My fiance and I decided that we're not registering for gifts. We will list some charities that people can donate to if they really want to do something in our name, but registering for gifts just doesn't fit in with our ethical/social/environmental principles and goals. Has anyone else done this and ended up still receiving a lot of "stuff" that ended up being harder to return? Anyone done it and have great stories to share about how it worked out?
We did this. We did end up receiving a few random gifts that we kept, like wine glasses etc. They always come in handy. But more importantly, we saw friends giving as much as they could afford to our favorite charities, some gave $25 some $150 so that flexibility is quite nice. One of our family friends gave $1000 to each of three charities! That made it so worth it to us!!!!
We're not registering for China and all that other usual suspects. We're just not interested in all that stuff...
Instead we're registering at REI for gear and charities if people prefer to do that. We both support kiva.org and the MS society... hopefully our guests will too! We'll let you know how it goes. PLease do the same!
I'd say as long as you give them an option to do something you'll be all right. Sure you'll receive a few gifts because some people can't get away from tradition, but most people will understand and do what you let them know.
We did not register. We had a destination wedding and thought that that having our friends and families attend was gift enough. We received a few monetary gifts from older relatives but most of our friends didn't get us anything.
My dude REALLY did not want a registry, but I was concerned about ending up with things we didn't want and couldn't return, so we ended up using alternativegiftregistry.com so we could use a traditional registry and also have non-tangible gifts (like reception set-up, used books, mix CDs).
Our families are stubborn and are very attached to registries, so we went with myregistry.com and registered for some stuff we could use and some items from local and independent artists that we would appreciate and like to support. We are making a large statement on our website and have told everyone in our wedding party that we do not want gifts - their participation is gift enough.
In the end, we felt it better to register for things we want/need/like to support than to leave people up to their own big box store devices.
I wish we'd found out about alternative gift registry when we were going through the process - what a great idea!
My fiance and I decided that we're not registering for gifts. We will list some charities that people can donate to if they really want to do something in our name, but registering for gifts just doesn't fit in with our ethical/social/environmental principles and goals. Has anyone else done this and ended up still receiving a lot of "stuff" that ended up being harder to return? Anyone done it and have great stories to share about how it worked out?
posted by livvie 88 posts 4 months agoWe did this. We did end up receiving a few random gifts that we kept, like wine glasses etc. They always come in handy. But more importantly, we saw friends giving as much as they could afford to our favorite charities, some gave $25 some $150 so that flexibility is quite nice. One of our family friends gave $1000 to each of three charities! That made it so worth it to us!!!!
posted by LM 76 posts 4 months agoWe're not registering for China and all that other usual suspects. We're just not interested in all that stuff...
Instead we're registering at REI for gear and charities if people prefer to do that. We both support kiva.org and the MS society... hopefully our guests will too! We'll let you know how it goes. PLease do the same!
posted by doctorgirl 147 posts 4 months agoI'd say as long as you give them an option to do something you'll be all right. Sure you'll receive a few gifts because some people can't get away from tradition, but most people will understand and do what you let them know.
posted by MrsFroggy 80 posts 4 months agoWe're thinking of Kiva as well, so I'd love to hear how it goes.
posted by livvie 88 posts 4 months agoWe did not register. We had a destination wedding and thought that that having our friends and families attend was gift enough. We received a few monetary gifts from older relatives but most of our friends didn't get us anything.
posted by clarita 31 posts 4 months agoMy dude REALLY did not want a registry, but I was concerned about ending up with things we didn't want and couldn't return, so we ended up using alternativegiftregistry.com so we could use a traditional registry and also have non-tangible gifts (like reception set-up, used books, mix CDs).
posted by Idared 10 posts 4 months agoJust an FYI to anyone who is looking for the website in the last post, it's www.alternativegiftregistry.ORG and it's a great idea!
posted by PerezSistersPhotography 34 posts 4 months agoOur families are stubborn and are very attached to registries, so we went with myregistry.com and registered for some stuff we could use and some items from local and independent artists that we would appreciate and like to support. We are making a large statement on our website and have told everyone in our wedding party that we do not want gifts - their participation is gift enough.
In the end, we felt it better to register for things we want/need/like to support than to leave people up to their own big box store devices.
I wish we'd found out about alternative gift registry when we were going through the process - what a great idea!
posted by missm 483 posts 4 months agoI'm bumping up this post to see if anyone else has had experience with asking for charitable donations instead of traditional gifts.....
posted by MsB 211 posts 3 months ago