Our Approach to Gifts

This was something we struggled with a lot and have only recently figured out something we're okay with. Before getting into details I want to make it clear up front that Mr. Knitting and I are ridiculously grateful for any wedding presents we might receive. I do want to talk about our somewhat complicated approach to wedding gifts, but I don't want that basic sentiment to get lost.

That being said, we knew since we got engaged that our ideal wedding gift is a financial contribution to our down payment fund (i.e. money). GASP! How rude of us. The back story is that no one in either of our (extended) families has ever registered for wedding gifts since the Polish and Ukrainian tradition is to give money. In addition, both my cousin and sister (the only two family members of our generation to get married) did not register and no one seemed offended or stumped for gift ideas.

Our big issue with registering is that we don't really want stuff. We, like many couples, have lived together for a long time and have almost all the kitchen and home items we need for now. Neither of us come from a family with fine china or silverware, so the idea of registering for 12 place settings is pretty foreign to us. It's also not very practical as we're probably going to have to move a lot for Mr. Knitting's job, so if we did get any nice china it would probably sit in my parent's basement for the next 10 years and by the time we'd look at it again, we'll have completely different taste.

All that being said, we've been getting a lot of questions about gifts recently, and felt really awkward saying, "Cold hard cash please." Okay, we'd never say it like that, but still...As a result we decided to come up with a bunch of options to give people if they ask. Be warned, these aren't your grandmother's options!

1) We put together a registry at Crate and Barrel. It has, um, 9 items. That's right, 9. We could not bring ourselves to register for anything that we didn't need. For example, while I would be thrilled to receive a gift of a cake stand, I don't actually need one, so I couldn't bring myself to put it on our registry. On the other hand, I've been dying for a new good quality food processor because I use our crappy one on a daily basis and am convinced every time I use it will be the last time, so that made it on. We realize that 9 items is ridiculously small and might go back to add a few more things, but really we're not going to be able to get it past 15.

2) Gift cards to our yoga studio or Lululemon. Not a traditional wedding present, but yoga is something both Mr. Knitting and I love and is one of our favourite ways to spend time together so this seemed fitting.

3) Vegan cookbooks. I love vegan cooking and baking, and Mr. Knitting loves eating the results so this seemed like a good idea. I also get all warm and fuzzy at the idea of me making meals for our future babies using our wedding present cookbooks.

Mmm carrot cake:



4) A financial contribution to our down payment fund. Yes, this is money, but it's money with a goal. I actually think of symbolism of our friends and family coming together to help us buy our first home is lovely.

So that's what we've come up with. A bit off beat, but very reflective of us.

Did you have any challenges when it came to registering for gifts?