Manage Your Life
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
How much do you spend on a wedding gift? And what do you give?
partner
Aside from shoes and wine, I
think weddings have been my biggest money-drain in the past decade
or so. (Between January of 2006 and December of 2007 Rory and I
went to 20—and we have five this year!) I’m not saying they’re not
totally worth it—I love a good wedding and
can’t wait for Petra’s this weekend—I’m just that saying
being a wedding guest ain’t cheap.
So I know it’ll vary by where you live and how old you are, but
I’m wondering how much you guys spend on wedding gifts, and whether
you pick something off the couple’s registry, write a check, or buy
something unique.
Cast your
votes here, then sound off in the comments! And tell me how
many weddings you’ve attended recently! And whether you’ve said no
to an invite to save on travel costs. Anyone ever bow out of a
wedding party because they couldn’t afford it? (I can’t wait to
Petra’s best lady on Sunday—anyone have a good speech?
Eek!)
Related:
10 Purchases to Think Twice About Before Swiping Your Credit (or
Debit!) Card
MORE FROM LITTLE MISS FORTUNE:
Related: wedding gifts, money, finances
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Posted by Constellation Thu Sep 3, 2009 11:14am PDT
A gift I like to give to those who actually celebrate Christmas is that I like to go out and buy a bunch of Christmas ornaments and decor. That's not stuff that generally a couple has, and that way they have 6-7 really pretty ornaments that remind them of their very first Christmas together.
Or I'll give a gift card and a couple books of stamps (Because let's face it-the couple will have a lot of thank you cards to write, and stamps aren't cheap!).
Otherwise, we'll go on their registry and find a particular room that is being neglected and buy for that.
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Posted by springtime Thu Sep 3, 2009 11:54am PDT
I shop the registry. That way I know they will like the gift and use it. For family members, I always spend more on a gift. It's been a long time since I was in a wedding, but I have been in eight... and it was expensive then so I can just imagine what it costs now.
I have declined two invitations because they were destination weddings and would have cost way too much money for air fare and hotel.
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Posted by __A_YAHOO_USER__ Thu Sep 3, 2009 12:43pm PDT
I like to buy gift cards for weddings, like this one: http://www.travelncs.com/rd_p?p=191614&t=9538&a=2380-smastercard&gift=2380
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Posted by another hockey fan Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:08pm PDT
CASH. You can never go wrong with that. Depending upon how well I know the people is how much I give. Usually $50-$150.
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Posted by Linda W Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:44pm PDT
the last wedding gift I purchased I think I spent close to $50.00 with tax, plus I gave them a gift card for Food 4 Less with $150.00 on it for food. They were young and just starting out, so I think it helped them a lot. Oh, the 50 I spent on one of those smoothie blender things...called Magic Bullet! You could use it for so many things and it came with cups and a recipe book and all sorts of attachments so it was a well rounded blender...
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Posted by Linda W Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:44pm PDT
the last wedding gift I purchased I think I spent close to $50.00 with tax, plus I gave them a gift card for Food 4 Less with $150.00 on it for food. They were young and just starting out, so I think it helped them a lot. Oh, the 50 I spent on one of those smoothie blender things...called Magic Bullet! You could use it for so many things and it came with cups and a recipe book and all sorts of attachments so it was a well rounded blender...
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Posted by Kendra Thu Sep 3, 2009 5:58pm PDT
$50, or a restaurant gift card so they can have a night out after the wedding chaos!
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Posted by Wed Sep 23, 2009 2:25pm PDT
I have posted a blog post that talks about how much money to bring :
http://blog.simchabucks.com/money-wedding-gift/
Simchabucks offers a gift calculator here:
http://simcha.local/simcha/howmuchi
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