Czech Republic · 85 guests · outdoor

Wedding supply run

What to buy and where. Every price verified on the seller’s own product page and filtered on whether it can be in your hands by Saturday. Prices are normalised per 100 ml and costed for the quantity you actually need — multipacks and larger bottles often win despite a higher sticker price. Recommended lines are highlighted; findings and reasoning are at the bottom.

Wedding
Sat 8 Aug
Today
Tue 4 Aug
Core basket
5 821 Kč
Free measures
see bottom

Order today

  • Kaufland citronella 100-pack — quoted for Fri 7 Aug, marketplace seller, no slack.
  • Alza perimeter candles — order before midnight, collect from an AlzaBox tomorrow morning.
  • Wanapix fans — and message them to confirm the delivery date for your real quantity, not the qty-1 quote shown.
  • Allegro electric fans, if you want them — cutoff 18:30.
  • Repellent, sunscreen and mist are all 60-minute store pickup — buy them Friday if you like.
  • Free, and worth more than most of this list: walk the venue for a wasp nest in warm midday sun, and clear the fallen fruit.

Mosquito repellent 1 074 Kč recommended

Every option available in CZ by Friday. The trade-off runs between protection duration (DEET wins), clothes and materials safety (icaridin wins), and odour (icaridin wins, “natural” loses badly). Correction: 20% icaridin — the concentration the evidence actually supports — is available in CZ, on Alza, as OFF! Multi Insect. An earlier pass missed it and wrongly concluded 16% was the national ceiling.

Fabric risk: DEET attacks acetate, viscose & elastane — but its label affirmatively exempts cotton, wool and nylon IR3535: despite being DEET-free, its label says avoid synthetics and nail polish Format: a pump puts ~5× less into the air than an aerosol
ProductActivePackPer 100 mlBuy for 600 mlBuy atPlusMinus
OFF! Multi Insect rozprašovač (pump), 100 ml buy icaridin 20% 1291296 bottles
774
Alza The concentration the evidence supports — 20% icaridin, 8 h protection versus MAX’s 6 h, so no 20:00 top-up needed. A genuine mechanical pump (“rozprašuje i dnem vzhůru”), so ~5× less airborne than an aerosol. Carries “Nepoškozuje bavlnu, vlnu ani nylon”. “Skladem > 10 ks”, free shipping, AlzaBox next morning Only +55 Kč over the Teta 16% pump, but it adds a warning MAX doesn’t carry: “Zamezte přímému kontaktu se syntetickými materiály, lakovanými povrchy a plasty” — and formalwear is often polyester
OFF! MAX aerosol duopack, 2×100 ml cheapest icaridin 16% 19999,503 packs
597
Alza Cheapest icaridin per ml anywhere — 122 Kč less than the Teta pump for the same 600 ml. Same fabric-safe claim. Free shipping, next-morning AlzaBox Aerosol: drifts onto neighbouring guests’ clothes and over open wine, and it is the format that can ignite before it dries near a candle
OFF! MAX pump spray, 100 ml icaridin 16% 119,90119,906 bottles
719
Teta Cheapest pump per ml. Near-odourless. Label states “nepoškozuje bavlnu, vlnu ani nylon” with no synthetics caveat. −33%, 484 stores, 60-min pickup 16% and 6 h, so plan a top-up around 20:00. Note: Alza’s own 129 Kč “OFF! MAX Spray” is not this — it is an aerosol in the same can as the duopack
Predator Forte, 150 ml backup DEET 24,9% 99,9066,603 bottles
300
Rossmann Longest, best-evidenced protection (~6 h) and cheap per ml at −47%. 163 stores, 60-min pickup. Keep behind the bar for anyone who asks DEET dissolves acetate, viscose, elastane, sunglasses and phone cases. Labelled 12+. Chemical smell, slightly sticky. Aerosol, so flammable near candles
Predator Forte XXL, 300 ml DEET 24,9% 17959,672 bottles
358
Rossmann Cheapest DEET per ml in the country. Buying two XXL instead of six 150 ml bottles saves ~240 Kč for more volume Pickup only — “Není skladem pro zaslání” — and only 76 stores carry it
Diffusil Dry Touch, 100 ml DEET 25% 79,9079,902–3
160–240
Rossmann Age 2+ — the one to have if children are coming. Dry, non-greasy finish. 221 stores Still DEET, so identical materials risk to the Forte
Predator Junior, 150 ml IR3535 15% 12986,004 bottles
516
Rossmann Cheapest DEET-free option in CZ per ml, −44%, stocked everywhere IR3535 label warns off synthetics, and 15% is the weakest concentration here
OFF! Kids, 100 ml IR3535 20% 139139,006
834
Rossmann Mildest active on skin, no hard EU age floor under 2. 197 stores Its own label says “vyhněte se syntetickým materiálům”worse on fabric than DEET, and warns on nail polish. Only ~3 h against Aedes. Pickup only
Mosi-guard Natural roll-on, 50 ml Citriodiol 40% 202404,00 via heureka A roll-on means zero overspray — mechanically the safest format for formalwear, and the closest thing to the wipes that don’t exist in CZ Dearest per ml here by a wide margin. Small independent pharmacies only, no delivery date published — unverified for Friday. Strong lemon-eucalyptus scent
Incognito natural repellent, 100 ml PMD / Citriodiol 325325,006
1 950
Alza The only “natural” active with real published efficacy. No DEET, no synthetics warning. “Skladem > 10 ks”, next-morning AlzaBox The strongest smell of any option — PMD is measurably more volatile than DEET, so it is the worst choice near a dinner. Most irritating to skin and eyes. Not under 3. Oil can ring silk. Concentration not stated
Recommended (20% pump + DEET backup)1 074Swap to the Alza duopack and it’s 897 Kč

