Post # 1
Member
157 posts
Blushing bee
Did anyone else return any of their wedding gifts? We just bought a house and some of the things we picked out either don’t go with the house or can’t be used (i.e shower curtain when both the baths have sliding doors).
I know that this probably normal, but I still kinda felt bad…
I don’t want this to come off as sounding unappreciative… because trust, me I really do appreciate the people that made the effort to come to our wedding or get us gifts. So I know this is taboo, but also did anyone get any absolutely awful gifts that they hadn’t registered for? We got a few… like a really tacky, clearance comforter set that they said they kept in their basement for a year (even in the plastic case it smells like mildew) and advised us to “get it drycleaned”… not kidding…but I’d like to hear what yours are!
Post # 3
Member
157 posts
Blushing bee
I should also probably add that the gift I mentioned above came from someone who could certainly afford to get us something off the registry (the average price on ours was only like $15-20) so it wasn’t a money issue, I definitely wouldn’t expect a nice gift or even one at all… and that’s why we were so confused by it… Especially since we registered for two comforter sets that we received that we love. I just feel bad because it isn’t something we will probably use and if we do, we will definitely have to pay to get it dry cleaned. Should I donate it or keep it around in case she comes to visit?
She also got us a picture of two native americans kissing and told us that the girl reminded her of me (I’m a fraction Creek Indian). My husband was like… uh, well then who’s the guy my wife’s making out with (he has light brown hair and isn’t very tan)… it was actually pretty funny. We have no idea what we are going to do with it…
Post # 4
Hostess
16195 posts
Honey Beekeeper
Ugh. I’m not married yet so I can’t say what I returned, but I’ve heard so many of these stories…I’m scared!
I’d donate the comforter. You have no use for it—whereas someone else might really need it! And if the gift-giver ever visits, just mention that you received multiple comforter sets and you’re rotating them. Or something. 🙂
Post # 5
Member
85 posts
Worker bee
We definitely returned gifts. We returned some gifts that were bought from our registries that we either changed our mind about, or decided that we didn’t want that as much as something else on our registry, so we took it back to exchange for other things.
We also got a LOT of non-registry gifts, and very, very few of them were items that we could use or that “went” with our stuff. Another major factor for us is space — we only have 566 square feet of living space, so we have to be pretty selective! We have a “re-gift” pile started of some of the cooler stuff that we may want to give to other people (but really, I wouldn’t regift something that I wouldn’t buy with my own money), we returned a lot of things once we figured out where they came from (or rather, once we found a store that would take them back–I just carried around a huge bag of the items to all of the usual stores and sometimes I got lucky and they were able to confirm that the gift had come from there, but usually not). Everything else, we’re donating (including all of our old stuff that we replaced). I kind of feel bad about it, but at the same time, it’s not like I am going to tell them that we returned it, you know?
Post # 6
Member
1801 posts
Buzzing bee
We returned a few things, both on the registry and not. We had a couple duplicates, one thing that we had no storage space or near future use for, and we exchanged a couple things for different colors or whatnot.
Post # 7
Member
1518 posts
Bumble bee
We only returned duplicates. For some reason a couple things that were already bought weren’t marked off on the registry. Or people found the same thing at another store and it was duplicated. We used the money to complete some items off our registry.. so it was nice.
Post # 8
Member
6572 posts
Bee Keeper
We returned things that we either got duplicates of or we didn’t ask for them and they weren’t our style/didn’t have room for them. I felt awful doing it (even returning the duplicates!) but in the end, we have a tiny house and there’s no room for things we won’t even use.
My favorite return story is when someone gave us a gift with a $40 price tag still on it, and when we went to return it we got $8.00 back b/c the person got it on sale. We still ended up taking the money, we’d rather have $8.00 than something taking up space!
Post # 9
Member
108 posts
Blushing bee
This is why people are urged to make registries – to avoid the “this doesn’t go with my house!” dilemma, hahaha.
We were very fortunate that we didn’t receive anything horrible, at all. But we actually got more gift cards and money than gift items (just happened that way – we had 2 registries and didn’t ASK for money)
Post # 10
Member
1001 posts
Bumble bee
Oh man, we got some HORRID gifts not on the registry. Lots and lots of cross-stich plaques with our names and wedding dates, a rainbow colored afghan, crocheted drink coaters, a giant ROCK with our names and wedding date carved into it, etc. I wish I could return them! I also got some really stereotypical bridal stuff, like a white photo album with doves holding a ring in their mouth, enscribed with “Today I marry my friend”. I gave that away.
Giving someone an old comforter is rude and gross! It smelled? People are so cheap!
Post # 11
Member
1001 posts
Bumble bee
Ha, and someone gave us a photo album filled with pictures from their OWN wedding. Bizarre.
Post # 11
Member
739 posts
Busy bee
We didn’t receive anything horrendous but we did receive a lot of “knick nack” type stuff to display. The problem is that our house is on the smaller side and we like a stream lined look and really don’t display that much stuff. The things that we do dsiplay have special meaning and were picked out specifically by us over the years. I really don’t have room or the desire to display random things that somebody thought we might like.
Post # 12
Member
4546 posts
Honey bee
We didn’t get anything really awful. However we did get a HUGE set of Pyrex that we didn’t register for, have no room for, and cannot find where to return it. So it’s just sitting around. We also recieved a really expensive crystal frame that we ended up returning and getting some really nice things we needed with it.
Post # 13
Member
1001 posts
Bumble bee
I think the worst gift we got (in looks and principle) was this chip bowl from a groomsman’s parents. We returned it and got $20 back. It was kind of insulting since my husband was a groomsman in their son’s wedding, and we got him a nice gift. They own two houses (one on a lake, of course) and the biggest TV I’ve ever seen, so it’s not like they’re poor. Maybe just cheap.
I’m probably being mean, but in this case, it was definitely not the thought that counted! More like no thought!
Post # 14
Member
10851 posts
Sugar Beekeeper
We received a lot of off-registry items. In particular, picture frames. So many picture frames. Crystal ones, wood ones, ones that spin around, wrought iron ones, ones that hold lots of photos in a box…. Omg. I gave a lot of them to Goodwill already. I’m an interior designer, so I’m particular about what we put in our house. A rose guilded crystal picture frame may be great to some people, but it’s definitely not our taste. And of course, nothing came with a gift receipt.
We also got a gift certificate for a wooden plaque with our names on it to hang outside our house. Riiiight.
An opalescent porcelain egg on gold legs with some sort of a wedding day poem on the front. It’s a sweet thought but the thing is just horrid, LOL! Darling Husband wants to regift it and put our wedding date and our friend’s wedding date as a joke on it.
A crockpot, which is an awesome gift, except that we already have one (which the gift giver knew), and they didn’t give us a gift receipt. That’s going to be an awkward conversation.
The registry items were bang on. I’m going to return a few items simply because of duplicates and storage issues, but for the most part I’m really happy with everything. I found too that the people who bought off our registry were SO generous, I couldn’t believe it.
Post # 15
Member
311 posts
Helper bee
One of my good friends/BM drew a picture of my Darling Husband and I. She asked me for a picture of us and copied that. I think the drawing looks great, but Darling Husband hates it and doesn’t think it looks anything like him. I want to hang it up, but he won’t let me and I feel so bad. She worked so hard on it and it was so thoughtful. I didn’t expect anything from her at all as she is a single mom and spent a lot just coming here for the wedding so her putting that much thought and effort into that for us was really special to me, I just wish Darling Husband liked it more. It’s obviously not something we can return, but maybe I can talk him into hanging it in our office or something.
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