I’m invited to a wedding next week. Well, invited to a wedding reception; I think they’re keeping the wedding itself pretty small. It’s the daughter of some friends of ours. I know her, but not well; she’s a good kid and her fiance seems pretty great too.
Of course, I’ve procrastinated long enough that her registry is completely bought out, with the exception of a few high-dollar items. I could go with a gift card, but that’s kinda boring.
So what do I get these kids? They’re in their mid-twenties, have lived together for maybe a year so I’m guessing they have all the toasters and devilled egg trays they need, and… other than that, I’m clueless. Help!
How about a nice silver tabletop photo frame they can use to display one of their wedding pics? If you have a TJ Maxx or a Marshall’s near you, they usually have a nice selection of frames.
If you can embroider or do counted stitch, then do a sampler with their names and the wedding date and some wedding-y images such as doves or hearts or flowers. Then frame it. I realize that you probably wouldn’t get a sampler done in a week, but etiquette grants you a year after the ceremony to give them a present.
Yeah, no embroidering or other skills like that here.
I do like the idea of a picture frame (in fact, it works out well as one of her hobbies is photography) but I’d want to spend a bit more than what that would cost for a wedding gift. I’m thinking around $100, unless someone tells me that’s too much or too little.
It’s already August in the UP, so…matching snow shovels? You can’t tell me the ACE doesn’t already have them in stock.
But seriously, though it may seem dull to you the gift card for the place they’re registered at is the next best thing to something off the registry; chances are they’ll use it toward the expensive items you mentioned. You could even affix the gift card to the inside of a pretty, smallish frame (maybe for a desk?) and wrap the whole thing; be a pleasant surprise for them.
Tiffany offers a nice pewter frame for $110. It’s not silver but, heck, Tiffany. That aqua box alone will impress any bride. You can also get it engraved … which is one way to make sure the happy couple don’t re-gift your offering. www.tiffany.com/gifts/gifts-for-the-home/rectangular-frame-14367322?
FYI: Tiffany silver frames go as high as $18,000. If I were you, I’d stick to pewter.
OK, I’m going straight to the reply, without reading anyone else’s.
You know what can end up being pricey? All those individual kitchen items. Measuring spoons, measuring cups, a rolling pin, couple of pie tins, ice cube trays, a spatula for scraping. Cheap individually, but put them all together…
My mom has done this more than once, and it has always been appreciated, especially if the couple has not already been keeping house together.
I once got a young couple that was getting married & moving into their first house a selection of decorations for various holidays: Valentines’ Day, Easter, a flag for 4th of July (and some fireworks), Thanksgiving decorations, Christmas lights, decorations, & Xmas table runner, hand towels, etc., plus a box of assorted greeting cards.
They mentioned later that they found it very useful, and appreciated it every time a holiday came along.
Something from one of the stores on their registry but not on the registry itself. They can keep it if they want or return it. Most stores that do registries give the couple a discount on items they registered for so many people will register for lots of 30-60 dollar items and a few 100+ on the assumption that they’ll return enough blenders, food processors and toasters to get some of the pricier things on their registry.
I often give an emergency kit with a radio, cell phone recharger and an assortment of flash lights. A lot of people don’t think to have these things around until some sort of emergency is looming (and the stores are a mobbed with people looking for supplies).