Registry Madness

Drawers full of registry gifts!!

I'm really not sure how this blog would stay afloat without my friends and family-- I may be creative, but darned if I don't get the worst case of brain freeze when I sit down to bang out something for this blog!

My father is responsible for reminding me of this topic, with a very interesting article on registry trends in recent years by the Wall Street Journal. "Bison Brown bath towels," he said, "Who knew?"

Registries have been changing a lot recently, and though the WSJ is correct about one factor being that people are getting married later in life, I think we're also seeing more couples who choose to live together before getting married. Personally, I'm all for it-- I knew a girl once who didn't live with her fiance, and after getting married were divorced three months later because they couldn't stand living with each other!! The other upside is that when you live together, you tend to already have most of what you need.

My husband and I had most of what we needed, so we went big and registered almost entirely for kitchen things-- things we wouldn't always have the money to pick up, things that were definitely a "wish" list for entertaining friends and family in our future home. A good knife block, serving platters, a blender, and nice china were the best things we got and I was a-ok with picking up a few of the smaller kitchen gadgets on our own as we found the need for them (oh, hello melon baller!).

My friend Caitlin is getting married in a few weeks and since she and her fiance have survived a few years of living together and a nearly cross country move, they have pretty much all they need. The one thing they don't have as graduate students? Money. So their registry covers a few kitchen gadgets and a honeymoon fund! I wish I had thought of the honeymoon fund, it would have been more enjoyable than even my beautimous china... they set up a site through honeyfund.com which lists out the details of where they want to go on their honeymoon. We sent them money to have brunch and do a little shopping, which we were able to do since we can't make the trip up to Philly.

I love looking through our kitchen and seeing a collection of friends and family there, but the same thing could be achieved looking through honeymoon pictures! If you don't need much, don't register for much-- nobody these days will look down on you for asking that you send them what they would have spent for a honeymoon fund, a car fund, a baby fund, or a mortgage fund. While I love the little gifts I've picked up on and off of registries for friends, I also love that I'm a part of helping Caitlin and Dusty get what we didn't-- a honeymoon and an essential part of anyone's blossoming marriage.