Post # 4

Hostess
12057 posts
Sugar Beekeeper
I haven’t seen a store where people can contribute to the specific item at the store – although this may exist at some furniture stores…
I know when we registered they said it’s really common for a group to come in a purchase a gift but usually one person collects the money.
Alternately, you could set up a honeyfund type thing but instead of a honeymoon, list the household items that you want and people can contribute that way? (I personally don’t love this idea, but it’s an option and I’m sure it’s been done!)
Post # 1

Member
2 posts
Wannabee
Hi!
We’re getting married this summer and we have all the small stuff. I’m looking for a registry where guests can chip in for larger items (He wants things like TV and massage chair… I want a couch and kitchenaid…)
Has anyone heard of a registry that people can split gifts?
Thanks!
Post # 2

Member
1164 posts
Bumble bee
FarhanaM: Absolutely!!! I haven’t had my shower yet, but for my sister’s shower a few years back, some of my aunts and their daughters (older) chipped in and bought larger items like their pot set or their bedding set. When I attended a shower a few years ago, my friend and I both chipped in for the bride’s cutlery set.
Post # 3

Member
3133 posts
Sugar bee
FarhanaM: No advise but commenting to follow…We are only registering for my shower (we have a house and have been living together for nearly 3 years so the things we need are kind of expensive for shower gifts.. ( ie luggag))
Is it ok to just assume people will know to split the costs?
Granted we aren’t registering for furniture, I don’t think anything on our registry for the shower will be more than $300
Post # 5

Hostess
8579 posts
Bumble Beekeeper
We are doing both small and large items, so guests who want to buy a single item can, and those who want to pool together and buy something larger can as well. I think our most expensive item was a pot & pan set which was like $375.
Post # 6

Member
2 posts
Wannabee
Thanks guys!
I’m sure people can/will get together and collect money for a specific gift, but that means they have to know each other, and then start organizing…
I also feel bad adding gifts with high prices – then people might think I expect them to spend so much money on me 🙁
That’s why I was hoping there is a registry that people can chip in right on the list…
Post # 7

Member
1 posts
Wannabee
We registered at IKEA in Portland. They have an app that you can add any IKEA item to your registry and guests can chip in right in the gift list. That was actually what we loved about it. We registered at other places like Macy’s also, but we added a bunch of larger items at IKEA and any guest can simply type in how much they want to chip in, and contribute towards a gift.
We haven’t shared our registry yet, but it seems like a great idea.
Post # 8

Member
366 posts
Helper bee
I was looking for a registry that allowed group gifting too. We ended up going with HoneyFund, even though I don’t love the whole idea.
HoneyFund allows you to put ANYTHING you want on your registry (not just travel stuff) and you can set the number of contributions it takes to complete the purchase of a gift. I didn’t want any one gift to be over $150 (and there are many under $50). The KitchenAid stand mixer we want is $700 so we listed it as 7 gifts at $100 each.
Post # 9

Member
203 posts
Helper bee
I think this is such an obvious great idea that it must exist somewhere! If you can’t find where, maybe you could just have a “gift cards only” registry at the places you want to buy those larger items.
I’ve actually had friends who intentionally registered for smaller items knowing they didn’t want or need them, and even double registered (exact same items at different stores), then returned everything and used the return total to purchase 1-2 large, expensive items like furniture.
I’m not exactly advocating that, because it seems a bit sneaky to me. There is always the potential that your guests find out and feel hurt or duped. 🙁
Post # 10

Member
6210 posts
Bee Keeper
- Wedding: August 2013 - The Liberty House
waterbaby: That’s actually what I’m doing with some stuff, but note to the OP: if you do that, DO NOT register for glassware! Register for things you don’t have to wrap up to transport- it’ll go a lot faster in the store!
Post # 11

Member
983 posts
Busy bee
FarhanaM: Macy’s does it – they call it a “Dream Fund” but too bad they don’t have TVs… Sorry.
Post # 12

Member
1635 posts
Bumble bee
Boxerlover24: no, I would not assume you expected me to ask another gift to “go in” on a gift together. If I saw a $300 something I would think you wanted me to personally spend $300 on something. If I couldn’t afford it I would scout your other guests to help me buy you a gift. I would just give you something else I could afford.
Post # 13

Member
1635 posts
Bumble bee
LastGirlStanding: as much as I cannot stand Honeyfund, the hand mixer example you gave is a great way to encourage “group” gifting without having a group to gift with or feeling an expensive gift is a burden
Post # 14

Member
366 posts
Helper bee
CurlyCue: Thanks! We really struggled with the HoneyFund idea. I’ve always been in the camp of “If you can’t afford the honeymoon you’re planning, you shouldn’t ask your guests to fund it for you!”
But once we realized it didn’t have to be about asking our guests to fund our honeymoon, but could actually be used as a very practical “anything” registry with some great features (put stuff from ANY store, break up expensive items by breaking the price in to smaller contributions …) we couldn’t argue that it made a lot of sense.
I’m still not a fan of the fact that there are fees if guests make the purchase by transfering funds to your paypal account. But guests can also “purchase” a gift by indicating that is their intention, printing off the “certificate” for the item, and giving you the certificate with cash/a cheque. The registry still gets updated but guests don’t incur a fee.
MsGinkgo: I’m not trying to thread-jack, but I think most people’s problem with HoneyFund is the fees thing and I didn’t know about the certificate option. It made me feel different about the site, so it might make a difference for you too.
Post # 15

Member
145 posts
Blushing bee
I was just looking at Zola, for this exact reason. They charge a credit card processesing fee like all of the other sites (i.e. Honeyfund) but no additional fee, which is unusual. Plus the site seems pretty easy, has a nice look, and you can actually customize it a bit.