Bridesmaids Gifts for Under $20

With 7 girls, I had to be on a budget.  In addition to getting them manis/pedis, I copied the age old idea of putting items in a tote bag.  However, I tried to make it more meaningful by organizing those items into theme surrounding the wedding day.  I also had to take into account that half of them had to fly, so I wanted to make sure they had room in their luggage and TSA wouldn't get mad at them.

So I bought different colored tote bags from sacksandsuch.com for $5.  I wanted to give each girl a color that they would like, and my personal feeling is that I don't like carrying around a bag with my name or someone else's monogram, so I left it plain.  I made little luggage tags simply with shapes in Word and traced/cut them out onto construction paper.  Then I gave each girl 3 bags labeled "Before" "During" and "After"(all labels also made in Word and I just glued it on).  Inside the bags contained items they could use Before the wedding, During the wedding, and After the wedding.

BEFORE:
1 bottle of water
2 snack packs

total = $1.50
reasoning: made sure they have something to eat before the wedding

DURING:
gel foot pads
oil blotting tissues
lip balm
tissues
gum

total = $6.50
reasoning: heels are not comfortable, lip balm and oil blotting are for touch ups, tissues in case they cry, and gum for those impressionable moments

AFTER:
make up remover
nail polish remover
hand lotion
foot lotion
travel slippers
bar of daisy soap

total = $6
reasoning: at the end of the night after getting sweaty from all the dancing, you just want to clean up and feel good before getting into bed.

I have to highly recommend elf.com, the 99 cent section in Target, and Daiso, a Japanese discount store.  That's primarily the reason why I was able to give as much as I could for $19/bridesmaid.  My bridesmaids are obviously worth more than that, so I also paid for their manis/pedis and a lunch.  I just tried to be as practical and wallet-friendly as possible.