Not available in CZ this week, in case you go looking: repellent wipes with any credible active — the only wipes on the market are citronella. (Autan Protection Plus, Care Plus icaridin and Mugga are all dead too, but OFF! Multi Insect above covers the 20% requirement.)

Sunscreen SPF 50 954 Kč recommended

Every SPF 50 option checked, with its verified filter list. The trade-off is white marks on dark fabric versus permanent yellow marks on light fabric — two different failure modes, and only one of them is reversible.

Yellow stains: caused by avobenzone (INCI: butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane) reacting with trace iron — permanent, and it appears in the wash, not on the day White marks: caused by mineral filters (zinc oxide, titanium dioxide) — ugly on a navy suit, but they wash out “Invisible” refers to skin, not fabric — and it usually implies avobenzone
ProductFiltersPackPer 100 mlBuy for 1 200 mlBuy atPlusMinus
SUNDANCE transparent spray, 200 ml buy no avobenzone 15979,506 bottles
954
dm Lowest staining risk of any mainstream option — Uvinul A Plus, Iscotrizinol, Tinosorb S, no avobenzone or octocrylene. Also transparent, so no white cast, and the cheapest per 100 ml. 60-min dm pickup. Art. 1918675 Alcohol-based aerosol: stings freshly shaved skin, shouldn’t be sprayed near the face, flammable before it dries
Eucerin SUN Dry Touch Oil Control, 200 ml no avobenzone 679339,501–2
679–1 358
Dr.Max Avobenzone-free and the same Beiersdorf dry-touch feel as the Nivea — same base, same film former, just Uvinul A Plus instead. True aerosol, so fastest for a queue. “Skladem na e-shopu” 4,3× the price of SUNDANCE — hard to justify across 85 guests, so buy one or two for the wedding party
Bioderma Photoderm MINERAL, 75 g ZnO + TiO₂ only 1 for the bride BENU The pick for the bride. Mineral filters have none of the yellow-stain chemistry, so on white silk the worst case is a white smear that washes out rather than a permanent orange one Leaves visible white marks on dark suits. Only 75 g, so useless at 85-guest scale. Avoid any tinted mineral — iron oxides are real pigment
Nivea SUN Protect & Dry Touch, 200 ml avobenzone, lead filter 239,90119,956 bottles
1 439
Teta “Invisible on all Skin Tones” — genuinely no white cast, which is why it photographs well. Brand people trust, −49%, 486 stores, 60-min pickup Avobenzone is its first and highest-concentration filter, so it carries the permanent-yellow risk on white and ivory. Nivea’s own label warns it “může zanechat stopy” on clothing
Nivea SUN Protect & Moisture, 250 ml avobenzone, lead filter 21987,605 bottles
1 095
dm SPF 50+, biggest bottle, cheapest Nivea per 100 ml (87,60), and a trigger pump not an aerosol — gentler and more controllable. dm’s permanent price, so no promo expiry Also avobenzone-led, so same staining risk. Slower per guest than an aerosol
Sunozon spray, 200 ml avobenzone at #3 11959,506 bottles
714
Rossmann Cheapest SPF 50 anything in CZ at 59,50 Kč/100 ml. 126 stores, 60-min pickup Avobenzone high in the list and unstabilised by octocrylene, which Rossmann markets as a feature. Cannot be shipped — pickup only
Astrid Sun spray milk, 270 ml avobenzone + octocrylene 23988,525 bottles
1 195
Rossmann Czech brand, largest bottle at 270 ml, −43%, claims no white film. 114 stores Highest staining risk found — the only product carrying both avobenzone and octocrylene, plus beta-carotene and retinyl palmitate, which are themselves coloured. Pickup only
La Roche-Posay Anthelios UVMune 400 avobenzone + full EU set Notino Best UVA protection here — both Mexoryls, Tinosorb S, Uvinul T150 and Uvinul A Plus. The choice if skin protection outranks fabric Contains avobenzone on top of all that, so premium price does not buy stain safety. Expensive per ml
Avène Sun Intense Protect, 150 ml no avobenzone, but dyed Notino Avobenzone-free, using TriAsorB and Uvinul A Plus. Very well tolerated on sensitive skin Contains Red 33 (CI 17200), an added red dye — its own hazard near a white dress. Ingredient list unverified on a Czech page
Recommended954

