Budget Wedding Gifts
Weddings can be such lovely, joyful affairs, and staying out of debt attending them can be a feat in itself for many families. From airfare to accommodations and garb to gifts, fancy weddings can be quite expensive.
As many families tighten their budgets to better afford gas and groceries, gift giving is taking a hit as well. Linens N’ Things, where I registered as a bride, recently declared bankruptcy. Retail sales are down, even in the traditional wedding-related sector.
I recommend making your own wedding gift if possible, but realize this doesn’t have to mean something that looks tacky or especially homemade.
Think about your skills, your family members’ talents, and family businesses or enterprises. What about these ideas:
~ Professionally framing the couple’s wedding invitation. My friend’s father owned a framing shop, and I received an elegant framed display of my wedding invitation that I treasure to this day.
~ Gift certificate for services. If you or your spouse are self-employed, what about a gift certificate? Services such as gutter cleaning, hardwood finishing, pet sitting or vehicle tune-up would be practical and much appreciated by many couples.
~ Elegant crafts. Do you make scrapbooks, notecards, or gift baskets? What about making items for the bride’s wedding gift?
~ Thrift stores and discount shops. After looking through the couple’s registry to get an idea of their taste and style, look for very inexpensive yet new items at thrift outlets. You’ll be surprised at the bargains and quality you’ll find.
To avoid overspending on wedding gifts, Kiplinger advises sticking to a budget or teaming up with friends for a group gift. They even go so low as to advise re-gifting. Hey, don’t laugh–soon re-gifting may be mainstream as purse strings continue to tighten for many.
Are you scaling back on gift giving because of finances or the economy? What budget wedding gifts do you recommend?
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Great write up. I’ve personally been involved in group gifting offline and experienced the economic benefits. At a wedding I was a part of, we split the cost of a $1200 bose 3-2-1 system for the bride and groom among a large group of friends. The groom’s co-workers pitched in for a 24″ LCD TV. Definitely better than re-gifting, and much more appreciated. As a result of group gifting I didn’t have to really think of the gift as much as just contributing what I could afford.
As a result of personally being a part of the benefits of group gifting offline, eDivvy.com was born. eDivvy recently launched to facilitate the entire group gifting process online.
We’ve had groups gift items such as designer handbags, electronics, laptops, higher end camera accessories, and gift cards for birthdays to teacher appreciation occasions.
I agree with Kiplinger that teaming up with friends for a group gift is the best way to go. In addition to the economic benefits, group gifting alleviates the stress of deciding what to get while staying within your personal budget and alleviates the social pressures of outgifting others.
I went to a wedding recently. This is the bride’s third wedding and the groom’s second wedding. What do you get them for gifts? They’ve got grown up kids and established households.
I think buying the new couple a card of well wishes should be good enough.
If they’re just starting off, give them $50. They probably just need the cash to pay bills.
I know what you mean, Monty. A card and bottle of wine would be thoughtful, I think.
I have to admit I re-gifted for a friend’s wedding. It was the week after mine and I was strapped for cash. Plus they had not registered anywhere and I had received several gifts I didn’t need (including some duplicates). So I took some of the stuff I wasn’t going to use and gave it to them. And it was nice stuff too. I also know another friend that did that for the same reason two years prior to my wedding. Neither of us found it tacky and no one has told any of the married couples what was done so ther are no hard feelings.
It’s crazy how much weddings cost these days, especially with property prices being so high. The amount they spend on a wedding they could put a decent sized deposit down on a house. People need to learn that money doesn’t = happiness.
Gag gifts can be a lot of fun for both giver and receiver. They are an excellent idea for making a home or office festive party that much funnier. Laughter that they generate is always a great return gift without you asking for it. But remember that gag gifts are more for fun and the receiver should be light-hearted enough in realizing their playful tone.
In the last three weddings I went to, people preferred having their guests conributing towards big ticket items instead of getting a bunch of smaller items. In one case, we teamed up and filled a suit case with money and helped the couple pay for their honeymoon trip.
After attending a lot of these weddings, I realized that the wedding registries are not addressing this niche market. This is why we started http://www.wisheo.com, a new solution targeting people who want to buy good gifts without spending too much.