Spectator Bags!

I wanted to wait until after my race so that I didn't ruin the surprise for my spectators but I put together a post because I know many people were asking about the goodies.

I went on Oriental trading and bought 12 draw string backpacks, cowbells that matched my team colors as well as some glow in the dark bracelets.  The site runs some good sales and is a great place to pick up things in bulk.  I found small things of wipes on sale at my local CVS and threw those in each backpack because you never know what the toilet paper situation will be like!  Someone in a group I'm in found some TRI tissues so I had her send me some and put a packet of tissues in each bag.  I saved old NUUN containers and used them to put advil in each bag because let's face it the day is very long for your spectators. I also threw in hand sanitizer because again its a long day and you never know what the bathroom will have.

I bought some paint and glitter to decorate each bag as well as the cowbells to make them a bit more personalized.

Each bag contained a BINGO card that I created with typical things you might see at an Ironman event and the winner was promised a massage and the game was a BIG hit!  They used pens to write the time they saw the item in question and my dad was so competitive he started it as we waited in the swim line at 5am!  This was also something fun for me while I was doing the race I would see things and think to myself oh that's on one of the cards so it passes the time.

I found a spectator guide to the area online and added some key information about where our house was located, the shuttle information and added some other resturant information more specific to the tastes of the people from my group.  At the last minute they called for rain so I went to a dollar store and threw in ponchos.

Then I took into consideration each personality to fill the bag with snacks I felt they would like, some ideas include candy, trail mix, nuts, airplane liquor bottles, gum, and hard candies.

 I also hand wrote a personalized note to each person thanking them for their support as well as coming to cheer.

My T-shirts were made using custom ink and were a HUGE hit apparently!

If you need any help thinking of ideas or are too pressed for time to put together spectator bags but really want them just reach out to me via the blog and we can discuss pricing.

Happy Racing!!