Another summer, another wedding season. We have a minor amount of weddings this summer, three to be exact. I consider myself lucky, and I’m counting my blessings. We all know how expensive weddings can be, and that’s not including engagement parties, bachelor/ette parties, and wedding showers! I found an interesting article online about the proper way to “expense” them, but would have a hard time actually following through. See this article on Wedding Gift Etiquette for advice on how much to spend for each.
As much as I love attending weddings, I am just not one for showers. Real showers with soap and water, yes. Rain showers, okay. Baby and wedding showers…not so much. Now, of course I attend with a gift and a big smile, but I think it’s no surprise to most women when I say they’re a little boring. The best thing about them is the free food and drinks. Take advantage of both. Just be careful with the amount of alcohol you consume, you have to at least stay awake through the grand finale: the opening of gifts. This is usually the point when I start thinking…wow we really need a new _______ <insert whatever gift the bride just opened>
“Wow! I really need to buy new dish towels”
“Wow! We could really use a new blender.”
“Wow! We could really use one of those…wait…what is that?”
Then I remind myself never to invite any of these women into my house until I can buy all new housewares. And maybe new carpet too. I should probably at least get that cleaned professionally. And the windows! Those should be cleaned too. Okay no one is ever coming over. Could we get away with having another wedding shower? Is there such thing as a one-year anniversary shower? Wait, is that lingerie? Oh that’s cute…maybe I should take a trip to Victoria’s Secret when I leave here…
Because I didn’t realize that the wedding shower I was attending last weekend was registered at several places (insert foot in mouth here), I was fretting over what to bring as a gift. I searched for ideas online, and when nothing came up, I spent a while trying to come up my own gift. Now, after reading the Wedding Gift Etiquette, I realize I made a major ‘no-no’ when it comes to the gift. Wait for it….wait for it….
I didn’t buy off the registry!!!!!
Although I did feel a little bad, at least we have the actual wedding to make up for it. And my gift seemed to go over really well. I heard people referring to the gift, saying how creative it was (all the while thinking “Ha! And it wasn’t even on the registry!”). So hopefully she liked it as well, and I didn’t make too much of a mistake!I started with the idea that wine is always a good gift to give. Who doesn’t want to pour a glass of wine, relax, and de-stress. Especially while planning a wedding! I figured the most important steps of wedding planning were not completed yet, and made little tags for each task (Print Them Here). I printed them, cut them out, attached one to each bottle, put them in a basket with some fluff, and ta-da! Done!
I bought my basket at Michael’s, and while I was there, I couldn’t help myself from the $1 bins in the checkout lines. I found a cardboard ‘B’ as well as a cute flower pin for decoration. I used Modge Podge to give the B a little more spunk, and just used the two things as accents. I also put together a card to match!
The basket turned out really cute, and I think I’ll be making it again. But this time ONLY if they’re not registered! 😉