If a stain happens: act before the first wash, since laundering is what makes the mark appear. 30 °C, liquid detergent, never bleach, powder or hot water. Tell a cleaner: “organic UV-filter stain, probably avobenzone — degrease first, then acidic-side with a chelant, no alkaline or chlorine route.”

Mosquito candles 1 464 Kč

Three layers: tealights for the tables, long-burn jars for the perimeter, and a same-day backup in case the marketplace parcel slips.

ProductBurnPriceQtyTotalBuy atStock / delivery
HORECA citronella tealights, 100 pcs buy 4 h 298,93100299 Kaufland “Doprava zdarma / pá 7. srpna”. Marketplace seller
ATMOSPHERA Nina Lemongrass, 500 g buy 40 h 12581 000 Alza “Skladem > 10 ks”, next-morning AlzaBox. Perimeter, lit once
SOLO Citronela tealights, 18 pcs backup ~4 h 54,903 packs165 Rohlík “Už od 60 min u vás” — orderable Saturday morning
SOLO Citronela tealights, 18 pcs ~4 h 396 packs234 solo-shop.cz Lowest sticker, but ~130 Kč shipping makes it dearer delivered
Recommended1 464

Cooling mist 1 185 Kč

Aerosol cans as shared baskets. Handheld misting fans are effectively unbuyable in CZ right now.

ProductSizePriceQtyTotalBuy atStock / delivery
Balea osvěžující sprej Aqua buy 150 ml 39,50301 185 dm “Skladem”, 1–3 days + 60-min pickup. Max 23/order online
TFY Misty10 mist line, 10 m, 10 nozzles best value 10 m 1991278 via Dárky365 “Skladem” + 79 Kč shipping. Needs a garden hose tap
Avène Eau Thermale 300 ml 269102 690 Notino Premium alternative. Pickup Wed 5 Aug
Empty PET mister, refillable 100 ml 30852 550 alpik.cz “expedice dnes”. DIY: 8,5 litres to fill by hand
Recommended1 185

Hand fans 720–8 300 Kč

Five genuine options. The recommended one is cheaper than a plain fan and personalised; the engraved keepsake you originally wanted is also still reachable.

ProductUnitQtyTotalBuy atStock / delivery
Wanapix printed card fan — personalised both sides buy 11,441001 144 Wanapix “Doručení čtvrtek 6. srpna”. Names + date one side, programme the other
TEDi white heart paper fan, 10-pack cheapest 8,009 packs720 TEDi in store Two branches in Most: Chomutovská 1316, Velebudická 3270. No stock published — phone first
Wanapix engraved folding fan, wood or fabric keepsake ~9785~8 300 Wanapix “Skladem”, “Doručeno zítra, 5. srpna” — but quoted for qty 1, confirm
Stoklasa plain white paper fan, 21×36 cm 23,29902 096 Stoklasa “Skladem 3021 balení”, 1–2 day dispatch, 13 stores. Lowest risk
Allegro electric handheld fan, battery + cable incl. 90504 555 Allegro “z(e) 629 kusů”. Door delivery Thu 6 Aug, 115 Kč. Cutoff 18:30
Allegro bamboo + silk-look folding fan, 10-pack 43,709 packs3 933 Allegro “z(e) 822 sad”, Thu 6 Aug pickup point. Real fan feel, white

The basket

CategoryWhatWhereCost
Repellent6 × OFF! Multi Insect 20% pump + 3 × Predator ForteAlza, Rossmann1 074
Sunscreen6 × SUNDANCE transparent SPF 50dm954
Candles154 tealights + 8 × 40 h jarsKaufland, Rohlík, Alza1 464
Cooling mist30 × Balea Aqua 150 mldm1 185
Hand fans100 × personalised printed card fanWanapix1 144
Core total5 821 Kč

Optional: TFY mist line (+278 Kč) · engraved keepsake fans (~8 300 Kč) · 50 electric fans + chargers (~6 260 Kč) as an addition, not a swap.

