So What Did You Stick a Bow On?

Margaret Maron

Although June is the traditional month for weddings, July and August have edged it out these last two years, which means that many of us will be shopping over the summer for the perfect present to give the happy couple.

Please!  Do stop and think about the happy couple in question before you stray from their registry and go off on a tangent.  Yes, you think bobble-headed wine stoppers are screamingly funny, but would your niece and her groom really prefer a set of them over a piece of china in their chosen pattern?

I know, I know—you march to your own drum and you think wedding registries are too materialistic.  Nevertheless, unless you’re absolutely sure they would be charmed to learn that you’ve donated a goat in their names to a deserving village  somewhere, please send the carving board the bride and groom have checked off on their Bed, Bath and Beyond wish list.

Some couples are modest in selecting where they register, others opt for Saks and treat the concept as if it’s their last year to believe in Santa Claus. Several of us were amused when a bride in the family checked off a beautiful breakfast-in-bed tray.  “Yeah, like that’s ever gonna happen,” snickered the groom’s sister.

Still, it’s interesting to see the sweetly naïve expectations of marriage that such registries reveal: breakfast in bed followed by gourmet meals prepared in a celebrity chef’s cookware and served by candlelight with linen napkins and crystal goblets of wine chilled in a silver cooler?  Never mind that they’ve been living together for a year and buy paper plates and napkins by the hundred-count.

I recently surveyed several of my friends to learn what they remember of the presents they received.

Fellow TLC-er Diane Chamberlain (http://DianeChamberlain.com/blog): “We were hippies in the early 70s and I loved the fondue pot, the cheese-making kit and a copy of Laurel's Kitchen (THE vegetarian cookbook of the day). The sterling silver bowl from my aunt went straight back to the store for a refund. Now that's the one thing I wish I still had.”

Mary Kay Andrews'  Summer Rental launches this week, so check her website for an appearance near you.  She remembers without fondness the boxed bottle of expensive-looking brandy they received.  "I tucked it away for our first anniversary, but when I got it out to open, I discovered it was actually just a stinkin' CANDLE made to look like a bottle!"

Susan Dunlap (SusanDunlapMysteries.com):  “Sadly, we received a number of cookbooks, given by friends who either hoped I'd learn from my failures or just feared they'd be invited again.”

Sarah Shaber, (www.SarahShaber.com), whose wonderful new book, Louise’s War, will be published next month: “Steve and I got a glug-glug pitcher—green, shaped like a fish, and designed so that when you poured liquid out of it, it glug-glugged noisily. It sat in a kitchen cabinet for years because we felt guilty about throwing it away.  Thank goodness for charity yard sales!” 

Bren Bonner Witchger (http://TheVinylCall.blogspot.com/): “We were given an exceedingly ugly (and to me disturbing) statue of the Infant of Prague from an elderly relative.  The glazing job was bad and the poor thing was cross-eyed, plus it was decked out in such sparkly (and no doubt itchy) finery that I felt sorry for it.  We moved it from place to place in our first apartment and ‘cross-eyed Jesus’ became a running joke with my husband's sibs. (‘Oh yeah?   Go tell it to Cross-eyed Jesus.’)   We re-gifted it to the next one of them to get married and it got passed on to each newlywed couple from there.  I lost track of poor Cross-eyed Jesus and now wish I knew what became of him.”

Speaking of re-gifting, if you decide to off-load an unwanted Christmas or anniversary gift onto the newlyweds, please check through all the tissue paper to make sure you haven’t left the original signed card from your Aunt Wendy in the box.

Gift receipts are a thoughtful touch in case your blender is the third one they’ve received.  (I myself like to give utility ladders, a dolly, or file cabinets—things you won’t see duplicated on the usual gift table.)

Except for a set of ugly brown-checked towels, the only gift I actively disliked was a cutesy wooden wall plaque with chickens and a spinning wheel, hand-carved in Taiwan.  Somehow it accidentally wound up in splinters before the first year was out.

