Your opinions on gift registries please?

[spoon]

Just wanted to know what others felt about gift registry's for presents.

As a couple using one, a guest contributing to one, or just a general opinion...

Thanks guys.:babydust2:

[MrsMiggins]

There is nothing better than getting an invite to a wedding for a slightly "older" couple who've each been living out of home for years & have everything, than that little slip of paper that goes along with it that tells you where they're registered!!

For our's we needed nothing (other than a honeymoon) so we requested our guests contribute towards that & had our registry set up witj a travel agent. :thumbsup:

[Chub Chub]

Love em, soooooo easy:thumbsup:

[Nickster]

I think they're great - they take all the guess work out of buying presents.

There's nothing worse than receiving 20 toasters, except perhaps being one of the suckers who bought one of the 20 toasters....

[mumdadandgrace]

I think they are a great idea, when done with taste and consideration for those having to buy the gifts.

You can get some that are just ridiculous, with only a small amount of reasonably priced items, and then heaps of big ticket stuff that hardly anyone can afford.I'm sorry but if I'm going to your wedding I want to buy you a nice gift, not furnish your whole damn house.:shame:

Others are great where there are plenty of things at different price points to choose from, it makes it more fun:yes:

[spoon]

thanks guys. i was just wondering. some of them seem a bit materialistic. but others not so.

[Paris04]

Definitely a great idea. I would rather purchase a gift that the couple need/want than by them something they might not ever use.

[young_mummie07]

we had one for our wedding it's great to have :)

[christen]

I think they are a great idea if they are done at the right place, mumdadandgrace had a good point about buying something nice not furnishing your whole house!!
Just make sure you have a good price range and a good range of choices for people to buy!
At least you know where the gifts came from if you change your mind and want to exchange them later!!!!!

[talia11]

great idea, but i think it is important to have a good variety of mixed priced goods....maybe one or two large expensive things if people want toput in together and lots of little medium priced things for vareity for people to choose.

[MonkeyMum05]

I personally would never have one. Not sure how to put my feelings on this one into words...
I guess I just don't 'expect' gifts, and if someone does choose to get a gift, It'd have much more meaning if they had chosen it themselves.
When people send lists/registries out with invitations, I don't get angry or anything, I just feel a little 'funny' about it, because I like to spend time choosing unusual gifts for people. It's the intention behind it or something?

Hope that made sense!

[~mia&ryan~]

I like the idea of gift registries. If DF and I didnt already have everything, we would have had one... But the only things we want are 'upgrades' and I dont expect people to spend that much on us at all.....

[MrsMiggins]

I personally would never have one. Not sure how to put my feelings on this one into words...
I guess I just don't 'expect' gifts, and if someone does choose to get a gift, It'd have much more meaning if they had chosen it themselves.
When people send lists/registries out with invitations, I don't get angry or anything, I just feel a little 'funny' about it, because I like to spend time choosing unusual gifts for people. It's the intention behind it or something?

Hope that made sense!
I agree. We deliberately didn't have an engagement party, because we didn't want people to feel they "had" to get us something. Even when you tell people "no gifts", I know they often feel obliged anyway (I know I do!)

But I guess people want to get you a wedding gift, and we were in the position where people were getting a little annoyed because whenever we were asked what we wanted/needed, we said nothing!! Everyone kept asking us why we didn't have a registry, so rather than registering for a heap of stuff we didn't need or want, we decided to do the honeymoon contribution thing.

We did still get wedding gifts, and were totally open letting people know that if they preferred to give a gift (or even nothing at all) then that was fine also.

If you're a bit funny about having a registry, you can always be clear that buying from the registry is not necessary & that it's only provided as a courtesy to guests who may be stuck on what to get you. :thumbsup:

[mumdadandgrace]

I personally would never have one. Not sure how to put my feelings on this one into words...
I guess I just don't 'expect' gifts, and if someone does choose to get a gift, It'd have much more meaning if they had chosen it themselves.
When people send lists/registries out with invitations, I don't get angry or anything, I just feel a little 'funny' about it, because I like to spend time choosing unusual gifts for people. It's the intention behind it or something?

Hope that made sense!

I understand what you are saying here and whilst i don't mind gift registries, I agree with you.

You sound like me in that you actually enjoy the whole gift buying process and put a lot of thought into it. I love pressie buying opportunities and I put a whole lot of effort in from the card to the paper to the gift.

But I think you have to be 'that' kind of person to do it well, you have to like it. Plus it helps if you really 'know' the person. Whilst I am very thankful for every gift I am lucky enough to get, sometimes after christmas I ponder why people chose certain gifts for me, makes me wonder about their perception of me as a person :idea:

A lot of people I know hate buying gifts because they just don't know what to buy and it frustrates them. So for them gift registries are easier and make the process less painful.

But for me I find it a bit sad that I don't get to go shopping to search for the perfect surprise:crying:

:ecomcity: I can't believe I just spent all that time thinking about that! Methinks i need to get back to work!