Gift Registries???

[lmurden]

Hey Ladies, what are your price ranges? I am doing $20.00-$60.00 what do you think? Do you think I am selling myself short by being modest???

 

[glaucomflecken]

Hi LM!

When I registered, I felt the same way. I did not want to put $500 pots and pans sets and $100 per place setting china on there, thinking people would think I was greedy! Im also not comfortable with receiving gifts, but it sure is fun! The salespeople at each store I registered at said to register for what I want and not what I think people can afford. She said you would be surprised at what people will give you.

And she was right! When I went through all the things I wanted and needed, I had price ranges from $1.99 to $450, and everything in between. So there was variety for people to pick from. And you will not believe what people will get you! I got almost everything off my registry. A lot of bigger items too, like my blender and my comforter, people at work pitched in to get them, so they each didnt spend a lot but were able to surprise me with nice things.

So I say register for everything you want and do keep an eye on prices, but really when you follow registry suggestion sheets and quantities of things recommended, it really does come out with a variety of price ranges and options.

Where are you registering at? Its so much fun, and sooo hard not to peek at them online and see what people bought you!!!

 

[lmurden]

Thanks for answering so quickly and indepth! I''m registered at Target, Hechts/Macys, and Pier1. My things is that I can get myself all of those little items so why put them on the registry?

I have to decide by the end of the week before I release the registries to my family and friends. Also I never knew doing the registries would be so hard! I guess it wouldn''t hurt to put a few expensive items on the registry.

Thanks again.

 

[glaucomflecken]

OOOH I was just in Pier 1 the other day and they have soo many cute things!!! You are right, registering is hard! trying to decide what to pick and how many, etc...

have fun!!!!!!!!!!

 

[qtiekiki]

You shouldn''t worry about the price of the things you registered for and looking greedy as long as you have a good range of prices for guests to choose from. When we registered, the salesperson told us the same thing that PunchnPie75 mentioned about registering for what we want and that we will be surprised what people will spend. We ended up with a range from $30 to $500. But we ended up getting mostly cash from guests since it''s traditional in Chinese culture.

 

[MelissaSue]

We have a HUGE price range. We have little individual gaget-y type things for $3... all the way up to our pots and pans for $450
MOST of our things are probably between $20-$70..but we have quite a few items over $100 and I figure people can go in on them if that is what they want to get.. OR.. we just won''t get them.. no big deal.. but I would NEVER go to a bridal shower and spend less than $50.. and if I was buying a gift for a wedding (I usually give cash).. I''d not spend less than $100 so that is how I look at it.. and I don''t give a CRAP about looking greedy.. we are starting out our first home together.. both still live with our parents.. so we need lots of stuff!

 

[Faerievert]

We kept everything under $300, I think the top price is around $275. There''s only a few items even close to that, like a sewing machine for me, some fancy tool for him, and a king bed headboard for us. I''d say 3/4 of our items are under $50, but people might buy more than one thing- like a bunch of kitchen gizmos, or the whole set of towels, or all the board games, etc. I would guess that people would buy at least $50 worth of stuff if they are in good financial standing (we have a number of broke college students we don''t expect to get much from). Of course, people might just ignore the registry or bring us cash, and that''s ok. We also mentioned on our registry page that we would very much appreciate gift cards from our registry stores (sears & bed, bath & beyond). I actually had a lot of fun registering, even if it was hard to get my sweetie into the spirit of things- he just hates to ask for stuff, especially if he thinks what we already have is fine- like I wanted to register for king bed sheets and blankets and pillows (we''ll be upgrading as soon as we can afford the mattress, but right now we have a full size bed), he just didn''t get it, we already have blankets and stuff, why do we need new ones? -ugh!

 

[tanyak]

I say register for what you want, but like the others said, make sure you include a range. Also, keep in mind your circle of friends and what people typically seem to spend. For example, in my case, I would be hesistant to registered for $100+ per place setting of china. I might get one, maybe two (if people pooled their money), but I doubt I would get it all. And where I live, cash is not a common wedding gift, so I doubt I could complete the set. In my group of friends, I would say people spend about $40 to $50. We typically only give one gift as well. But we also have co-ed showers as opposed to bridal showers, so it feels more like a wedding gift anyway.


I can''t wait to register. Give me my zapper!

 

[curlygirl]

We have a huge price range in our registries too--we're registered at Williams-Sonoma and Bloomingdale's. I think it's from $20-$450. I have individual pots and pans that are in the $100-150 range (All Clad), a Kitchenaid mixer for $270, picture frames and vases in the $50-75 range and kitchen utensils in the $20 range. The most expensive item is a Shun knife set from Williams Sonoma which is on sale for $439. We put it on there thinking that even if nobody buys it for us, we'll get it after we're married with the 10% off completion thing. Guess what? Someone bought it!!! So you just never know what people are going to want to spend. I also agree with MelissaSue that while I usually give a gift off the registry for the shower and money for the wedding, you don't want to give someone crap as a gift so you should register for nice things that people will want to buy and feel like they are being cheap.

Don't be shy--just go for it and know that you can always buy the stuff later if your stores have that completion policy thing where you get a discount after the fact. Of course, we would love to just get money too but it's nice to receive the things you actually want and need.

 

[saturn]

I definitely think it is okay to register for some more expensive stuff, as long as there are plenty of items in the more moderate range. A lot of my friends like to go in together to buy a more expensive gift, so it is helpful to have at least a few higher-priced items on your registry for those groups.
However, sometimes when I see big-ticket items that seem really frivolous on a registry, it kind of bothers me. On the other hand someone usually buys it, so I guess maybe that''s just me.