But I still have and use two or three times a week, the copper-bottom double-boiler and the cast iron skillets.  “Not very fancy,” admitted the classmate who gave me one of them, “but I couldn’t cook without mine.”  (Me, either.)

What about you?  What’s the best/worst wedding present you ever gave or received?

 

Comments

[gaylin in vancouver]

I give the same wedding gift to everyone, a $50 bill or a $50 gift card for the store they are registered at.

When I was married we had a tiny wedding, in our apartment, 12 people, very few gifts. We had hinted that money towards the downpayment for a house would be good and I think we got about $2500 between both families. We also didn't go on a honeymoon to save money for the downpayment. I wonder who owns that house now? I wonder who 'owns' my ex-husband now . . . Oh, we did get one small silver bowl? Candy dish? It was odd, it was engraved, I left it behind when I left my ex.

[Doc In CA]

When Grace and I got married in 1996, we got no gifts because we just ran up to Reno to get married, plus we told everyone to save their money.

When I married Satan's daughter, way back in 1975, we had a medium sized wedding complete with gifts. Best gift? Her aunt gave us 500 bucks cash. We spent that when we went on our honeymoon.

Worst gift? A big picture of Jesus that had all sorts of Bible quotes on it, which we got from her cousin, who was a hardcore Catholic religious nut. That one went into a closet for a couple of months, then got put out on the curb.

Best wedding gift I've ever given? Probably the one where, when my friends who had lived together fot 15 years and had 3 kids ages 13, 11 & 8, finally got married and my girlfriend at the time & I agreed to babysit the kids for a week. The bride actually wept and the groom was too overcome to speak. Mind you, they never went anywhere. We took the kids camping and Mom & Dad just hung out in a kid free home.

Worst gift I've ever given? I once unknowingly gave a case of wine to a couple where the husband was a recovering alcoholic...but nobody, including the bride, knew this. Eventually, she found out why he wouldn't have a drink with her and was somewhat pissed that he had witheld vital information.

[Josh]

Gosh, nothing so bad or good, given or received, that I can recall. Perhaps my ex-wife remembers better. We did give a tin anniversary present to friends for their 10th anniversary, and one member of the couple told us that we were the only people who had followed the etiquitte rules. Pre-Internet, that was a really difficult thing to find, whatever it was.

In 1955, my parents received $10 cash from some relative of my father's. They used it to buy a broom closet. Then, they were metal, but now, the same thing would come in some pressed wood-like material and you would get it at K-Mart or someplace like that. My mother wrote a thank-you note, as she was supposed to, "Dear Uncle [Saul], Thank you for the wonderful gift of $10. We used it to buy a broom closet." Apparently, that purchase was too pedestrian for Uncle [Saul], who let it be known that he was Very Upset about this use of the money, in a crazy Eastern European Jewish way.

My father told me this story about 25 years after the event. My mother never told me. I should ask her about it while she still has some memory left.

[William]

By the time The Boss and I met, we had both had our own homes for many years, so there wasn't a lot of wiggle-room gift wise. We had found a new place (no His or Hers, but Ours), and her parents gifted us with a washer/dryer set. My parents were unable to attend due to my mother's health, so their present was a week in Vegas, which we spent visiting Mom in the hospital, and staying in my childhood room. There's a passion killer for you, even on your honeymoon!

[Laura (in PA)]

I have two nephews getting married in September - a week apart. Sigh.

I don't remember many wedding gifts from my first wedding. Aside from my daughter, I think I've successfully blocked out that experience. My second wedding was just family, and took place in my sister's living room, with a judge. That one has lasted almost 17 years. Our gifts were small, I'm assuming because this was a repeat gift-giving event. Practical stuff like casserole dishes and towels. I still use many of them.

I usually avoid the registries for giving wedding gifts and give money, or for close family, a cross-stitch wedding picture. I only have time to do that for one of the nephews this time around. :)

Doc, that week with the kids is a hard one to top.

[Nancy Martin]

We received EIGHT pairs of pewter candlesticks. It was a Thing back then. I shamefully admit to re-gifting a number of them, but I saved my favorites.

