great advice! Thank you so much! I too hate puzzles, but I know my sister loves them. My two cousins both love to drink so wine glasses or mini bottles may be a more personalized gift than a mug. I think personalizing is the way to go, I was thinking that you cant go wrong with simple things like a picture frame, but you're right that more personal is more useful and loved. Thanks again for sharing!

What I'm doing which has always been done when I was a BM, is giving the gifts at the rehearsal dinner. I wanted to send something small and inexpensive for the "asking" part, but 2 of mine are out of the country and it was going to be really expensive to ship to everyone, so I just opted for a nice phone call with everyone.

I'm trying to spend about $50 per girl but I don't know if that's standard - I do have 7 of them. I already bought floral (fake) silk robes for getting ready, and I'm planning to add a piece of jewelry or monogrammed champagne glasses or both depending on prices, and a couple of those "stocking stuffer" things like soaps and chocolates.

Good luck!

You don't have to buy them all the same thing. It is much more thoughtful to buy them each one nice gift chosen for each individual's taste/interests. No one wants or needs a bag of items like mugs, picture frames etc. Don't waste your money on "stocking stuffer" stuff. More stuff does not make a better gift.

e.g if you have a bridesmaid who is a budding gourmet cook, buy her a lesson from a chef or cooking school where she lives. The wine lover? a wine tasting with her SO.

ps remember that anything you expect them to use or wear for your wedding or your pics is not a gift. That rules out robes, hangers, jewelry for the day of etc.

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I think that the small bottles and glasses after they accepted sounds great! I wanted to keep it all together as one gift so that each gift doesn't feel small and it could be one big gift, and I was leaning towards doing this when they accepted so they feel thanked immediately, but I think a small gift after they accept and a big gift the night/weekend before is perfect! I think your personalized ideas sound perfect!

I'm going with a little bit of both. I did proposal boxes (although they had already been asked and confirmed-pressure free-prior to receiving the boxes). For the girls we did boxes with wedding colored items: Eos lip balm, a small bottle of their favorite alcohol, hair ties, the earrings they will wear for the wedding, and a small novelty soap. For the guys we did beef jerky, small bottles of alcohol, and their bowties and suspenders for the wedding.

We're renting a B&B for the night before the wedding, so the morning of the wedding we will all be together. At that time we'll give them little bags, still in the works but the plan is: girls-a cup with their names on it and a small cosmetic bag with a jewelry dish with their initial on it, a little kit with ibuprofen, mints, band-aids, etc., and a necklace to wear with their dress; guys-a flask with their names and an overnight shave bag with same kit with ibuprofen, etc., pocketknife with their initials engraved, and their wedding day dress socks.

For MOHs (2 brides, 2 MOHs) we are getting them special personalized gifts for organizing the bridal shower and bachelorette party (they are each doing one) and will give them to them after those events as a thank you.

We'll probably go over $100 a tad bit, but I think that's a generous amount.

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This is a great idea and I think its a great way to incorporate my want of a proposal gift and thank you gift. I think a lot of the gifts I was thinking about/planning line up wit yours so its awesome to see I'm on the right path! $100 is definitely a generous amount which normally I would mind spending on a person, but when you have 4 people and $100 ea., $400 seems like a lot. In the end they are worth the love and gifts for all of their help so I think $100ea will work. Thanks so much for sharing!

I “proposed” to my MOH and BM with gift boxes that I made that included hypoallergenic bridesmaid proposal earrings from Amazon, a ring pop, nail polish, a nail file, a card with a personal message inside, and a mini photo album I made with photos of each of us together over the years. I also added a Sugarfina bridesmaid proposal bento box for my BM and a pink Venti Starbucks tumbler in the other with a proposal decal on it to my MOH.

The photo album was a huge hit! They loved how sentimental it was and it brought back memories of our friendships together. The puzzle idea sounds great and very specific to what your family will love. I think these are great ideas.

I will also probably get a gift for each of them the day of the wedding before the ceremony, at the hotel so they don’t need to keep an eye on it at the venue. My MOH has been amazing, so I will think of an extra special and more expensive gift for her.

1) I will be gifting my girls their gifts after the rehearsal. I will not be getting gifts for the in-laws since they didn't do anything for the wedding (not saying they should have!) but I plan to give a small gift to my parents since they helped with the dress and photographer. Obviously, if I were to give gifts to the bridal party and my parents in front of the in-laws, it would be awkward.

2) I spent around $100 each, not including paying for wedding related items like their shoes.

3) Its not really a gift, but I am making them shirts for my Bachalorette party. They're not specifically geared towards being bridesmaids or weddings, so it's something they can wear again next time they go out to party.

I also got them mermaid knives and a custom plushie of themselves in their dresses. I'm attempting to get them loose leaf tea and bath bombs as well, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to afford it. We will see once we get stuff paid off.

