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Mrs. Starfish, Boston/Newport Age and Occupation: 25, Operations Assistant Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Sales Engagement Date: October 8, 2008 Wedding Date: October 2010 Venue: The Atlantic Beach Club About Me: I'm a perfectionist who is a planner at heart. I don't do well with surprises. I love planning, crafting, Newport RI, family and friends, and most importantly, Mr. Starfish---all of which will be big components in our October wedding in our favorite little city by the sea.
About Mrs. Starfish

Non-Registry Gifts

July 22nd, 2010 @ 12:08 pm by Mrs. Starfish

I know many brides aren’t fans of “non-registry” gifts. After spending hours adding and editing multiple registries and picking out exactly what you want, it can be hard to add something that may not fit your style into the mix. I’ve always gotten gifts from the registry, with the exception of additional gifts… I like to add something fun in addition to the registry item. For example, a cousin registered for popcorn bowls, so I also included some movie items like a “Father of the Bride” DVD, popcorn, and movie passes for a date night.

Our house isn’t huge, so I was hoping that most people would follow the registry since we spent so much time choosing everything. We don’t have a lot of space, so we had to be really picky about what we added.

Well, I was totally surprised when some of my favorite gifts we received didn’t come from our registry!

I looked at multiple stores to find a nice trifle bowl, and although I wasn’t super in love with the one we registered for, I added it because it was the nicest one we found and Mr. Starfish loves trifle, or as he calls it “goop”.

One guest at the N.J. shower gave us a trifle bowl filled with fun shore-themed oven mitts and towels, and a little blue book with a new summer trifle recipe.

Non-Registry Gifts :  wedding newport registry Cimg631  Mr. Starfish’s friend and her mom gave us two huge buckets filled with baking supplies. They gave us everything from the pans, spatulas, cooling racks, mixing bowls, cake carriers, mixes and everything in between. I love to bake and can’t wait to use all these fun items!

Non-Registry Gifts :  wedding newport registry Dress019  Non-Registry Gifts :  wedding newport registry Dress020  Starfish Aunt and her daughters gave us a grill and all the accessories we’ll need to go with it, including fun summer plates and glasses, placemats, BBQ sauces, and grill accessories. We are having them over soon for a cookout as a big thank you!

Non-Registry Gifts :  wedding newport registry Dress021  BIL Starfish even sent a surprise gift to the Boston Shower; I’m sure Sister Starfish picked it out, though! He gave us tea cup cupcake holders, which were so adorable and totally fit our theme. Plus, everyone who knows me knows how much I love cupcakes and tea, so it was perfect! He also gave us a nautical plate set. I’m in love with them. They remind me of our wedding theme. It’s a set of four, which is the perfect amount for dinners with Sister and BIL Starfish!

Non-Registry Gifts :  wedding newport registry Plates

Source

I always felt the need to purchase items from the registry, but I realized if you know the couple and what they like, you might make their day by getting them something that is “so them” that’s not on the registry. All these fun gifts have me thinking outside the box for future shower gifts!

Do you normally purchase gifts from the couples’ registry? Did you receive any fun non-registry items at your shower?

Tags: newport, registry |
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14 Responses to “Non-Registry Gifts”

1.
Miss Cardigan
Bee
Miss Cardigan (message)  8,645 posts, Bee Keeper

I love that nautical plate set! So cute! Looks like you got some really great non-registry gifts!

 
2.
clarebee
Member
clarebee (message)  2,766 posts, Sugar bee

Actually my 2 favorite gifts were non-registry! We got a pizza stone (we make a lot of pizza) and we got a matching pitcher and snack caddy from Crate and barrel that is multi-colored. They’re very fun and bright!

Those big baskets of baking stuff looks awesome!

