What Kind of Gift for a Bridal Shower?

[Deleted]

I haven't been to a bridal shower in years. So, what kind of gift? Do i get a household type gift or something more personal? Any suggestions?

[chiver78]

Get something from the registry. I usually try to get a full set of glasses they have picked out, if it's within the dollar amount I want to spend.

sent from my electronic distraction

[Deleted]

I would like to pick out something useful and fun. She is kind of an esoteric gal. A math professor, intellectual with a kind of quirky sense of fun. Her bridal registry has some pretty bizarre stuff on it like aquarium endtables, a vertical chess set ($299 which is a bit more than i wanted to spend), and then some things like a beermaking kit and some "Fred and friends pants" salt and shakers. All stuff i cannot get locally because i live in a small town with just Walmart and Sears and a few other stores like that. No time to shop on the online registry.

[constanz22]

Something off the registry, or a gift card to the store she's registered at (or another local store for household stuff). I used to like to do more personalized gifts and not stuff off the registry, but anymore, people already have so much darned "stuff" already, I think it's better to just go off the registry or do a gift card...

[Deleted]

Yes, she probably has plenty of household stuff. I think i will get a gift because it is going to be a small shower and it is just more fun to open a gift. We will probably give money for the wedding.

[Deleted]

I think a personal gift is great. If it is someone where you know what they like, then trust your gut. If it is a family member where you knew what they liked when they were 11, but now you only see them about once a year, trust the registry (which I realize isn't an option in this case)

You can usually get a sense from the invitation what other people will be bringing. If it is a traditional ladies-only afternoon affair thrown by her maiden aunt Gertrude, you'll see a lot of dishes and towels.

Couples showers and showers thrown by friends tend to get a little bit quirkier and more personal gifts. A big drink tub that they can fill with ice for outdoor parties stocked with fancy bottled sodas and beers is usually a safe non-registry item that you can get at Walmart and make cost whatever you want. (Picnic basket is another good option)

[mizbear]

I am going to be the prude in the bunch-

I say this only because I have been married more than once and have had this happen to me at every stinking bridal shower- even after people were asked, told, and even all but threatened not to do it-

lingerie is rarely appropriate.

I think you have better taste than that- but it still just makes my skin crawl.

I am a gift card/ practical gift person.

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

Photo Album for them to start a pictoral "diary" of their life together. (You can get some really nice ones with beautiful covers).

Do they camp? Maybe some camping gear (lantern, collapsable 'director' chairs w/cup holders, set of camping dishes, cookstove, pots/pans).

Set of pillows
Set of Towels/bath sheets/facecloths
Kitchen towels/dishcloths.

[raeoflyte]

May 19, 2012 11:53:30 GMT -5 mizbear said:

I am going to be the prude in the bunch-

I say this only because I have been married more than once and have had this happen to me at every stinking bridal shower- even after people were asked, told, and even all but threatened not to do it-

lingerie is rarely appropriate.

I think you have better taste than that- but it still just makes my skin crawl.

I am a gift card/ practical gift person.

I'm guessing my suggestion won't be a good idea for the OP, but the funnest gift that my SIL got at her bridal shower were the strip tease workout videos. She is the kind of person though that can get a kick out of that even with her soon to be husbands grandma sitting next to her. I'd probably be mortified.

[Deleted]

OK. Just got back from scouring the mall. I decided to get her a nice stainless steel pasta roller and nice porcelin rolling pin and few other little things. I think that is something someone could use. I would think most everyone would at least try making their own pasta just for fun now and then. Anyway, that is the best i could do on short notice!

[mizbear]

raoef- I would have been ok in the right group of friends (after wedding number 1- I was 18 and clueless)- but the lingerie was brought to work for one party (mixed gender at that) and to church and in front of my grandmother!

I am still scarred over that.

[NastyWoman]

oh, it looks like I am too late but this would have been cool:
www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/lights/ac3f/

[moxie]

I just went to one...I got several things off her registry. I'll send cash for the wedding gift. I won't be attending...it's too far away.

[Sam_2.0]

OMG, mizbear - I got lingerie. At the church shower. From a woman I don't even know!! It was quite embarassing.

You can either do something personal for the bride, or something fun for the couple together. I like to get some giftcards, one for a Target/BBB place, and one for dinner out. And I write a note about getting something to help build their new home together, and getting out to enjoy time away with each other. That usually works well when I don't know what else to do.

[moxie]

I got a tasteful, yet sexy lacy white gown and matching see-through robe. Nothing offensive...I think my Mom gifted me with it.

[moxie]

shooby: Good choice.

[Deleted]

Had a great time at the shower guys! Thanks for the advice! ;D

[mourningcloak]

I'm hoping I don't get lingerie at my shower! That would be so embarrassing, especially since I'm a sweat pants and t-shirt type of gal. I couldn't see returning something like that to the store - How do you explain that someone was unwilling to buy the stuff you asked for on your multiple registries and felt they had to insist you need lingerie for your married life?
My sister's friends threw her a lingerie bachlorette party before our family held her bridal shower at the church. My mother as a joke bought her footie pjs and her grandmother-in-law bought her this beautiful white lingerie. His grandmother attends my hometown church and now I can never look at her without thinking about that lingerie lol!
I'm really surprised at how many people refuse to buy off of a registry, or even look at it and then purposefully ignore it. Now I understand sometimes its very difficult to actually go to a store and find the items on the registry especially at the last minute, but when I put the time in to tell you what we need and you buy something else and don't provide a gift receipt, you may be getting something they have no use for and then can't exchange. My sister got 4 butter dishes between her shower and wedding. Everyone kept telling them that they looked at the registry and noticed that they didn't have this item on it and felt it was a necessity for them to have. They didn't put a butter dish on their registry because they already owned one!

[seriousthistime]

I have a friend who insists on buying something unique for shower and wedding gifts when she travels. They are one of a kind, no chance to return them, and they are hit or miss for the couples. Yet, when her son got married, she said the couple wanted things from their registry; when her daughter got married she said they wanted shower gifts from the registry but cash for wedding gifts. I complied with all preferences and later learned that the shower gifts from the registry were returned for cash. Maybe the bridal couple was too embarrassed to ask for cash for a shower because the amounts would be smaller? I don't know; but if that was her preference I would have been glad to put $20 in a card. I now go strictly off the registry and I try to shop early enough to find something in my price range. If no registry I give cash (which works better for the wedding than the shower). It's sort of boring to sit around and watch a bride open card after card and acknowledge each gift of cash or gift card, with no gifts opened for the guests to see and admire.

[mizbear]

If I know that the couple is registered, I prefer to select from their list if I can afford it. Otherwise, I give a cash gift or gift card in an amount that I can afford.
When my cousin M and his wife were registering for their wedding, his then fiance' asked me to go with her to register for gifts. We went nuts registering for toilet paper, paper towels, dish soap, all kinds of practical stuff.

HER mother was mortified!!!