After learning what I've learned, any bulbs I want to buy as gifts are checked before purchasing, and the first thing I do is dump the soil or coir disk that comes with any kit, and I also get rid of the pots... I buy clay pots, one for each bulb, and I clean up the bulbs and pot them right before giving the gift. I usually add a little bamboo stake with a Christmas decoration on it, or a ribbon... It's unfortunate, but most kit bulbs are meant to be enjoyed and tossed. Most people won't go through the hassle of growing the bulb and giving it a rest so it can bloom again. I think the poor soil and the poor pots sold are meant to make it difficult to keep the bulbs alive and well, so you have to buy a new kit the following year. What a racket!

You are so creative, Kirk ...I just love that wooden box & how you added the horseshoes for handles & that great 'star!' Plus the little wheelbarrow is just perfect for your porch & those pumpkins! Everything looks lovely...the Mums in the buckets, sweet! TFS! ~~Jeanne S.

Traditionally, at least around here, it is the best man's responsibility to take care of this. But practically speaking, I think the MOH usually takes care of it. When a wedding is at a hotel the MOH can take the cards and have them put in a safe, either at the front desk or in her room, handing them over to the couple later (I've done this when I was MOH, or just assigned the task). Gift tables often have a silver tray or something subtle for the cards to go on (open basket, etc.). Or people just put them on the table and the BM or MOH collects them after all the guests have arrived (people here do it that way, they don't walk around with the card and hand it to the bride). In our case, I had the wedding coordinator for the function hall put them in her safe, she handed them to me with some other items when we were leaving (I had my father take the gifts). The worse thing I ever saw was a wedding in NY where the bride walked around with a bag (like a decorated pillow case) collecting cards. I was embarrassed for her.

We also do bags for odd shaped items, but mostly we do paper because we're coming off 7 years of elementary school gift wrap fund raisers... I joke with DD that her kids are going to get gifts wrapped in some of that paper. I've vowed to not buy anymore paper until we use up what we have. So no theme, except paper we like. In our family, particularly with DH's family, we tend to recycle the gift bags and the same ones turn up year after year. It's sort of fun to see the same ones again and again, though sometimes hard to make a call that one needs to be culled and recycled.