How are you gonna propose to your bridesmaids without boiling your entire wedding budget. I'm here to show you how.First I'm going to start by giving you some tips and then I'm gonna give you some ideas on how to put together gorgeous, cheap and easy DIY bridesmaid gifts.
My first tip is to buy with your bridesmaids in mind. It's tempting to scour Pinterest for the perfect bridesmaid proposal box. But if none of the things in the box are based on your bridesmaids or what they like, then you've kind of lost touch with what's important. I recommend buying things for your bridesmaids that you know they're actually going to love. Remember it's about asking them to do something really important, but it is a big commitment and it's gonna cost them a lot of money too. So you want your gift to be thoughtful and fun but it doesn't have to be over-the-top.
My second tip for you is to have a theme in mind when you're buying gifts for your bridesmaids. If you can tie everything together with a theme it will keep the gift cohesive. And it will stop you from buying everything in the store that you know they would love. I also recommend that you have a budget per box. Just because when you're buying gifts for your friends it can be easy to overspend. If you decide on a bridesmaid theme, just because you pick a theme for one girl, doesn't mean you have to use the same theme for everybody in your wedding party. So if you have to pick different themes I do recommend spending the same amount of money on each gift that way nobody feels like they got less than the other people in your bridal party.
My third tip is to keep it simple. You're probably asking your closest friends to do something they've been waiting to do for you for a really really long time. So if you keep the gift simple and thoughtful that's gonna ask them to be your rides maid in a really special way and make them feel special as well. Without breaking the bank. Another reason I think it's great to keep it simple is because I think it's more important to spend money on the gift for the day of the wedding rather than the bridesmaid proposal gift.
My fourth tip for you before we get to the good stuff is that I don't recommend you giving anything to your bridesmaids in their proposal that they're gonna have to have on your wedding day. If you have the average nine month to one-year engagement, that's a really long time for your bridesmaids to keep up with something. Save those gifts for right before the wedding and just give them fun things to celebrate being your bridesmaids.
Now it's time to get to the ideas. I'm gonna start by showing you three different themes that I think make the perfect easy DIY proposal gift.
So our first theme for the bride's name proposal boxes is the pop the question box.
In the lid of the box I use my Cricut to write it's my turn to pop the question and there's a safety pin taped inside the lid to pop the balloon.
Then there's a balloon inside the box. And inside that will pop it in just a moment. It says would you be my bridesmaid. And then I also included this cute little tie the knot bracelet. I just think it's a really cute fun little extra. And then of course the most important part is I included a little custom stationery card inside. This is the most important because Rena brides mean to someone is just sentimental thing. So it doesn't have to be complicated or expensive to ask your bridesmaids to be in your wedding. It just needs to be sweet and thoughtful.
So let's go ahead and pop the balloon and I'll show you what's inside. So you do have to rip the tape up a little bit. The other way that you could attach your safety pin to your box is to put it on the end of your balloon string, if you decide to use a string on your balloon. I don't think that's quite as easy to see in the box and so that's why I decided to tape it to the top. But that's another option that you have.
So before I pop the balloon I want to tell you about how cheap this box was for me to build. So I've used a photo box from Michaels and it cost me three dollars. I bought a pack of balloons, the paper shreds inside and the balloon strings all at the dollar store. Then I bought this custom stationery at the target dollar spot when they had a monogram for my new last name. And I bought these not bracelets on Amazon. I would say on average each box cost less than $10. So this is a great really cheap way to propose to your bridesmaids.
Let's pop the balloon to see what's inside ready so inside I had rolled up I proposed to myself Alex will you be my bridesmaid. This is just cardstock and I used my Cricut to write out the question. But a little tip if you're gonna do this as I found that it's easier to roll the card stock up really really tight and actually put this down inside the balloon before you blow it up. So that's just a little tip if you decide to use this method but it's really cute really simple and very very affordable especially if you have a large bridal part.
Our next theme of bridesmaid proposal boxes is the pampering box. So as you can see in the lid I use cardstock again I just cut out a different shape and I wrote I can't say I do without you. You could also put in here like will you be my bridesmaid? Will you be my maid of honor? All those cute little sayings can be written out with your Cricut and taped into the lid of the box. This is another photo box for Michaels this one's a floral pattern but it cost me three dollars.
So here's the pampering box up close. I just did a variety of different mini items in this box. Because I think it's great to add a lot of variety and a lot of small items, but the mini items help keep the cost under control instead of buying everything full size, especially if you have a large bridal party.
