I am breathing a sigh of relief as Ailana Kai has just gotten in more of my Lauhala Palm Leaf Tote Bags! Yesterday I was able to place my order. I want to tell you that if you think you might be interested in ordering these bags, don’t put it off like I did! I tried to place my order 6 weeks out only to find out they were sold out and on backorder with no ETA. Now, three weeks before we leave they are on their way.

Why did I want these bags so bad!?! Well, for one they fit the ‘island’ them so well with the woven palm leaves. Second, I think they are sophisticated and really well made – sturdier than I expected. When you fill them they will stand up nicely for you and they ship flat so they’re easy to bring with you to Aruba. And best of all, they are CHEAP, like $3.75 each! On the downside, they are a little smaller than I wanted – they are 10″x12″x4″. That’s not all bad though, because it means less items needed to fill them and I can put in fewer, nicer items instead of a bunch of junk. I wasn’t planning on putting in anything big anyway – no t-shirts or beach towels. When I am ready to actually assemble the bags, I’ll try to take pictures and list the contents so you have an idea of how much they can hold.

You may have seen similar bags on Bliss Weddings Market website – I was first planning on purchasing these but they have been out of stock for months (backordered til 2010): Palm Shoulder Bags. It was when I was trying to find a replacement for those that I happened upon Ailana Kai. The Bliss bags cost nearly twice as much as the ones I purchased ($6.99 vs $3.75) and I’ve talked to two different brides who had placed orders for the bliss bags only to return them and order the Ailana Kai bags instead. Both said the Ailana Kai bags were much better quality. (Here’s a thread on bestdestinationwedding.com, IrieBride08 bought and returned them. There also used to be a similar thread on Aruba.com by “Gigi” which seems to be gone now. Also gone seems to be her review of her wedding in which she said she was very disappointed in her wedding planner and her wedding venue. Somehow her positive review of her photographer seems to have remained though. Gigi is also now listed as “banned” so I cannot contact her. Maybe she was banned and her reviews were removed for a good reason. There was someone causing trouble on the forum – someone unfairly slandering those she worked with. I hate to think she was behind the trouble but the moderators have ways of figuring out when people are up to no good.

Anyway — sorry to digress. I do have to admit that ordering from Ailana Kai is a bit of a hassle. They do not have online payment which is disappointing and the old iframe website set-up is not very user friendly. They have a crude online HTML form you can fill out and then print and fax, or you can call them. And they are in Hawaii so there is a significant time zone change. Had I not have read the other reviews I wouldn’t have bothered since the website doesn’t scream ‘professional’. Email communications with them can be a little slow but nice (love the whole “Aloha” and “Mahalo”), but the bags are worth it and even though they come from Hawaii they get here pretty fast. Shipping can add up though – for 30 bags I’ll pay about $30 (still keeps my bags under $5 each), and they’re sent USPS Priority so they should be here in about 3 days.

I do believe there are plenty of totes you can purchase in Aruba and think they are even pretty affordable. Those may even make a nicer ‘keepsake’ and/or beach bag, especially if they are decorated. For me though, the bags was something I just needed to have in my hand… I like that I can start stuffing them here, maybe add decorative personal touches and have a better idea of just how many additional items I should plan to purchase in Aruba. I want to be sure I don’t go overboard and buy too much, as well as make sure the bag contents aren’t skimpy.

(Note: though I read bad reviews about the Bliss Palm Shoulder Bags, I did order and receive cardboard CD sleeves from Bliss and love them! I’m making CDs for all of my guests and wanted plain white sleeves I could decorate myself.)

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