 
3.
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Member
ecorachel (message)  58 posts, Worker bee

so far the only 2 non-registry gifts I’ve gotten I didn’t like! Oh well. We had so much in a huge range of prices– everything from $2.99 to $299! I’m not sure why they went off-registry. I’ll probably wind up returning both and getting something we need (both were ornamental type things we don’t have room for).

 
4.
moderndaisy
Member
moderndaisy (message)  6,607 posts, Bee Keeper

Three guests had our invitation framed for us as a present.. weird and such a head-scratcher of a present. One guest got us this HUGE, heavy metal salad bowl and tong set - there was a nicer, smaller one on our registry which someone had already purchased for us.

 
5.
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Guest
Jennifer

Yes, I really hope our guests don’t feel constrained by the registry — I see it more as a list of things people can buy if they have no idea what to get us, or want to make sure they get us something that will be useful. (Or, of course, the original roots of the registry, to allow multiple people to buy single place settings or china pieces that all match.) I always appreciate having the registry available, especially when it’s someone who lives far away so I don’t have the opportunity to see their house and current taste. But I’ll be a little sad if our closer friends and family only buy things we registered for, probably.

 
6.
jordynrose
Member
jordynrose (message)  6,351 posts, Bee Keeper

Great suprises! Like you, I always give a gift from the registry plus an something additional to use with it. Case in point, the last shower gift I gave was an ice tea maker, so I bought different types of tea and wrapped them up with it.

 
7.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Starfish (message)  1,924 posts, Buzzing bee

@jordynrose: that’s really cute!

 
8.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Sewing (message)  2,701 posts, Sugar bee

I love surprises, so we never created a registry at all. heheh. although i typically will only give others $ or registry stuff, since I know most people create them for a reason! ;)

 
9.
kaybee
Member
kaybee (message)  631 posts, Busy bee

We had our engagement picture turned into a framed hand drawn sketch and we also received a horse carriage ride around town, something I probably wouldn’t have splurged on myself.

 
10.
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Member
NoneOfYourBeeswax (message)  146 posts, Blushing bee

I like to look at registries for inspiration (house colors, themes, styles, etc.) and go from there. It seems so much more fun to get something that isn’t on the registry when I know what the bride and groom will like.

 
11.
Bee Icon
Bee
Mrs. Cola (message)  2,868 posts, Sugar bee

Wow, you really lucked out with some great non-registry items! I’ll be honest, the non-registry gifts we got were mostly useless things that we have zero use for. At least we have some stuff on hand for re-gifting now!

 
12.
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Member
marieta (message)  339 posts, Helper bee

I have a love-hate relationship with registries. I usually don’t like shopping from them. I don’t like being pigeon-holed with my gifts. I want to come up with something special that shows thought for who the recipients are as well as that it came from ME (like I’m a photographer, and my friends wanted a camera, so that’s what I got them). I hadn’t thought of trying to sort of do both… get something from a registry and then build on its theme. I like that.

However, with things like baby registries, I’m grateful for registries, because baby aisles freak me out and I have no experience with babies. I want to run in, grab something, and run out as fast as possible.

 
13.
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Guest
Rosa Pellicano

I’m all about registries but completely agree that sometimes it’s just more fun to get a little creative and to make a basket of useful item around one central theme. I’m personally making a wine basket for an upcoming shower that has a wine aerator, a bamboo corkscrew and bottle stopper set, and a wine pairings cookbook called Daring Parings…

 
14.
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Guest
Marion Hanline

Thank you for the post. Generally, I can say that it is a a good post.

 

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Mrs. Starfish
Mrs. Starfish

Mrs. Starfish, Boston/Newport Age and Occupation: 25, Operations Assistant Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Sales Engagement Date: October 8, 2008 Wedding Date: October 2010 Venue: The Atlantic Beach Club About Me: I'm a perfectionist who is a planner at heart. I don't do well with surprises. I love planning, crafting, Newport RI, family and friends, and most importantly, Mr. Starfish---all of which will be big components in our October wedding in our favorite little city by the sea.

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