What's kinda cool is that I look at many of our best things and remember who gave them to us 30-whatever years ago. My dad was an exec with a big company at the time, and all the bigwigs gave us lovely presents. Lots of crystal and silver. I still have the box full of index cards (also a Thing--pre-computer) that had all the names & addresses of guests and what gift they brought. I poked through it last year when we were planning my daughter's wedding. (For which, by the way, she received a TON of presents and an astonishing amount of dough. I mean, downpayment kinda dough!)

[Sheila Connolly]

From my father's second wife (who I adored) I received a Victorian butter holder with hooved feet and a cow on top, plus a couple of knights in armor guarding the sides (how valuable was that butter?). Believe it or not, I loved the thing, and I smile every time I look at it.

Do people still have china patterns??

[KarinNH]

I am amazed that people put a utility ladder, dolly or file cabinet on their registries! Never would have thought of that.

I used to give a huge box of really nice Christmas ornaments as a wedding gift to couples I knew well. That always resulted in a tepid thank you note at the time and a call at Christmas time, usually from the bride, profusely thanking me. One bride fought for the ornaments in her divorce settlement.

Now, I just write a check. These days, I have to really really like a person to spend time shopping for them!

[Margaret Maron]

Karin, Christmas ornaments is such a good idea. No, I've never seen those 3 things on a registry. They're my own idea because they are things we couldn't afford to buy till long after we started needing them.
And yes, Sheila, china, crystal and silver are still popular here.
William, my in-laws gave us money for a refrigerator. We were so grateful.
The others are right, Doc, giving the newlyweds a kid-free week was inspired!
I know money is always welcome, and that's what I give for birthdays and graduations, but for a wedding, I'm old-fashioned enough to want to give something they'll remember who gave it.

[peach]

Back in 1980 the idea of registering for wedding gifts was thought to be a little pretentious and only for those with "money". While we received many useful gifts they were often in a style or color I hated, but being newly married and lacking in funds we felt we had to use them. Of course we received many duplicates and for years I had a box in the attic which I'd pull from when things were broken or I gave the duplicates to my mother to use. I really can't think of one wedding present we received that I truly loved.

For years I felt I had to keep all those gifts I hated and didn't have a use for, but at around 10 years in I started to prune. We began to hold garage sales to get rid of excess "stuff" in our life. At first I pruned the truly ugly and useless items from all the relatives who had died since the wedding. It was a liberating experience. The next year when we held a garage sale again I got rid of any wedding gift I hated regardless if the person was alive or not. Over the next ten years more gifts went out the door each year, but not necessarily because I thought they were ugly. They were simply taking up space in cupboards or closets. After 30 1/2 years only one decorative item I received as a gift remains, a large glass platter engraved with our wedding date and our names. Practical gifts remaining include a few casseroles and some stainless steel mixing bowls. Those bowls might be counted as the most useful and best loved of my wedding gifts.

In my gift receiving experience over the years, the gift giver can never truly perceive what the intended recipient(s) would truly appreciate. They either don't know a person or couple well enough or they don't have the time to pick out a well thought out gift. For example: "Jim Bob & Maisie have a lot of vases in their house, we'll just buy them a vase."

Jim Bob and Maisie may hate vases, but people just keep buying and giving them as gifts simply because they saw a few about the house then figured they must like them. Jim Bob and Maisie are too sensitive to get rid of these gifts from their friends and relatives. They may have also started a collection of vases in a specific style, period, color, or material and again they don't want to offend.

My mother has a around 75 glass, metal and porcelain bells of which she has never bought or picked out out a single one for herself. She really didn't want a bell collection, but it accumulated over the years in the manner described above. She just can't part with it because "People gave them to me as gifts." She also has quite a few wedding gifts which she and my father received almost 56 years ago. Some of them are actually still in use. She would never dream of getting rid of an unwanted wedding gift.

These days I give money as a gift, but in the past we have given the gift of taking the wedding pictures and videography.

[Sandi]

I give handmade quilts. So far they've been appreciated, although I know there will be a day when I visit and find one lining a dog bed.

