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For my first wedding, I received 3 glass pitchers. I cannot tell you how many times I (and friends) have used those damn pitchers. Who knew!?! Sometimes the random gifts surprise you. :)
@Lulusmom: lol! really? you think I should keep them? (I was totally thinking of re-gifting one of them, the one that still has the tag on it...)
We got a lot of off-registry large servings bowls. They are all really nice but unfortunately we don't really need 4 of them.
I also got some duplicate items similar to what I registered for without gift receipts or from a store where I registered and I donated all that stuff to goodwill.
@joy2011: You can do what you want, but I'm serious that mine have gotten a ton of use over the years. Anytime we have a bbq/party/family get-together, I fill one up with iced-tea, one up with lemonade and one up with jungle-juice. I have two kids now and it is nice to be able to set out a couple of pitchers of drinks for playdates. My sister and friends borrow them when they have parties. The list goes on. They are one of the most most-used serving pieces!
ETA -- it's super nice if they match, because I'm ocd like that
I got 3 sets of crystal toasting flutes, none of which I registered for, and none of which matched - not that I need 6 crystal toasting flutes. Thankfully I was able to return 2 of the sets for gift cards.
My parents got us a set of cheap bakeware for Christmas and didn't give us a gift receipt. The thing that makes it really weird is that my mom gave me the nice Pyrex bakeware we registered for at my shower just a month before...
We immediately regifted the cheap bakeware to FSIL, who's about to move into her own new apartment and actually really needs kitchen stuff.
Well I haven't got married yet, but I thought I'd chime in from horrible holiday gifts this year.
We used to have a "black and white" decor theme going on in our living room... we had a black couch, and a white couch... and a few black and white decor items.
My FI's mom took that and RAN for Xmas gifts this year. We got THREE horribly ugly black and white blankets that are a random print... and then 2 huge black and white ZEBRA lamps. Zebra? Zebra?! Ugh. FMIL doesn't know our style at all. Worst part is, she asked what we wanted for Xmas, and we said we'd love to get the drinking or wine glasses off of our registry. She said ok. We didn't get them from her.
Worst thing is we recently redecorated and we're not black and white anymore. We are white,pink and gray....
I don't think we can return the blankets and I'm really desperately going to try to return the lamps, as they had the store sticker on them. I really don't want to ask FMIL for the receipt, so I'm going to try to reason with the store.
We got a chafing dish which we thought that we'd never use, and we have extremely limited space for appliances. It is pretty similar to this: http://www.sears.ca/product/bella-cucina8482-bella-cucina8482-round-5-qt-chafing-dish/611-000882928-13495 Nice looking, we just didn't think we'd use it.We found a store that would give us last sale price on it: $5, I guess because it was a slightly older model? So we just kept it, and it was a total life saver at Christmas this year with a full house! I used it for apple cider, and then to keep eggs and toast warm, etc!
Sometimes you never know!
Oh we got a few of those!
My in laws got us a chafing dish. The holder, the water bath, the lid, a thingy to hold to tongs, the whole nine yards. I'm sure (read: really hoping) we'll use it and love it at some point in our lives and be thrilled we have one and didn't need to buy it but we never asked for anything like it and we were totally surprised when we saw that's what they'd given us!
We also got 4 gold rimmed glasses (still not sure if they'r glass or plastic) from my grandmother-in-law. They're not exactly wine glasses and not exactly drinking glasses, we're not really sure what they are.
We also got one set of bamboo towels from my husband's best friend. This guy is incredibly flaky but really sweet and asked several times where we were registered to make sure he'd get a good gist. Instead he got us these towels made of bamboo (really soft!) he got while on a cruise: one hand towel, one wash cloth, and one in-between sized towel. While we know they're soft (we visited that store while on our honeymoon) it's only one of each of those white towels. What are we supposed to do with that!?!
We didn't get any glass pitchers, but from the sound of it I guess I wish we would have! We actually wound up using a few of my neighbor's glass pitchers as vases around the cocktail hour and it looked so beautiful!
A carousel picture frame from Target with a date on it from 2004. I'm sure it came from her mom's gift closet. I'm waiting for someone, anyone, to get pregnant so I can get ride of it. It fits a baby shower so much more than a wedding.