 

[flopkins]

I've been doing my registry too, and some of my stuff is really expensive (I think $600 for a set of All Clad pots/pans) but I'm also registering for the individual pieces in case ppl want to buy them separately. But, on the whole, our stuff averages around $30-50, I'd say...

honestly, I've always thought the really expensive items on other ppls registries are a bit much - for ex, FI's friend registered for several very expensive pieces of luggage, including a $1k+ piece of luggage. Just one piece, not a set. Needless to say, no one bought it for them. (Although they did get a few of the smaller luggage pieces that were still in the hundreds - they were quite proud of the fact and bragged about it to us. Ugh!)

On the other hand, after doing the registering stuff myself, I have more sympathy on the whole for the expensive items, esp things like fine china... which FI doesn't want to register for, BTW!! Sigh. He's being so practical...

ETA: I hope no one is offended by my comment about the luggage. Nice luggage is expensive, but to brag about recieving it from their registry...

I think it would be different if their lifestyle really dictated top notch luggage... but neither of them travels much!

 

[Hunali]

When should you start registering typically? I am getting married 8 mos from now (July). I can't wait to register. This is one of the best parts of the wedding!

Also, where did you all register? I am definitely doing both bed bath and beyond and crate and barrel, and I'm thinking about marshall field's as well. Hmmm....are three stores too many to register at?

 

[qtiekiki]

I think typically people register around 6 mos, but we did it really late (only a month and a half before the wedding since we didn''t really have any engagement party and showers). We registered at bed bath & beyond and macy''s.

 

[Tybee]

This is funny to me because I almost had a panic attack at Williams Sonoma when we first went to register! I couldn''t get myself to make a decision, and it felt way too greedy.
I felt just like you LM, why should we register for these things that we can just buy ourselves?
We did finally manage to register--although we are requesting no gifts since we are having a destination wedding and figure our
guests will have to shell out some money to get there.

I don''t think that three stores is too many to register at---many of my friends have registerd at three.
Oh, and have you ever tried to buy someone a gift off their register AFTER the wedding? I''ve tried twice, and in both cases the pickings were slim! The couples got just about EVERYTHING that they registerd for!

 

[lmurden]

Funny thing, my fiance'' dosen''t want us to do a registry at all so we can just get the money! Can you believe that?
I told him that we have to register so that we just don''t get gifts that we don''t want. MEN!

 

[appletini]

Do the registry, so that people won''t buy you random stuff instead of giving you money, this way you will at least get things you want/need.

Don''t feel guilty, if no one wants to buy the expensive stuff they won''t. And $100/placesetting of China is very reasonable.

 

[MINE!!]

Date: 11/9/2005 9:54:51 AM
Author: lmurden
Funny thing, my fiance'' dosen''t want us to do a registry at all so we can just get the money! Can you believe that?
I told him that we have to register so that we just don''t get gifts that we don''t want. MEN!

I am agreeing with your fiance. In our case we are already established and do not need towels and pots and pans.. etc. We both know that fancy dust collector stuff.. collects.. dust. We both of china from our first marriage.. guess where it is.. in a box. Those preety fancy wine glasses... yeh right.. like we have a moment to sit... Our lovely glamouras shelves have instead collected wonderful glamorous art projects from our girls. Those high thread count sheets and duvets.. well.. they are on my oldest daughters bed now.

So we are at a loss when it comes to ''registry'' We aren''t going to ask anyone for exspensive items.. we just feel that they are a gift really, they are the things we want the most.

But we also know that people are going to buy us stuff anyway.. or give us cash.. so if we get things we do not want.. we will stick them in a box with all those things we thought we wanted before.

I understand asking for things that you need though and if you are first starting out.. then there are definitely things that you need. I am trying to be condesending... but sometimes I look back on the stuff I thought I just had to have and wanted when I got married the first time and laugh...

 

[VuittonGal]

I don''t know. It is very considate of you to keep things in that price range for your guests. However, you should register for what you truly want--not just things that are in a lower price range. If there are some higher priced items you''d really like to have, you should really register for them! Perhaps a group of people would like to go together on something they know you''d really like to have.

 

[flopkins]

I think 3 places is standard, I''ve heard. We''re doing Macys, Crate and Barrel, and Amazon.

Hunali and Tybee - it''s funny because I can feel both of you! Initially I was totally excited to register, everyone kept telling me how fun it was, but then, once I was at the store with the little registry gun thingy, I started really stressing out - about how expensive things were, about which brand of pots are better - !! sigh.

Mine- You certainly have a point. I think we have tried to be as conservative as possible in the items we''ve registered for on the whole, because of that exact reason. Unfortunately, I don''t even have much space to store extra stuff in a box, so that''s a major factor!! FI and I do love cook a lot though, so a lot of the kitchen items are going to be a fantastic upgrade for us!!!

 

[elepri]

Perhaps how much people spend on wedding presents depends on where you are but i would definitely suggest registering for a wider price range. We had items from $20 to $500, with most around $100-$150. The most expensive items were bought right away, as were most average priced items. The cheaper stuff is still on the registry 5 months after the wedding. However, if you''re planning to have a shower, that''s when more of the inexpensive items are usually bought, at least in my experience. And also, you don''t have to register for china if you don''t need it. A friend of mine and her fi who are into camping and hiking are registered for hiking gear, bikes, tents, etc. Most of that stuff was bought way before their china and silverwear.