My cousin married on April 1, and they registered at Target and Toys R Us. Among useful items like towels were bags of candy and board games. They gave Super Soaker water guns - really big ones - to their groomsmen. The bridesmaids got raincoats.

[Josh]

Oh, Nancy, "we" still have that brown index card file with the 4 x 6 index cards, right next to the phone jack in the kitchen--or, at least, we did, two years ago. It's been almost 22 years; I wonder if even 10% of those addresses are still current. Let's see: my mother and step-father (attended) and father and step-mother (didn't) are still in the same places. Our "maid" of honor and her partner (rent control) and one of my groomsmen and his partner (co-op) are still in the same places. Can't think of anyone else.

[Harley]

Oh, my God -- I'm laughing so hard I'm waking the dogs. "Go tell it to Cross-Eyed Jesus" indeed.

We were given what I can only describe as the pagan, New Age version of Cross-Eyed Jesus. I couldn't figure out what to do with it, as I loved the cousin who gave it to me and felt I'd be somehow cursed if I gave it away, so I kept it in a downstairs bathroom that no one ever used until I started having babies.

I have no idea what became of it. Perhaps a thief broke into my house and that was the only thing worth taking?

[Laura (in PA)]

OH! Nancy M. reminded me - my father was a painting/wallpapering contractor when I got married the first time, and I remember he had a wealthy client who sent home a wonderful electric frying pan as a wedding gift for me. She had never set eyes on me in her life. I still have it, and it still works, 25 years later.

[Margaret Maron]

Oh, Peach, you just related a very familiar story. A friend of mine bought a cute little wooden frog in Mexico. One frog that she showed a couple of friends. Ten years later, she's still getting frogs. "I liked one, I didn't plan on a herd," she moans. I made the mistake of starting a flamingo refuge down at the edge of the woods; now people think I want flamingo kitsch for my house. NOOOOOO!!
Harley, please tell me what a pagan New Age version of Cross-Eyed Jesus looked like? A druid?

[Karen in Ohio]

What a disappointment that brandy candle must have been!

When I got married the first time in 1970 my coworkers chipped in to give me a set of red Teflon-coated cookware, a big deal at the time. Also included in the set was a red, party-sized Mirro coffeepot. The cookware is long gone, taken by my daughter to one of her many apartments and discarded along the way, but I still use that party perk for big get-togethers. It's a little worse for wear, appearance-wise, but it still works great and makes really good coffee.

The second time both Steve and I, 32 and 30, had our own places, complete with most of the stuff we wanted and needed, so friends threw us a couples bar shower. That was really fun. We received monogrammed crystal barware, fancy mixers, and a lot of other cool stuff, but mostly it was a great party for both of us.

We got married in Vegas, but some of Steve's parents friends gave us lovely gifts, including some art that is now worth real money. One of their friends gave us artist's proofs of two of his works. He is now 86 and quite famous, and even though I won't part with them now, maybe our kids can finance someone's college education with them someday.

I used to give Christmas ornaments, too, but also got a lukewarm response. Then I started making cloth napkin sets of eight: Christmas/holiday, spring, summer, and one set that coordinated with their china pattern. That also got weird looks, so I quit spending the time and money if it was not going to be appreciated. Now I usually just write a check. Boring, but almost everyone actually appreciates cold, hard cash.

[Karen in Ohio]

Laura, someone gave us an electric frying pan in 1970, and I'm also still using it. Forgot about that one!

Margaret, my mother once gave me an angel, and then later on she gave me another angel. I asked her why she was giving me angels and she said "because you have a collection of angels". Heavens.

[Katherine]

Laura and Sandi, I also like the idea of giving something you've made and make quilts or wall hangings.

Over 40 years ago some women in my neighborhood gave me a bridal shower. Several guests thought it strange that the artist neighbor gave me an oil painting instead fo the usual towels, etc.

I still have the painting on the wall. Gaylin--she painted it while sitting in Stanley Park looking at the city at night. She used melted crayons to add texture and color.

