Wedding/Baby Gifts

WinniBug · #1 06-11-2008, 10:33 PM

I was wondering how much you typically spend on wedding gifts, baby gifts and shower gifts.
What are some factors that determine how much you're willing to spend on a gift?

KSUViolet06 · #2 06-12-2008, 12:55 AM

I look at what the person has registered for and what I can afford to spend. I try to get something moderately priced, not a $200 TV, but not the $5 can opener by itself either (because if you buy one small thing, you need to buy some of the other small things to go with it).

SWTXBelle · #3 06-12-2008, 12:59 AM

Wedding of former student with whom I was not that close, and whose wedding I will not attend - nice silver picture frame

Wedding of former student with whom I am close, and whose wedding I will attend - serving pieces of informal flatware or informal place setting

Wedding of former student with whom I am close and whose wedding I will not be attending - Penzey's Deluxe Spicy Wedding

Friend or family member whose wedding I will be attending - place setting of formal china if possible, crystal or flatware. Something for which they registered.

Baby gifts -

Family - I posted elsewhere that upon learning of the pregnancy I get a big gift bag, and fill it with all the little necessities and some fun stuff until it is full - it ends up being a LOT of stuff, but is always very appreciated.

I give the girls James Avery charm necklaces after they are born. Boys usually get a place setting of Onedia baby flatware or Bunnykins china.

Former students - I recently sent two sisters who were both Tri Delts and who both had girls the Alma Mater Tri Delta Baby Board books and a cute outfit.

cuteASAbug · #4 06-12-2008, 09:10 AM

The general rule of thumb for wedding gifts that if you're attending, you should spend enough on the gift to cover your place. If you're not attending, just send a nice gift. For baby showers, it depends on how well I know the mother to be. I'm willing to spend more on a gift if I don't actually have to attend the shower to save myself from the torture.

alum · #5 06-12-2008, 09:33 AM

Weddings:
If it's someone I barely know, they get a silver tray.

If it's someone I do know fairly well, they get a custom-designed, handcrafted quilt and a silver tray. The quilt colors will be based on colors that I find in their registry.

Babies always get quilts. I wait to create until I know the sex of the baby.

Army Wife'79 · #6 06-12-2008, 04:36 PM

Wow Alum, you are too nice. I only make quilts for family members. Do you machine quilt or hand quilt? I hand quilt so it takes forever.

alum · #7 06-12-2008, 09:13 PM

I always machine-quilt baby quilts as I want them to be able to be machine-washable so the moms aren't afraid to use them.

Some of the wedding quilts were hand-quilted, some were actually hand-pieced or hand-appliqued. They all are about wall-hanging or lap size. The technique depends on how well I know the couple. I recently made a quilt for a friend of my daughter's. As I haven't met the girl and I only had about a week to make it, the quilt was all machine-done. It's crooked in the picture (and the pic is actually upside-down) but the quilt was very square as I had paper-pieced the blocks.

EE-BO · #8 06-12-2008, 10:24 PM

Family, fraternity brothers and best friends- $200 max, and I try to aim for an item in the registry I know they will really use every day.

Professional friends, casual friends- $50ish.

Guys don't get many calls to give baby gifts, but so far it has been all family members for baby girls- and I have gotten them Baptismal shells from James Avery.

EE-BO · #9 06-12-2008, 10:25 PM

PS- nice quilt alum! My family collects them, so I have some familiarity. Is this a design you created? There are many variations out there similar to this- but this is not a specific pattern I have seen before. It has a modern look (how many arrow signs were around 150 years ago anyway?), but also a very classic feel. Well done.

alum · #10 06-13-2008, 08:15 AM

I used the single-point rotating arrow design from http://www.quilterscache.com/Q/Quills&ArrowsBlock.html. The paper-pieced pattern prints as a 6x6 finished but I blew it up to 8x8. Instead of using the layout suggested on that site, I set the rotating arrow blocks as the double pointed arrows were set in
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:jhJxQxIhNpEJ:home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/1092897715049782272ygidpu+%22Hearts+and+Arrows%22+ quilt&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=us

I eliminated the hearts even though it's for a wedding. I was afraid that would be too cutesy. I quilted the open spaces with symbols of the bride's and groom's colleges since they are both brand-new grads.