This is so horrible but I returned most of what I got from my bridal shower, which was really small to begin with so out of like 12 gifts, about 7 of them went back. Luckily I was able to get gift cards back.
Worst of the bunch was a couple sets of autumn/thanksgiving themed decorative kitchen towels.
Hmm let's see if I can remember. I got some towels and household things that I ended up giving away and my favorite gift, a homemade quilt from my bestie's family.
Chyrstal bowl and pitcher (we are college kids, what do I want with a $50 pitcher when I need real dishes??)
Towels that don't match anything and from a store that isn't around here
A set of cardinal (like the bird not the team) mugs and napkins
EIGHT sets of our dishes, Luckily those are returnable but seriously, we asked for 3.
Lots of papered Chef stuff. Would be nice if we didn't already have that stuff. And can't return it.
@chasesgirl: At least it's not the team! Half of my family is from St. Louis and Cardinal paraphernalia is standard wedding-gift fare! I have a Cardinals ornament that was given to my parents for their first Christmas.
A set of crystal candle holders, a giant pasta bowl and regular bowls to go with it (they're nice, but we have nowhere to store them, so they're at my mom's house), about a million picture frames, none of them match, a couple of them were crystal, a gift certificate for a carved wood sign to hang outside our house (like the ones with your name and house number on them along with a carved bear or fish along side),and a ceramic decorative egg.
I can't believe you got wedding-themed gifts! That's so terrible--why would anyone think toasting flutes are a good wedding gift, unless they arrive well before the wedding day? Probably if you planned to do a wedding toast, you'd have already bought the toasting flutes you were going to use!
It reminds me of how I got a ton of graduation-themed gifts for my HS graduation--grad picture frames, tassel holders, etc. Those things become so dated and tacky so quickly!
I got a George Foreman Countertop Grill for my shower & I have to say it's my least favourite object: My roommate & I used to spend hours mocking the GFG & its ability to instantly dry out food. I simply can't possibly think of a use for it other than for paninis. :( It's just going to take up space...
I received a modern-looking vase, a candy dish, a picture frame, a cake plate and server, some glass bowls/serving pieces, and a few other items for which we had not registered. However, some of those pieces came from individuals who were not even invited to the wedding, and I was so touched that they wanted to give us a gift anyway. Most guests gave us gifts from our registries or cash or gift cards to area restaurants (those definitely came in handy!)
At the shower we received some amazingly hideous pictures frames. I actually put our wedding pictures in them and gave them to my in-laws, who loved them, but are in their 70's :)
@mblab: The white towels are perfect as guest towels when you have company. Leave them in a basket on the counter with a small bar of soap.
@bakerella: "a ceramic decorative egg."
Hahahaha. Amazing. I can't say that I own a ceramic decorative egg.
We got a crystal punchbowl with cups and a ladle that we didn't register for. And didn't want. We have a 2 year old, so we can't really have it out ever or it will get destroyed. And reviews say if you pick it up wrong it will shatter. Definitely not on the registry!! Also received bunches of wedding picture franes, most of them hideous (and I had already purchased the one I wanted), a bunch of candle holders which match nothing in my house, and only 2 things off my actual registry. TWO. Why did I bother spending hours on a registry for people to buy candle holders and picture frames!!!
The best one I got was a check for $111.11 being that my wedding was 11/11/11. That was thoughtful!
@kimbee23: Oddly, I inherited a crystal punch bowl with cups from my mother (she never uses hers) and one of my first thoughts was "how did this survive my childhood?" Nice one on the 111.11 check though!
My FMIL has a co-worker who gave me a cake-cutting set from Waterford. We didn't register for it, didn't want it, and certainly don't need it. It's absolutely HIDEOUS and in the worst possible, very dated taste -- the crystal handles swirl up into a swans-in-the-shape-of-a-heart in true 1980s fashion. Also, we aren't having a traditional cake at the wedding, we're having a Viennese pastry table and will be "cutting" a Fenway Park cake.
This woman told my FMIL that she knows we will "cherish it forever." We're going to "forget" to bring it, and probably sell it on eBay or something next year.
Also, my FMIL seems to think this is the most amazing gift in the history of gifts. I grew up in a formal household with fine crystal, and frankly don't find Waterford in general and this stuff in particular to be of any kind of quality... but of course FMIL thinks it's worth a million bucks. Sigh. What is wrong with these people?!
