NPR: Wedding Gift Ideas

[billyhorrible]

My cousin is getting married next weekend.  The wedding is across the country, so we won't be attending, but I want to send him something.  They're not registered anywhere, and I'd love some help brainstorming.

Background:
- It's his second marriage, her first
- They're expecting a little girl in November  (He has an adopted daughter from his first marriage, long story, but the short version is my cousin is an incredibly wonderful guy)
- He's in his 30s and is a total stereotypical "guy's guy" - works with his hands, loves cars, trucks, sports, etc.
- She's in her 20s and works with kids.

[wegrowsheep]

Find out what's near them in terms of restaurants, etc. Gift cards for date nights, Home Depot, Lowe's, Costco, etc. I loved getting those!

[ThePalindromicOne]

Are they taking a honeymoon? I loved when people got me gifts/excursions on site for the honeymoon...

[Widget123]

I usually get kitchen / dining related stuff like bread machine, margarita maker, cheaper wine rack, etc. But since they are older they probably dont need that kind of stuff so maybe cash or a gift card is the way to go as suggested

[mrsmonogrammed]

Am I the only one whose family just does a check in a card? Those are always my favorite kind of presents;)

[holliberry28]

Jun 2, 2015 19:32:57 GMT -5 mrsmonogrammed said:

Am I the only one whose family just does a check in a card? Those are always my favorite kind of presents;)

+1.  Nothing better than cash or check.

[lalamomma]

Jun 2, 2015 19:32:57 GMT -5 mrsmonogrammed said:

Am I the only one whose family just does a check in a card? Those are always my favorite kind of presents;)

A wedding is the one time I don't mind giving money at least for established adult couples who don't need "stuff".

[ktbear]

Jun 2, 2015 20:00:03 GMT -5 holliberry28 said:

Jun 2, 2015 19:32:57 GMT -5 mrsmonogrammed said:

Am I the only one whose family just does a check in a card? Those are always my favorite kind of presents;)

+1.  Nothing better than cash or check.

+2. I don't think I've ever giving anything besides cash at a wedding.

[billyhorrible]

Jun 2, 2015 19:16:25 GMT -5 ThePalindromicOne said:

Are they taking a honeymoon? I loved when people got me gifts/excursions on site for the honeymoon...

No honeymoon, due to the pregnancy and young child at home.

[billyhorrible]

Jun 2, 2015 20:26:38 GMT -5 ktbear said:

Jun 2, 2015 20:00:03 GMT -5 holliberry28 said:

+1.  Nothing better than cash or check.

+2. I don't think I've ever giving anything besides cash at a wedding.

I always feel weird giving cash to someone who makes more than I do, like it seems so nominal. He makes more than DH and I combined.

[baileybaileybne]

I feel like they'd appreciate some lovely China drinking glasses or something like that: homey gift but more mature and not a 'need' but a 'want'. Like scotch glasses or something like that?

[kemdupuis]

One of my favorite wedding gifts was from DH's sister. She got us a
Wood engraved sign that says "ourlastname family est. 2012" if you don't want to give cash, something sentimental/meaningful and personalized is always nice, I think

[ladysif]

I'd probably go with a gift card but supplement with something smaller that's thoughtful; like kemdupuis suggested, something personalized with the family info, etc. I think it would be okay to do a gift card to something family-friendly since the family will be a bit blended; zoo/aquarium passes, family-friendly restaurant, etc. Or you can do the bottle of wine/champagne thing, get a couple bottles that reach a good age at different anniversaries of their wedding and include a bottle of sparkling grape juice for the little girl. That might be hard to ship though.

Do you have a tight-knit family? You could compile some family recipes for him and give them a recipe book and a gift card. I've done it for all my SILs; I mail out recipe cards and include stamped return envelopes to our side of the family and give them the collected recipes as part of the shower or wedding gift. You wouldn't have to go that far, but if you got a couple, you could also get some personalized recipe cards (e.g. "from the kitchen of the Smiths") or something. Good luck, whatever you do will be great and they'll appreciate it!

[dmoney]

One of my favorite gifts that we ever got was a photo frame from Kate Spade. It does typically run about $100 but it has a place to put a wedding picture and a place to put the actual wedding invitation. www.katespade.com/grace-avenue-double-invitation-frame/L817597,en_US,pd.html?dwvar_L817597_color=046&cgid=ks-bridal#start=35&cgid=ks-bridal

[mnp48]

dmoney, I received a similar frame, too. IDK the brand but it's a plain silver one with two 8x10 (I think) windows. I actually used it as well. So, I'm going +1 on this idea!

[belle0720]

I like the idea of a gift card to somewhere around them for a date night. Money is always a welcome gift but I agree that for certain people I feel silly giving them money when they are obviously more well off than me.

I'm also a big fan of edible arrangements or if you know what hotel they're staying at the night of the wedding see if you can have chocolate covered strawberries and champagne waiting for them after the wedding. Or maybe custom cookies (kind of have these on the brain because an old roommate makes these and has been posting the cutest pictures of them on facebook). Clearly I like food.

I personally try to stay away from picture frames unless I'm putting a picture in them. We got a few for our wedding and did not use a single one of them.