[Sarah Shaber]

I have just found out from my husband, Steve, that he really liked the glug glug picture, and that he hates that we discarded it! Who knew!

[marie]

When we married we received lovely gifts.
A wooden salad bowl and tongs which I loved.
Many towels of good quality and a milk glass pitcher set.
We lived with my Dad for a year so we didn't need too many items.
After we moved to California we accumulated household gifts and my Mother-in-law gave us necessary things to get started. After apartment living we moved to our own house with my Dad and new daughter. I learned to cook and my Dad was very proud that I had come a long way baby.

[Laura (in PA)]

A friend of mine gives a gift, I think for showers, of a "salad". She buys a nice salad bowl and tongs, and fills it with crumpled $1.00 and $5.00 bills. I could get behind a gift like that.

[Ellen Byerrum]

When we married, I thought it seemed awfully greedy to use a registry, but afterward I wished we had. We had a simple wedding and paid for it all ourselves. Several people, including my dad, didn't give us anything, which was okay, it was a wedding, not a hold up. But we got some really hideous stoneware platters ("because you're so artistic!") and several ugly platters in the shape of fish. We exchanged the fish platters, and stuck the stoneware under pots of flowers. The gifts I loved included a cotton weave blanket and a picture frame.

[Margaret Maron]

What an inspired gift, Laura. A real present PLUS money. I bet they'll think of her every time they make salad.
Poor Steve, Sarah. But if this is the first time he's missed that glug-glug pitcher, how much could he really hate that it's gone?
Too funny about the angels, Karen. How many do you have now?

[Deb]

Karen, I LOVE your reaction to this: "I asked her why she was giving me angels and she said "because you have a collection of angels". Heavens."
Thanks for the laugh!

Margaret, my nephew got married a few weeks ago. He and his wife registered with Amazon.com. You will be interested to know that the sort of items you mentioned - utility ladder, dolly or file cabinet - were among their requested items! However, I got them one of the more traditional items they requested, although I wouldn't have had a problem with getting them a ladder or file cabinet. (I just happened to like the photo of the item that I got them from Amazon!)

[marie]

I would have to say that the best present that I received when I married was my husband. I would put a bow on him anytime.
After all, he was patient man living under my Dad's roof. We benefited greatly from my Dad's cooking and he was almost invisible when we needed privacy.
His hearing was probably not as sharp so he let us go our merry way and when we argued my DH and I took long, long walks.
I am sure that this not a rare thing but I would still put a bow on my DH.

[Margaret Maron]

Oh, Marie, put a bow on him for me!

[Karen in Ohio]

I finally got Mother to stop when I had three, I think. Most of them have been regifted to people who actually did have an angel collection.

My mother is really goofy. I've never in my life called her anything but "Mother", which my dad insisted on, and my younger sister calls her that, as well. But our youngest brother calls her "Mom", so she signs all her cards "Love, Mom". I once asked her why and she said "Because that's what you call me." One of the things that make you say, "Hunh?"

[marie]

Will do, Margaret!!

[Storyteller Mary]

Yes to the gift of a ladder! My friend gave me one as a house-warming gift for the condo, and I still have it -- though I had to get a taller one for these higher ceilings, it will work for basement light-changing.
I can't think of any gifts I didn't like . . . lucky or what!

[Gayle Carline]

I used to make a big deal out of choosing The Best Present for people, but either my ideas didn't line up with theirs or everyone got them the Best Present ever, at least according to the thank you notes. Now I give cash and a nice picture frame.

The best present we got was also the least useful: a large, fairly unattractive, doll from a friend of mine. It was an odd gift, just like her bridal shower gift to me, which was a pair of ceramic unicorns. After I opened it, it suddenly dawned on me that she wanted to give us something but was too poor to buy anything, so she gave us her things. I didn't count it as re-gifting, I counted it as sacrifice.

Like I said, completely useless and yet completely touching.

