Two of my friends are getting married in October, in a town a good distance away. I know the main thing when friends get married is just to be happy to be there, but I’m unemployed at the minute so money is pretty tight (I’ve already had to turn down staying overnight at the hotel as it’s £110 per night ). So, any ideas for a wedding gift that would suit my budget? Clearly I’m looking for something that costs very little but looks like I sold the soul of my first-born to obtain :D.
I’ll probably be chipping in for the gift with a friend of mine who is equally skint. He does calligraphy and I’m a writer, so I was thinking of some way to combine the two? But heck, I don’t want to write them a soppy poem!
Ideas would be really welcome. I do have a while to think about it but the sooner it’s sorted the better I think for my wee stressed noggin.
Don’t know about the UK but in America, it’s consider good to gift anytime in the first year. Maybe just send a nice card, explain that you’d love to be there but your situation (don’t explain) makes it difficult. You can send a gift later if you feel the need.
I just got married three months ago and I was happy to receiving the blessings of my friends and family. Distance kept 50% of them away. The gifts were nice but not what I really wanted to get. What I wanted to hear was, “Good for you. You’ll be great together.”
I agree, Belrix, and if I ever get married my friends will be told their asses will be kicked if they turn up with any other gift than a bottle of wine or something else under £10, or indeed any gift at all for the really broke. I know my friend would rather have me there than have a gift, but at the same time it’s going to be quite a traditional wedding and I really couldn’t turn up empty-handed. I can’t get out of going either, and wouldn’t want to, they’re both very good friends - I’m just going to have to get a taxi after the shenanigans to my folks’ house, closer to the venue than mine.
Sigmagirl - that’s a good idea, thanks!
Meh to weddings. If I ever take the plunge it’s going to be City Hall then a buffet in my favourite pool hall…
One of the gifts I loved receiving was my wedding invitation, nicely framed.
Along similar lines, do you have a nice photograph of the couple – maybe a snapshot from a party or something? Putting that in a frame would also be cool, especially with a written expression of why you care for them, why you like the photo, your good wishes for their future, etc.
A truly personal touch trumps an expensive gift every time, as far as I am concerned. If you have anything that represents either their history as a couple or the shared history between the three of you (it sounds like you are friends with both people) I can promise they’ll appreciate it.
I really like Sigmagirl’s idea. You could also offer to be a general errand person at the wedding, they might have some odd job that needs to get done while everyone else is busy. Like move flowers around or something.
I think a bottle of wine and a nice card always works. It doesn’t have to be pricey to be tasty. I think the more inexpensive bubblies (like italian Prosecco) are fun and you can get quite nice ones in the neighborhood of 10 pounds.
For a written gift, maybe a caligraphic copy of one of their wedding readings? I have a friend who got, like, 10 of her framed invitation… eek. Its a great idea until everyone thinks of it.
When I’m broke and have to give a gift, I like to bake. Last Christmas, I made Mexican wedding cookies and gave them to relatives in tins scavenged from my mother’s house. If your baking skills are even worse than mine (and I just Do Not Bake, though the cookies came out very well), a bottle of wine is always good too.
My two favourite gifts from my wedding were undoubtedly also the cheapest.
Exhibit A: A loaf of sliced white supermarket bread. Excuse: “because everyone gets a toaster when they get married so you’ll need something to put in it.” :). The really funny thing is, not only did we not get a toaster, we didn’t even have one in the house till we went down the road to Mr Aspy’s old housemates and swiped his one back. Usable only if the bride and groom have a bizarre sense of humour.
Exhibit B: An attractive hardback A4 size lined notepad. This was from friends of my parents who I didn’t know particularly well. Inside was a little note about how when they had gotten married (all those years ago…) somebody gave them a similar notebook to use as a recipe book and how much fun they’d had over the years discovering and writing down and eating the recipes, so they were now going to pass the experience on to us. It ended up with a chocolate cake recipe (which ironically, we’ve never yet made. But the next two entries into it were two recipes I got at my Hens Night which have been made LOTS of times and contain much yumminess. So it’s all good)
Wouldn’t work, alas, Cicero - they bought a house together two years ago and everything is pretty much sorted.
Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I’m now evilly thinking that my glorious presence will be their real gift, and that they can just damn well like it! But I’ll probably end up giving them some type of ink-stained framed offering…
). So, any ideas for a wedding gift that would suit my budget? Clearly I’m looking for something that costs very little but looks like I sold the soul of my first-born to obtain :D.