We registered for some really nice sheets, and got them. However, my MIL' sister bought us a very cheap, not matching set from an unknown place with no receipt for our shower. So it's just sitting in our linen closet. To make things even better, my MIL then got us the EXACT SAME SET (origin unknown, and no receipt) as a Christmas gift. So we now two of the exact same, unmatching, non-returnable sheet sets we'll never use. Holla.
We got a ton of those cliche "love" "family" frames too! I've had them packed up in a box in the garage since the wedding haha, I never really plan on using them, but don't know what to do with them!
I know she was tryin to be thoughtful, but my MIL sent me a package of "gifts" for my shower (she lives a ways away so she was unable to attend), the gifts were random odds and ends from The Christmas Tree Shop! What?! There were all these awful dollar-store quality metal bowls, gravy dishes, flimsy plastic serving spoons, plastic measuring cups that, I kid you not, looked used and last but not least, a collection of greeting cards with ugly prints on the front, and her note inside that said "aren't these pretty? I thought they'd look nice framed in your apartment." ummm.. no thanks mom!
I really just wished she'd looked on our registry. We don't use any of the items, and half of them I threw out. I had registered for a lot of kitchen items from pampered chef that I REALLY wanted. But not many people bought things from that registry, so we ended up stuck with her cheap gifts since we didn't get the other things. It was a huge disappointment. Oh well, I know she meant well, right?
We got a crystal vase with this crazy flower design cut/etched into it. They brought it to the wedding... which was on the other side of the country from where we live. Yay for transporting it. Plus, there is absolutely no way that we can get rid of it, the gifter would be crushed and is family. My spouse wants to say it was broken in our upcoming move. 
I'll feel too guilty. It sits on the shelf, behind the plain glass vases.
-- decorative bowls (several)
-- glass or crystal vases (3)
-- candle sticks / holders
I will say that some of the off-registry gifts we got were REALLy nice -- stuff we never would have registered for because we wouldn't even have dreamed that someone would buy it for us.
We got a HUGE set of dishes with purple roosters on them. They are HORRIBLE! The box looks like they have been in someone's basement for 20 years.
I got a mobile. Yes, that kind of mobile, with a bride and groom on it. It was very sweet, but what on earth do I do with it now??
I am 99.9% sure that my sister's MIL re-gifted something to me for my shower! UGH. Everyone either bought off the registry, gave a gift receipt, or gave us something personalized that was non-returnable (which we liked). My sister's MIL gave us a set of glasses and a pitcher. They aren't horrible, but we already have all that stuff, hence we didn't register for it. I would think she'd give a receipt if it wasn't a regift. I looked it up online and it appears the only place you can get it is on amazon. So I'm going to ask our family friend who is moving into her first apartment if she wants it. I wouldn't try to give it to someone else as a gift, so she can say no. Otherwise its getting donated, we don't have space for them!
This lady is a total serial re-gifter too - she came to my parents house once and brought my mom a 3-tier stand for serving. She had also brought cupcakes, so I'm not sure why she felt the need to bring an actual gift as well, it wasn't a house warming or anything like that - she probably needed to get rid of it!
The only thing that comes to mind is we got two sets of BBQ tools when we don't have a BBQ!
We got a "Beer of the Month" club membership for our wedding....which is great for my husband, but I don't drink beer!
For our eparty, we got one of those drink dispenser things - a glass basin with a metal stand - from Southern Living (which I think is like pampered chef?). So non-returnable, and not asked for, but I really really really like it - I've used it twice already for parties, and I never ever would have thought to ask for something like that. And it looks nice on our "bar" (aka, former CD/radio stand) when not in use.
Only one person went rogue and we were able to return it!
That being said most of our wedding gifts were presents, so we got a TON off our registry! YAY for people following my registry!
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(And that you don't want.)
I'm also curious if there is a trend in the kind of things that people give, so that future brides can avoid registering for them, to avoid likely doubles.
I got:
-Two sets of crystal candlesticks (one would have been plenty!)
-Two glass pitchers (in addition to the white pitcher and glass carafe that we registered for!)
-An ugly wedding-themed picture frame
-A wedding themed photo album
- (Also, a friend of mine mentioned she got three crystal vases; I got one that I didn't register for, but I'm glad to have it, so I'd suggest to others to not register for any!)