Yes, but at one wedding I wanted to get my friend a Dallas Cowboys bathroom set (he's a fanatic), towels, wash clothes soap dishes etc . . . and my date talked me into getting something else.

It turns out he would have loved the towels and he couldn't have cared less about what i got him off the registry.

So is that what you are saying? Get him something he love like that? Or a big beer stein, or something?

Well, the justification behind that is probably concerning whether or not he had his own bathroom because his wife would be like "Please. :rolleyes: Get that tacky ish out! :mad:". I don't think towels are such a grand idea, but hey a beer stein like this:

http://www.german-toasting-glasses.com/images/g5734.jpg

...with a subscription to Sports Illustrated wouldn't be bad either.

Just promise you won't be wack and give him either a scrapbook (that's *em* kinda fruity) or a wad of cash. Then you'll be fine! ;)

enigma_AKA

So ten thousand dollars would be inappropriate?

If you had that amount of money to give, why wouldn't you buy something meaningful?

enigma_AKA

One of my friends got us a gift card for $100 to a nice restaurant. It was a great gift, we got to go out to a nice dinner for a date night.

Not for nothing but I've never actually seen anyone drink out of a stein. I think I'd be a little freaked out if I went to a bar and my friend whipped out a stein and said "Hey bartender, pour it in here".

-Rudey
--In college we won this big trophy and some douche thought it would be a great idea to drink beer out of it...let's just say that trophies give beer nasty after taste.

Hey it worked!

OK how does all this work? I see items on here that are ridiculously priced and from Neiman Marcus and then cheaper items at Crate and Barrel. People just buy any item and it doesn't matter which? Does it tell them I got a gift before I get to the wedding? I don't want to be the guy that everyone thinks didn't buy a gift.

-Rudey

If I remember correctly, on some sites, it does. On one of our sites, it told us who bought what, while on the others it just told us which items had been purchased.

The problem on some sites is that it doesn't update the registry quickly, so it's possible for two people to buy the same gift. Otherwise, it's a nice system to have.

And it doesn't matter if someone gets you one steak knife or some ridiculous kitchen appliance?

Edited to add: I just found another one of their registries and these prices are ridiculous. First of all why do you need a special dish for fish and second of all why would you pay 400 for it???

-Rudey

I seem to remember having this same conversation about a $200 gravy boat.

If you have credit cards for any of these places, watch for the sale circulars. You can sometimes get things at almost half price.

Standard gift certificate to Bed, Bath and Beyond or any of their registries. We've all seen "Old School." Ask Will Ferrell. Every couple shops there.

And yes, couples register for ridiculously expensive stuff. Stuff I can't afford to buy them. So the gift certificate is a nice drop in the bucket that will get them closer to those $500 steak knives.

I am a big fan of gift certificates... mostly because if its a baby shower, I really don't want the mom to look back and remember that I bought her her breast pump...

If you're going to an engagement party, bring a nice bottle of wine.

Send the gift ahead of time so they don't have to cart it home after the wedding and then just bring a note of congratulations or a card to the wedding that you can drop on the gift table.

I don't think so; some people got us one random piece of china or things like that, and it didn't matter. Most of our guests were travelling from out of town, so honestly we were just happy if people got us anything.

Some of the registries are out of control though; we kept ours reasonable, but some people make hard core wish lists.

Rudey,
One of the cardinal rules of registries is to register for expensive and inexpensive items as people shop on a variety of budgets. Chances are your buddy probably didn't pick much out on the registry, and his fiancee probably had a relative or friend helping her pick stuff.

One of my girlfriends had family members ask her to register for more expensive things because they wanted to buy her nicer stuff, so thus the inexpensive and expensive gifts. You said they registered at C&B, that is probably for people not on the Neiman Marcus budget. If you send them something off of their registry, when you check out they will usually ask if you want a gift card and what you want it to say- so they should know it's from you one way or the other. And don't worry about not bringing things to weddings and people thinking you are the bastard who didn't give a gift. It's very common now to not come bearing large gift boxes. Speaking for myself, (and a lot of my friends) they much preferred getting their items beforehand so they didn't have anything to worry about carting around afterwards.

Seeing as how all of my friends are super rich, and I don't deal with middle class and under minions, I think it is ok for me to have super uber expensive shit on there.

BIATCHES