Custom Tote Bag

I just got back from a weekend getaway with three of my friends to mark the official end of the summer season. We planned this trip in hopes to have a lot of fun before the fall weather comes in and we were not going to skimp on any of the details because we wanted to enjoy the season as much as we can before we’re forced to wear jackets and scarves. We packed a cooler full of our favorite foods and drinks, brought a suitcase full of a few too many dresses and high heeled shoes, and piled in the car to head to the coast. On our way, as we were catching up on all of the goings on in our lives and chatting about the latest Hollywood gossip, my one friend revealed that she had a surprise for all of us. Of course, we were all so excited, and waited anxiously as she rummaged beneath her seat to pull out our surprise. A moment later, she popped back up with a big handful of canvas and proceeded to hand each of us our own custom tote bag!

The white canvas bags had colored straps and an embroidery of our name with a little symbol beneath it on the front side. Though they matched in overall style, each one had its own flair with the color scheme, font and symbol. Inside, she had placed a few pieces of our favorite candy, a new book that we had all been wanting to read, and a picture frame with a placeholder for a picture that we would take that weekend that said “Summer 2011” on it. My bag had aqua blue straps with my name in the same color in a scrolling script with a palm tree beneath it, and inside, it was filled with bite-sized Snickers pieces, our new book club book, and a matching blue picture frame. My other friends got their custom tote bag with accents of pink, green and orange and had bright details of flip flops, beach balls and starfish. What a wonderful surprise and the perfect beach tote for our weekend getaway!

We were raving over our new gifts and my friend revealed that she had been wanting to get us all something for the trip, but did not quite know what she was looking for. After talking to her sister to trying to brainstorm some ideas, she had shown my friend a custom tote bag that she had received as a party favor once and thought it was a great and useful gift. Turns out that although the party took place five years ago, she was still using the custom tote bag as much as she had when she first received it, and it was in really great shape despite its age and the number of places it has been carted around to. With her mind now made up about the gift she would get us, my friend started shopping for the bags, and found that there are a lot of retailers that sell custom tote bags online and in stores. Most of her comparison shopping was done online though, and she found a retailer website that allowed her to see a preview of the custom tote bags before she placed the order, so she was able to feel confident about her order and the finished product that we would get.

After placing her order online, she had to wait at least a week to a week and a half to have the order shipped because the customization process of her order was going to take some time. Also, because each of her custom tote bags was different than the other and she was not placing a bulk order with all of the same designs or embroidery, the order would have to be specially placed with the company. My friend said that she decided it was worth the wait to get the results that she wanted, and kept her fingers crossed that they would be shipped to her house in time for our trip. In just a week, she had received a confirmation email that her order had been shipped, and she should expect to see the package on her doorstep in just a few days, well ahead of our weekend getaway.

Just a few days later, the box was delivered to her house and she took them out to examine the details and make sure everything was correct. I thought that the idea of a custom tote bag was great and it was the perfect addition to our already fun and stylish weekend. We all had a great time at the beach for the last time this summer and got many compliments on our custom tote bag while on the beach!