After numerous attempts of finding the “right” souvenir – we finally decided to buy Personalized M&Ms. I know what you’re thinking – and yes, these didn’t come cheap. It’s actually triple our souvenirs budget for just the M&Ms alone!
Since we have to order this in the US and delivery is restricted to the US and Canada, we asked Don’s sister if we could have it delivered to her in Ontario. We even used her credit card for payment because the website only accepted cards from the same countries.
Don went to Canada for business in November so he was able to take home the package. While he was there, he told me that his sister asked him if we wanted these as wedding gifts so we don’t have to pay her back. Of course I said yes! Aside from not going over budget, now, we only have to think about the packaging of the M&Ms! And that would only cost a fraction of our original allocated budget.
The website was pretty easy to navigate. Upon checkout, the total was $566.23 ($487.48 + $78.75 delivery fee). However, when they “processed” the order, the bill they sent was for $643.47 ($487.48 + $155.99 delivery fee). So I asked why there’s the difference in the total bill. Their customer service said that the delivery fee in Canada is 32%, thus the difference. In the first place – shouldn’t the website already calculated that when I placed the order?! I placed a Canadian address after all.
The quality of the chocolates is the same as the regular M&Ms. But the printing job is sub par. Even before I opened the package I noticed the black flakes all over the chocolates and the printed texts were smudged or [partly] erased. After all that trouble and expense, that’s a total let down.
On the plus side, the package arrived on time and in good condition. Whew!
Supplier Rating: 👍🏻👍🏻
For the bottles, we intended to buy from a legit jar supplier, but we couldn’t find the right size of jars we wanted (either too big or too small).
Don accompanied me one day to Divisoria to fit my dress (no, I asked him to stay somewhere else while I did this) and went on a side trip to Tabora Street to look for embellishments for our cord. We found a stall in front of Everson Modiste Center who was selling jars, bottles and kitchen equipment, so we decided to ask.
Don found a bottle that wouldn’t look so small after packaging. And we bought it for Php 10.00 each. They didn’t give us a discount anymore – saying that the other stalls were selling it for Php 15.00 each. They were kind enough to help us carry the box upto 168 Mall where I fitted my dress.
A day after, I cleaned and sterelized the bottles. That was the easier part. I found a few bottles that were bigger than what we wanted. Then it was time for the corks. The corks were really dirty, some had molds. I knew I had to take extreme measures. So I soaked the corks in hot water, dishwashing soap and a little bleach. Then scrubbed them one by one. That was the hardest part! And then, I patted the corks dry one by one as well before letting it air dry and go as far as drying it under the sun! All that work for souvenirs!
Supplier Rating: 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
For the labels, I only bought special papers from the bookstore and Don printed the labels at work. I then used double sided tape to attach the labels to the bottle. Photo or sticker paper would have been too expensive and I wasn’t sure if Don’s office printer can accommodate that.
Thinking of how else we can spruce up the bottles, Don suggested that we put lace near the lid. So I bought lace from Everson Modiste Center along Tabora Street. I bought 16 yards for Php 8.50 per yard. I bought extra just to be sure, and I am using the excess in another project I am doing for the wedding. I attached the lace using a glue gun. The glue sticks are old stock from previous crafting projects.
My former colleagues visited me at home last night so I asked them to help me pack these. I had to finish putting the lace in each of the bottles, while they weighed and packaged the laced bottles.
I also bought bottle sealers at a local supplier near where I worked. But I ended up not using them. I will use those for another project.
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