So I have a mini body spray that I thought smelled really nice. And then a matching hand lotion. A bath balm. Three different colors of some really tinted lip gloss. One of those nail buffer things I bought this at Walmart for like a dollar. So these are perfect and super easy. And I got the bath products from Walmart as well. But you could go to Bath & Body Works if you have one of those near you. And these lip glosses do happen to be Clinique, but you don't necessarily need to go all the way to Clinique for some fun bright colored lip gloss. I added a compact mirror. I found this plain compact mirror on sale for $1 at Ulta. But this is another thing that if you wanted to DIY you could add a gram. And then I did a couple of colors of SC nail polish. So lots of fun things that you could add to this box. I couldn't fit it in the box but I also have a really cute little makeup bag that you can add to the box.
I really like this theme of box because I think it's perfect if you have if you're asking women to be in your wedding that have a lot of different interests. Because everybody loves paper and products. This theme is the least DIY of all the themes that I'm going to show you. But you do have to be careful here because the cost can climb a little bit. If you start adding a bunch of these products especially items like nail polish if you decide to buy name brands like Essie things can get a little bit more expensive. So just be sure that you're that you're paying attention to what you're spending on each box and making sure that you're staying within your budget.
My third and last idea for bridesmaid proposal boxes is the box of whatever she loves. This is great if you've been friends a really long time. It's easy to throw a bunch of different things that your friend loves a lot in a box. But this is also great if you don't know one of the ladies you're asking to be in your wedding very well. So for instance if you have a future sister-in-law that you don't have a great relationship with this is a great box to put together for her because all you need is one fact about her. You can make the whole box around it. So in this box I decided to propose to a bridesmaid whose favorite color is purple. So it's easy you could use her favorite animal, favorite sports team, her favorite color anything to make a box around the girl.
First I used a clear glass coffee mug and I wrote bridesmaid on the front of it. This is an easy way I bought these mugs at the target dollar spot. But you can easily pick up a mug from the dollar store and write anything you want on it with vinyl. That's a super cheap easy DIY to add into any of your bridesmaids boxes.
There is also a monogrammed journal. I found this journal at Walmart for maybe $3. And then I added a monogram to the front of it to make it a little bit more personal. I also added some purple pens to go along with the journal.
And I found some of these planner stickers. And I thought these were really fun. There's four sheets of stickers in each and they were only 88 cents apiece. So that's super cost-effective and if you're giving a girl a notebook, these are a great thing to put inside to help her stay organized or decorate a little bit.
You'll recognize some of the rest of these items from my other themes because I think they fit here as well. Here's some washi tape. I know a lot of people like to decorate their notebooks with washi tape. So I want to say this pack of five was maybe 288. This was in the Walmart school supplies aisle as well.
This time I added some purple nail polish and I kept the nail buffing block because it has a purple side on one side. I catched the bath bomb as well as the two little mini toiletry items because they smell great and they're both purple.
I don't know about you but sometimes when I buy a gift for someone I get a little bit insecure. I didn't quite put enough in their gift. So I want to talk to you guys about some different extras that you can add into any of your bridesmaid proposal boxes. Also we talked about in the beginning how you don't necessarily have to use the same frightening proposal gift for every single bridesmaid. So if you decide to mix it up and do some different gifts, you could add some of these extras to unify all the gifts. So that everybody gets a couple of common things that are the same.
The first one is this little knot bracelet that I showed you guys in the pop question box. Everybody could wear it to all of the events that you have while you're engaged before your wedding. I really like the idea of monogramming a journal for every girl.
Everybody always loves tumblers, so I think that a custom tumbler for each girl would be really nice. I wrote bridesmaid down the sign of mine but you could also decide to write their name instead if you didn't want to use bridesmaid.
Another idea I had is to put vinyl on a picture frame. This is the dollar store picture frame. You could even spray-paint it gold or a wedding color if you wanted to.But I added vinyl to the front of the glass around the area where the picture looks like it's matted. Because that way after the wedding, your bridesmaid could add a picture of the two of you or one of her favorite memories from the night. So it's fun and memorable and it's super cheap.
I also like the idea of adding a calendar into every girl's gift, because then they can use this to mark all of the important occasions that are coming up during your engagement. If you already know what those dates are going to be for any of your events you add it in before you give it to your bridesmaid. I bought this calendar at the target dollar spot for $3.
I also added bridesmaid to a clear glass coffee mug and a wine glass as you're counting down the days to your wedding. You could count down the days to your bridesmaid with a coffee date or a wine night or both. I think everybody loves gifts like this. And I only added the paper shavings inside the mugs just so you could read the bridesmaid in the really bright lights.
Another minion that I don't have in front of me is a mini bottle of champagne or just a mini bottle of wine, that makes a great extra for any rides made gift. If you already proposed to your bridesmaids, make sure to post in the comments below what you propose to them with. I'd love to hear your ideas and I'm sure the other Brides would as well.I'd love to hear what you guys are looking for.
