Goody Bags for Marriage Retreat - please share your ideas!
Reader Question:
I am in charge of creating 74 goody bags for an upcoming marriage retreat for my church, and I am in desperate need for some frugal, creative ideas on what I could put in these bags. In the past I know people have put little candy bars, a bag of microwave popcorn, a couple of packs of hot chocolate, tea bags etc so I was looking for ideas that might be something similar, but maybe a little different too. Would you have any fun thoughts on this?
A Few Ideas:
- Visit www.likemerchantships.blogspot.com - Meredith does a fantastic time being incredibly hospitable on a budget.
- Our women's retreat coordinators wrapped the following things in a cellophanebag: a mininotebook, a pen, a candle, peppermints, chocolate kisses,and a colored paper quote/scripture.
- A friend just suggested packing candies that correspond to questions: an almond joy - share a joyful moment in your marriage, a hershey kiss - something about your first kiss, snickers - laughs, lifesavers - when your partner has 'saved you' in public, Big Red gum- something that gives your marriage energy/passion.
Labels: frugal living, marriage
posted by Ann @TheAssetEdge @ January 23, 2009
16 Comments:
Flavored lipsmackers and bottled water.
It might cost you too much printer ink to print the whole thing, but you'd be welcome to use 30 Ways to Spice Up Your Marriage if you can think of a creative use for it. Or maybe just reading through it would give you an idea.
travel soap/shampoo - encouraging couples to get away & do more things together
Maybe two notecards and envelopes per bag for each to write a love letter to the other. It would also be neat to have an assortment of Bible verses on colored paper and put one or two in each bag for the couple to look up together.
I love your ideas - THANK YOU for taking time to share!
I talked to a woman last night that suggested splurging on one nicer gift for the gift bags (like something in the $1 bin at Target or Bed Bath & Beyond), then filling the rest of the bag with small treats.
If you haven't yet read Christy's 30 Ways to Spice up your Marriage articles, you should definitely get a cup of tea & head over there to read!
More from Christy:
I was just thinking that a CD with the 30 Days series and other encouraging articles might be inexpensive. If that sounds like something you'd be interested in, I've listed a few links on my blog under Abundant Marriage in the right column.
theabundantlife.wordpress.com
I guess I would be scouring the after-Christmas aisles to see what's left! Dollar General Christmas stuff (including candy) was just reduced to 70% off this week, including red cellophane bags, chocolates, etc.
As far as useful things to include??? I think one of the most intimate--and humbling--things people can do for one another is washing of feet. So maybe a pedicure kit or foot lotion with relevant scripture?
(Thanks for the link! I'm just now checking in after an offline weekend.)
Meredith's ideas made me think about an article I found last year about using Christmas candies for Valentine's & St. Patrick's Day treats. You can read it here...
http://amyswandering.wordpress.com/2007/12/19/wfmw-repurposing-christmas-clearance/#comment-678
We hosted a marriage retreat on communication and bought every couple a mailbox (from the dollar bin at Target) and two notepads. The point was to take the mailbox home and put it in a visible spot in your bedroom. You and your spouse would leave messages to each other whenever you felt like it. When the flag was up, you had a message. This was at last years marriage retreat and the couples are still talking about "the little red mailbox"....they love it!!
What fun ideas!!!
My husband & I have coordinated retreats for 11 years & have used bottle of sparkling grape juice, bath & body works hand sanitizers, $1 candles, $1 Royal Dansk luxury wafer in the can, love book or cd with love songs, avon shower gel, bath salts, movie tickets, gift certificates donated from various restaurants, body or room spray, and caress body wash are a few things we have used.
I've hosted a couples' retreat for the past several years. Have each couple submit a picture of themselves. Purchase bottles of sparkling grapejuice from walmart. Have someone create a label with each couples picture and the retreat theme on it for the bottle. Place in a bag with plastic wine glasses from Dollar tree, a candle and a few hershey's chocolates. You could also have someone burn a cd of love songs and have a label created for the cd with each couple's picture and theme on it as well.
I recently printed a sheet of paper landscape with the sentence "I love you because ..." I left the bottom blank and put the piece of paper in a frame then attached a dry erase marker to it with velcro strips. My husband and I write on it whenever we get the urge. I love that my children read it! Teaching our children to be tender and kind is the most important lesson in marriage.
I love that idea! :)
Love Message Board
John 15:17
"This is my command; Love each other."
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Love is patient; love is kind. Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way: it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. And now faith, hope, and love abide, and the greatest of these is love.
Directions: Leave this in a place both of you have access. Write messages of love, reminders of the important part your mate plays in your life...let them know you appreciate them and your relationship is important...help them to realize that you notice the little things...
Love Message Board
John 15:17
"This is my command; Love each other."
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Love is patient; love is kind. Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way: it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. And now faith, hope, and love abide, and the greatest of these is love.
Directions: Leave this in a place both of you have access. Write messages of love, reminders of the important part your mate plays in your life...let them know you appreciate them and your relationship is important...help them to realize that you notice the little things...
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