Don’t buy: fake wasp nests · repellent wristbands · ultrasonic repellers · handheld misting fans · IR3535 repellent · Astrid Sun sunscreen · lawn pyrethroid sprays · combined sunscreen-plus-repellent products.

Key findings

The reasoning behind the choices above, one block per area. Nine research threads; the free measures matter more than anything in the basket.

The three free measures — worth more than anything in the basket

  • Decant every drink into a glass. No cans, no drinking from bottles. A wasp inside is how people get stung in the mouth or throat — treated in emergency medicine as an airway emergency regardless of allergy status, and a documented late-summer injury pattern. Costs nothing but a word to the bar staff.
  • Keep the cake indoors or in a car until the knife. Standing on a lawn table through an hour of photographs is the classic, predictable failure. No purchase needed — just don’t put it out early.
  • Bins 30 m away with lids on, and clear the fallen fruit within 30–50 m. In a Czech August, that plum or apple tree is probably a bigger attractant than your cake. Rake it Friday, again Saturday morning.

Wasps — nothing to buy, but worth knowing

  • No mosquito repellent works on wasps. Boevé et al. (2014, Insects) screened 66 volatiles against Vespula vulgaris: DEET, icaridin, IR3535 and PMD all showed “(almost) no repellent potency”. There is no topical wasp repellent, and citronella does nothing either — so don’t assume the repellent or candles cover you.
  • 2026 is a confirmed Czech peak year. Královéhradecký EMS handled ~100 insect-sting call-outs in July — three times last year. Heat and drought mean nothing is flowering, so they push into human spaces. 8 August sits at the peak of the annual peak.
  • They’re after sugar, not you. In late summer the queen stops laying, the larval sugar supply dries up, and several thousand unemployed workers per nest go hunting carbohydrate across a 400–500 m radius. That is why the three free measures above are the whole answer: hide the sugar and there is nothing to defend.
  • Don’t put a trap near the guests if you buy one anyway. A trap is an attractant — on the bar it is a wasp magnet aimed at your tables. Perimeter only, 20–40 m out, facing away.
  • Tell guests not to swat. A crushed wasp releases alarm pheromone, and swatting is what causes most stings at outdoor events. Stay still, let it walk off.
  • If you find a nest: professional removal is 1 300–2 500 Kč plus 13 Kč/km outside Prague; phone, don’t email. The fire brigade won’t attend private property — but many Czech home-insurance policies include dezinsekce, so check yours first. Wasps and hornets aren’t protected here; bumblebees are, so if it’s fat and furry, rope it off and leave it.
  • Sting preparedness costs nothing: ask in the day-before message whether anyone carries an adrenaline auto-injector, tell two sober people where it is, and write down the venue’s GPS coordinates and 155 on paper. At 85 guests, roughly two people statistically have a venom allergy.

Repellent

  • 20% icaridin doesn’t exist in CZ this week — Autan discontinued, Care Plus DEET-only, Mugga no live offer. 16% is the ceiling, and it’s fine: low concentration costs duration, not potency. Add a top-up around 20:00.
  • Pump, not aerosol. One decision fixes three problems — odour drift over the wine, overspray onto dresses, and ignition near 100 candles. An aerosol is 40–70% ethanol and propellant by mass; a pump puts ~5× less into the air.
  • IR3535 is the trap, not the gentle option. Same manufacturer: icaridin says “nepoškozuje bavlnu, vlnu ani nylon”, IR3535 says “vyhněte se syntetickým materiálům”.
  • Your clothes are mostly safe. DEET’s label affirmatively exempts cotton, wool and nylon. The real risk is narrow: acetate linings, viscose, elastane.
  • Station design: at the arrival point, ≥10 m from tables, upwind, with hand-wash beside it. Signage says legs and ankles. Give one sober person the station for two hours, then move the bottles out of sight.