[Kerry]

Hm - if anyone *misses* giving hand-made quilts and special napkin sets, I will happily provide an address. You will receive profuse and profound thanks :)

My first wedding was the one with the gifts. It was 1978, and the gifts were a mix of "high tech" and hippie chic. I'd never heard of a registry, with predictable results. We received one each electric yogurt maker, hot-dog cooker, and juicer. We received 3 sets of salad bowls and 3 sets of salt and pepper shakers. We received one excellent stainless steel wok and a couple of gorgeous ceramic pieces. We had to go out and buy a toaster.

I like registries. I like being able to shop within my price range and know that I'm gifting something that is wanted or needed and that will be appreciated. Plus, most of them are online now! :)

[Karen in Ohio]

A friend moved out of her boyfriend's home, where she had lived for about 12 years, with a lot of holes in her stock of household items. Her daughter-in-law held a "shower" for her, asking friends to bring such things as broom and dustpan, kitchen utensils, trash cans, etc. She was so happy that she didn't have to dip into her savings for that kind of stuff.

My brother just got divorced and I'm thinking of having a divorce shower for him. His wife took so much stuff that he didn't think he would need. Now he's realizing he should have paid better attention, since the kids are staying with him.

[Laura (in PA)]

I'm with you, Kerry. I'd be thrilled beyond belief if someone made me a quilt.

[gaylin in vancouver]

Katherine, how lovely to have a painting of Vancouver!

I wish someone would gift me a step ladder right about now, my kitchen ceiling needs to be cleaned . . .

Friends of mine put the world's ugliest teapot & teacups on their registry as a joke. No joke, someone got it for them!

Karen, I like the idea of a divorce shower! I left with next to nothing, I was just happy to get out - skin intact. I had a full kitchen but little else. I ended up borrowing a lot of things.

[Fellow Fantasy Pants-Wearer]

I got a silver crystal "pool side finger sandwich tray."

I was living in a four room apartment at the time, and that's COUNTING the bathroom.

[lil Gluckstern]

I still have a hand mixer I got for my wedding shower-50 years ago, and it still works! The marriage didn't and is over. I loved a lot of my presents, but some have travelled on. Now I'm trying to see what I can let go of before my children throw it all out. Interesting, 'cause so much of this is about memories. I don't bake much these days.

[xena]

Best Worst gifts?
I still use my sunbeam electric skillet. WITHOUT teflon! Thank you very much.
I did register at Burdines for my china choice and crystal glasses and a few small things I liked that were not expensive for my wedding. How cool at 38 yrs old to get the whole service for 9 with all the hootie hootie bowls and platters.
Now I never use them AND I'll be getting my mom & grandmother's china and silver soon enough. Ack!
It does make you feel special if you get stuff you never had but then...it's going to be too much.
My gift is always something hand made too.
Everyone except people in the tornado or hurricane path end up with too much stuff.
I make the cakes for birthday presents for my 60-ish girlfriends.
I make wedding veils for my girlfriend's daughter's bridal showers.
I make baptism bibs for their baby showers.
Life is a circle.
I'm giving my flamingo water color painting that was a gift from my friend Moonie Ezra in Sao Paulo circa 1984 to my son. He'll get all the other 9000 flamingo gifts I've gotten since.
Altho' Ladies remember...you can never have enough leopard underwear!
A relevant song from The Flick" coffee house when I was in high school comes to mind.

And the seasons they go round and round
and the painted ponies go up and down
we're captured on the carousel of the time
we can't return we can only look behind from where we came
and go round and round and round
in the circle game

[Nancy Pickard]

Oh, Gayle! That's half of an O'Henry story, right there. How very wonderful that you figured it out and could fully appreciate her for it.

Confession: I LOVED it when the delivery man kept ringing our doorbell with gifts to unwrap. Totally, unabashedly adored it. 'FOR ME? GOSH!'

My favorite was a unique handblown decanter with two wine glasses. We never used it, and it finally broke after too many moves, but I loved it. I keep an eye out still, for something as nice.

[Lynne in GA]

I give a fire extinguisher and smoke detector with a card saying "I hope you never have to use these gifts." Not exciting, but could save a life.

