Need some ideas for gifts

Summer2011Bride

So I would love some unique suggestions for BM gifts. Our wedding is not until July, but I am already stumped and don't want to put this off until the last minute. I know you are supposed to NOT get them something for the wedding, but something they personally would like. Suggestions have been made to buy them different gifts, like you were shopping for their birthday.

The problem is, I am very close to two of my BM's and could do that. But the other two are very close family friends of my FI. I know them as well and are friends with them, but only recently and don't feel like I know them well enough to do this. My FI is also no help, as most guys wouldn't be I looked on here at their BM gift ideas but they were all cheesey monogrammed stuff; I kinda wanted to stay away from monogrammed things that they probably wouldn't use.

My only idea so far was to get them all matching necklaces for the wedding day that could be worn again PLUS get them each a cute tote filled with bath/body products. Or perhaps get each girl a gift card to get a manicure or something. Any ideas?

KJ7985

Well, this thread went south pretty fast. Summer2011Bride, if it makes you feel better, I'm kind of a planner, too. I don't know your girls, but I have seven bridesmaids and they're all pretty different so they're all going to get different gifts. Here are some ideas I've been throwing around:

-A nice bottle of wine (or two or three , a pair of unique wine glasses, and a cool wine opener or pretty wine stoppers (I actually received this as a bday gift...believe me, none of it went to waste).

-For someone who's a big tea drinker, perhaps a small basket with a bunch of assorted teas, a pretty/unique teacup, honey or brown sugar (get the high quality stuff, organic, or something more "special" than what you might find at the grocery store), and one of those cool one cup tea strainer things from Teavana (love that store!).

-A basket with movie passes, a few DVDs (perhaps you girls have some inside jokes or movies that you both like), candy galore, etc. OR you could sign her up for Netflix, which might be cool too. 

-If she collects charms or has a charm bracelet, you could pick out a Tiffany charm that commemorates your friendship or a common interest for her bracelet (I might do this for one of my sisters). 

-I have taken craft classes at stores like Michaels and JoAnns--this might be a cool gift idea for someone who's crafty. You could get them a gift card to that store for the price of the class and then throw on extra for their class supplies. Perhaps include in the card that that's what you were envisioning it being used for, but that they can obviously spend it however they like. If you're crafty yourself, you could also include a handmade gift with this. I crochet and have thought about crocheting an afghan for each girl to give along with their unique gift. 

-I really like that Coach clutch idea (I have received them as gifts, and I DO use them...all the time, in fact). Perhaps you could pop a little gift card in the clutch for a nice surprise (even if it's just $10 to their favorite place, they can still grab a drink on the bride). 

-If she enjoys getting mani/pedis, I think this is a nice idea! I would love to get a free pedi

-One of my girlfriends really loves to cook. She's very likely going to get a Le Creuset casserole dish (every good cook will appreciate Le Creuset!). I'm going to fill the dish with some olive oils and different spices from Penzeys. You could also skip the bakeware and just do a really cool gift set from Penzeys (they have tons of awesome spices...that store is awesome!). They do sell their stuff online, too, I think. 

-If she's into her gadgets (kindle, laptop, ipad, blackberry, whatever), you could get something along the lines of a leather kindle cover, a designer laptop bag, etc. Something nice and functional, I bet she'd use it all the time!

-If she likes to bake, perhaps a nice pie plate, a pastry blender (it's a cheap little handheld thing, not an electronic appliance, but just like a little hand held masher that you use to mix up the ingredients for pastry crust, it'll cost like $5), a bakers blade, a pie crust shield (nifty $3 thing that you can use to prevent the crust from burning before the pie is done), and other pie making tools (the little wheel you use to make the fluted edges, a pastry brush, little cookie cutters to cut out designs for your pie crust, etc.).

I think that you might find that sitting down and trying to come up with a list of what each girl enjoys doing in her spare time will really help to guide you in the right direction. Good luck!