Toxicity — less to worry about than the reputation suggests

  • ~1 recognised seizure per 100 million users. EPA counts 14 cases since 1960 against 50–80 million users a year; the EU counted 12 possible cases against “over 5 billion applications”. Of 20 764 poison-centre exposures, 96,2% were minor and both deaths were adults on >50% DEET.
  • DEET has the best human pregnancy evidence of any active — an RCT in 897 pregnant women, no adverse effects. Icaridin, IR3535 and PMD have no human pregnancy trials at all.
  • The 12+ label is a dose model, not a danger signal. Children have a higher skin-to-mass ratio, so the same application delivers a bigger mg/kg dose — the EU calculated 156% of the tolerable daily figure for an under-12 at two applications a day. That limit is already ~100× below the animal no-effect level. Follow the label anyway; the icaridin option is 2+.
  • The risk actually worth acting on is fire. In 2012, 23 Banana Boat spray sunscreens were recalled after five burn injuries — the wet film ignited before it dried. Same solvent chemistry as your aerosols, and you’re planning 100+ flames. Spraying at a candlelit table is the hazardous act.
  • “Natural” is the worst choice for unattended bottles — raw eucalyptus oil has a documented adult fatality from as little as 3,5 ml.

Sunscreen and fabric

  • “Invisible” is a skin claim and points the wrong way. Invisible → no mineral pigment → organic filters → oil-soluble UVA filter → avobenzone, the staining class. The staining study’s worst-offender list includes “L’Oréal Invisible Protect SPF 50” by name.
  • The stain happens in the wash, not on the day. Alkaline detergent turns avobenzone into a coloured enolate; then trace Fe(III) chelates it into a permanent rust mark. So intervene before the first wash: 30 °C, liquid detergent, never bleach, powder or hot water. (Persil’s Czech stain page recommends maximum temperature — wrong for avobenzone.)
  • “Hard water” is a misattribution — Ca/Mg form no coloured complex. It’s trace iron and copper. Hard water only matters indirectly, by raising wash pH and consuming the detergent’s chelant.
  • Mineral for the bride. On white silk, mineral leaves a white smear that washes out; organic leaves a permanent orange complex. Avoid tinted mineral — iron oxides are real pigment.
  • Sunscreen first, absorb, then repellent. DEET over sunscreen cuts SPF by about a third.

Candles — ambience, not protection

  • Citronella candles reduce mosquito landings only ~11–42%, within about a metre, in still air. Any breeze eliminates it. German government guidance rates them “völlig wirkungslos”. Against wasps there is no data at all.
  • Check the venue permits open flame — many Czech venues don’t. Glass votives, not bare aluminium on linen. LED on tables with real flames only at a supervised perimeter is defensible.
  • Don’t cluster them or put them under a marquee — citronella plumes form secondary organic aerosol with ozone, which is elevated on summer evenings and irritates asthmatic guests.
  • Burn-time maths: a 4 h tealight lit at 19:00 dies at 23:00. A party to 01:00 needs two rounds, which is why the 40 h perimeter jars matter — lit once, no relighting crew.

Cooling mist

  • Handheld misting fans are unbuyable in CZ. Every reservoir model on Alza reads “Momentálně nedostupné”; the only bulk listing is a Polish unit at 308 Kč, 3,8★, with a review reporting it dead after two days.
  • Cheap pump misters spray droplets, not mist — that streaks foundation and runs mascara. The aerosol cans are safe precisely because Balea and Avène market themselves as makeup-fixing sprays. If you go DIY, frame them as neck and forearm sprays.
  • Keep cans shaded. The hazard panel warns above 50 °C, which a can on a sunlit table in Czech August will exceed.

Fans — and two corrections

  • The keepsake plan isn’t dead. Wanapix does laser-engraved folding fans with next-day delivery — about €3 a guest for what you originally wanted from AliExpress. But real silk doesn’t exist in this market on this timeline: every “hedvábný vějíř” is polyester.
  • Electric is ~4× a paper fan, not 15–20× — my earlier figure was wrong. The cause: CZC.cz and Mall.cz now redirect to allegro.cz, so skipping Allegro misses most of the Czech long tail. The real price is 90 Kč with 629 units in stock. It also has a stand, giving hands-free continuous airflow, which is the actual mosquito mechanism.
  • Execution, not price, is the argument against electric: one Polish supplier, an estimated date, no local fallback, a verified-buyer report that it switches itself on in a bag, ~50 USB ports needed overnight, and unknown colour.
  • Your Alza subscription is worthless for fans — 32 products, and the only white one shows 2 ks.
  • The cheapest prices in the country are ex-VAT B2B listings. Add 21% before comparing. And white is the bottleneck: the cheap white promo fan is out across the whole channel with a ~135-day restock.
  • Dead ends, so nobody re-hunts: white lace fans in 50+ units · Stoklasa’s white textile and bamboo fans · sandalwood, palm and raffia in volume · custom printing through the promo channel (300 ks, 3–4 weeks) · Action, KiK, JYSK, IKEA, Rossmann, Hornbach, Mountfield · OBI, which has 7 units nationwide.