[Reine]

My sister-in-law Carol, who died a few weeks ago, gave wonderful gifts to newlyweds and others setting up a household for the first time. She would pack an old fashioned wicker laundry basket full of those small items that add up to lots of money when you need just about everything from a whisk broom and plant mister to dish cloths and detergent. Then she would wrap it up like an Easter basket with cellophane and a big bow. I miss Carol. She was my friend. She introduced me to Steve. We've been an item and then a couple since that very day over 40 years ago. The wicker basket did it, I'm sure.

[Reine]

The first time I was married the gift I thought was the worst-ever ended up being a lot of fun on the patio. It was a frozen-daiquiri glass freezer. Chuck decided to initiate a laugh session, so he put some daiquiri glasses upside down on the thing and some funny gas whooshed them frozen. Then he poured the drinks. That's about all the fun there was to that.

[Reine]

The really worst gift I ever got was after my mother died, my father killed the dogs. Then he died, and left me the dog food. That made the frozen daiquiri glass freezer look even better.

[Charlotte]

I've given a bucket filled with sponge, soap, and other cleaning supplies at showers. Usually got funny looks for my efforts.

For one wedding, I decided to ignore the registry and bought a pitcher and glass set that struck my fancy. The bride raved over it and has thanked me over and over for my gift.

Seems most of the young couples I know nowadays list things on their registry that I can't afford so I'm opting for a gift card from the store where they registered in an amount that fits my budget. It shows, in my mind, that I did go to a bit of an effort for their gift although it's just another form of money.

[Margaret Maron]

I'm with you, Kerry, on the handmade quilts and napkins. Love both.
Xena, do you have a URL for that song?
Reine, that shocks me and I'm usually a pragmatist when it comes to extending a sick and elderly pet, but to kill healthy ones? So sorry.
Charlotte, I bet they were glad to get that bucket of practicality the first time the cat threw up!

[Nancy Lauzon]

We received a white soup tureen that reminded me of a porcelain toilet bowl. I think I used it once, then eventually sold it in a garage sale.

Nancy
http://nancylauzon.blogspot.com
The Chick Dick Blog

[Reine]

Margaret, my father was was very strange. I don't usually talk about him. I don't know why I did today . . . a sick moment I guess.

[Anna C.]

Late to the party here, but I love to give a pizza stone and pizza cutter. And people seem to like them.

[Karen in Ohio]

So many brides return things these days, anyway, it hardly matters what you choose to give them, as long as you include a receipt.

[Kerry]

Nancy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5HXT0bn7QY
Joni Mitchell, The Circle Game.

[Josh]

Karen, that divorce shower would have been really great.

One rule that even Nancy the GunTart would agree with: no firearms.

[Margaret Maron]

Not everyone has a Robert Young father, Reine. I do understand.
Thanks for the link, Kerry.
And thanks everyone for sharing these great ideas and stories. You've given me some ideas.

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

So late to the party...er, shower. I cannot, however, tell the story about the glass flowers. GLASS FLOWERS! I mean--glass is just--antithetical to flowers. Sheesh. (Ask me the next time you see me.)

On the other hand--someone did give us flowers (real ones)delivered every month. It was lovely.

[Bev]

Worst wedding gift we received was 6 (yes, 6!) Bibles which unfortunately were engraved with our names on them. My husband's family must have thought we did saving or something and of course with them being engraved we couldn't even regift them.

Best present was the money my parents gave us for the honeymoon. Disneyworld was great!

[Reine]

Hank, have you seen the glass flowers at the Peabody?

[Evalyn]

My nephew was married earlier this month. They registred at the resort where they planned to honeymoon. Well wishers went on-line to donate an amount that reduced the total bill at the end. There wasn't a huge pile of gifts at the reception, but I liked the idea of being able to help them out with something they both wanted. Since they had lived together for a year after combining two households, there really wasn't much they needed by way of household goods. Hopefully they will remember their week in Jamaica for the rest of their lives.

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

AH, no, Reine...maybe I'll have to rethink. But this gift was..sheesh...not museum quality, shall we say? xoo