There are 16 arrows (each a different red or maroon fabric). The backgrounds of the blocks alternate blue or grey (8 fabrics of each). I have a good amount of fabric already so I had more than enough selection in my quilt studio from which to choose. For the fabric selection, I discovered just enough Angel fabric in my stash as well as a dark carnation print with maroon background and the allover big pinkish carnation motif. Acc. to my D, the bride was never seen without her pearls, so the wine fabric with the strands of pearls had to go in as well. The print with the tiny hearts worked for a wedding quilt without making it cloyingly sweet.

It's a really easy pattern to either hand-piece or paper-piece since the individual pieces are big. The Quilter's Cache link that I provided has good instructions and a paper-piece patterns. If it's not the size you want just reduce or expand it through the copy machine. For all you stitchers: Quilter's Cache is an amazing resource for quilt blocks. Some are old patterns now in the public domain (Ohio Star et al), others are the site owner's own designs that she shares. They are all rated in terms of difficulty.

Army Wife'79 · #11 06-13-2008, 08:54 AM

Great quilt Alum. Thanks for the website also. My DAR chapter collects lap quilts for the VA hospitals for amputees for in their wheelchairs. I've been thinking of using up a lot of my fabric scraps this way.

alum · #12 06-13-2008, 09:27 AM

My guild's chapter makes baby quilts for Project Linus, small quilts for the wounded soldiers at WRAMC and for residents of a local retirement home. For our wheelchair-bound recipients, we use a pattern that looks like the letter T with a very fat trunk and stubby arms. This plus fabric ties in strategic areas keeps the lapquilt from catching in the wheels of the chair. I tried googling it but can't find anything. If you want the pattern, I will send you a link to our newsletter and you can contact the committee chair.

33girl · #13 06-13-2008, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EE-BO

Guys don't get many calls to give baby gifts, but so far it has been all family members for baby girls- and I have gotten them Baptismal shells from James Avery.

I am clueless - what are these??

catiebug · #14 06-13-2008, 11:45 AM

The only thing I could find on the James Avery Web site were earrings, but it gives you an idea.

Speaking of James Avery, it was *the* thing to wear in jr high and high school. I still have all my rings (including my paper doll ring), dangle rings, charms, necklaces, etc. I must have close to 100 things.

The paper doll ring is like this one, only it has girls and boys holding hands (like the paper dolls you cut out in a continuous string) between the two bands.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 33girl

I am clueless - what are these??

breathesgelatin · #15 06-14-2008, 02:47 AM

One thing I think it's appropriate to add is that if you're in your 20s and in grad school, or working an entry level job or whatever, it's perfectly fine to NOT pay as much as you might really like to based on your affections for the person. You know?

Recently I spent around $30 for a sorority sister's wedding that I will attend in about 3 weeks - but the thing is she knows I am spending a TON on travel to actually go across the country while I'm currently unemployed. I really wanted to get something more but almost everything on her registry was $100 and up and that was just plain out of my range. I recently got a bachelorette party invitation as well, which I can't attend, but I am going to try to get a small non-registry gift for that - something fun for the bride - that will supplement my "official" gift. Planning on spending another $20-$30 on that.

Before that, I went to was a local wedding in Austin a few months ago. The couple are a graduate student, very hippie couple that did not make a registry but asked attendees to donate to one of their four favorite charities. I donated around $30. At the wedding shower, I got the bride about $80 worth of gifts (I was employed at that point), partly because I know that this is one of the most unselfish and unmaterialistic couples on earth - despite asking guests NOT to get gifts, they have very few accouterments to fill up their home. I got them a nice soapstone wine chiller and a wine stopper because they enjoy wine and I just wanted to get them something nice...

I know the guide of trying to "pay back" what they're spending on you attending the wedding is ideal, but I do believe that couples understand if that is just not possible for you - weddings are very expensive and if you were really going to "pay back your cost," it would often be unreasonable for young people or people who just have public interest/nonprofit jobs that don't pay as much...