My friend, who's wedding was back in September, gave me a gift when she asked me to be one of her bridesmaid. The gift was a cute gold polka dot box with the letter of my first name on top in cursive. I want to say it was one of those wooden craft letters painted and covered in gold glitter. She printed and glued a picture to the inside of the lid that said "Will you be my bridesmaid?". Then she included a blush pink (which was one of the colors of her wedding and the color of our dresses) mug with a cute saying, a makeup bag that said bridesmaid, and mini bottle of Hypnotiq all laying on top of gold shredded/filler grass. I thought it was perfect and doesn't seem like it would cost too much. She has also bought us each a "bride tribe" shirt to wear during the bridal/lingerie party. Good luck and definitely look on Pinterest for ideas.

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I think that your proposal boxes sound awesome! I love Starbucks cups and all I asked FH for valentines day was a Trenta all matte pink cup - heart eyes - and dinner together.

How much did you spend on the boxes per each girl? I am trying to find an average of what's a good amount. $100 is a generous amount per girl, but it adds up really quickly!

I'm glad to hear your MOH has been amazing and helpful to you! I am hoping that my BP will be helpful as well! Thanks for sharing!

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I absolutely understand not getting gifts for everyone if they don't help. Like you said, they aren't obliged or have-to help, but gifts are meant for thanking people, and particularly with your bridal party you are thanking them for being your friends.

I am trying to spend $100 per girl like you did, and like you said, wedding related items don't count. I don't really have much I am requiring them to wear for the wedding, so hopefully $100 per overall works out.

Mermaid knives and custom plushies sound awesome! Do you have pictures or a link to where you got them? Thanks tso much for sharing! Great advice!

View Quoted Comment I'd be happy to share! The plushies I got from the Etsy store The Flamboyant Pigeon. Apparently I can't do photos in replies on mobile, so I'll link you their Facebook and Etsy pages:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/theflamboyantpigeon
https://m.facebook.com/theflamboyantpigeon/?tsid=0.11410859546185437&source=result

I got the mermaid knives from Amazon. They're cheap, but the reviews say they're good quality and they're very pretty. There's a few different colors to flip through if you look at the related products. They've dropped a lot in price since I bought them.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/b00ng988pg/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=utf8&qid=1518100336&sr=8-3&pi=ac_sx236_sy340_fmwebp_ql65&keywords=mermaid+knives&dppl=1&dpid=51bp1n4dyol&ref=plsrch

Hope this helps!

I love that you are planning in advance, my kind of girl!

1 - Timing is totally up to you. I have heard all the same, some do when they ask and others do at rehearsal and blah blah blah. ALL of my girls live hundreds to thousands of miles away and I want to give them in person so I am planning to give them at the rehearsal or that evening.

2 - How much to spend is totally up to your budget, obviously! But the idea is that it isn't an area you should skimp on because in many cases the BM's are spending a ton to be in and at your wedding. My budget is 100$ per person but more importantly I want to do something personal for each person. So if one costs a little more or less, who cares. My focus is on making it personal and meaningful.

3 - As for the actual gift... I found these cute little notebooks that are quirky and something that is matchy my girls will all love, planning to do a pashmina in a color that suites each person individually and a nice piece of jewelry.

1) I am getting married on March 31st and I plan on giving my bridesmaids and our groomsmens their gifts the night of the rehearsal dinner (night before the wedding). The reason I am doing this, is because I included their wedding jewelry as one of their gifts and our matching outfits I picked for them.

2) In all, we spent almost $800 for gifts for 1 best man, 1 MOH, 3 groomsmen, 3 bridesmaids, 1 ring bearer, and 1 flower girl.

3) For the girls: wedding jewelry, tumblers with their names, hangers for their dresses, bath bombs, wine, cutesy key chains, tank tops, face scrub. For the guys: personalized whiskey glasses and whiskeys stones with a nice bottle of whiskey (EASY)

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I'm not very good with budgeting (in general or in terms of the wedding lol), but I did a lot of shopping around for each gift. For instance, I got the cards from BHLDN, but I waited until Anthropologie had a sale on the cards, and then a sale on top of sale items (40% off or something), so the cards that were originally like $6 came out to be under $2 each. I got the decal for the Starbucks tumbler on Etsy, and ring pops from the 99 cents store (four for $1!). I got the pictures printed at CVS - I printed them in wallet sizes and I glued them onto cardstock from Papersource. I got the earrings from Amazon (only about $17.50/pair) and I got the Essie nail polish from eBay. I did a considerable amount of shopping around to find the best deals on high quality stuff that's meaningful to each member of my BP and spent under $115 for all of my gifts for my MOH and one bridesmaid (my MOH's gift was much more expensive because of the gift box and shred I bought from Papersource).

It was really worth buying all of these items for my proposals because my MOH almost cried when I proposed to her. She kept asking if that's what it felt like to be proposed to lol! She didn't even want to read the card in front of me because she didn't want to ugly cry her makeup off, so she saved that for when she went home LOL My BM called me (she lives across the country, so I had to mail her package to her) and raved about how much she loved everything in her box. I didn't have to spend a whole lot on each of them. They just loved the sentiment of everything I included because it showed that I knew what they liked and how much I value their friendships.

I'm hoping to spend $100 on each of my BM's and about $150 - $200 on my MOH for a present the day of!

I hope this helps!