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Shower is Two Weeks Away

AprilH81AprilH81 member
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in Registry and Gift Forum

I admit that I am registry stalking and I know I should stop.  I know people are last minute shoppers, but not one thing has been bought from the registry yet.  I know my sister and FMIL went off registry (FMIL told me she had my gift purchased before we announced our engagement).

Is this normal?  I will have around 15 guests at the shower so I didn't expect huge traffic at this point but I thought something would have been purchased yet.

I hope I don't sound like a brat, I would never mention this to anyone else but I was curious what other people's experiences were.

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Re: Shower is Two Weeks Away

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    itzMSitzMS member
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    AprilH81 said:

    I admit that I am registry stalking and I know I should stop.  I know people are last minute shoppers, but not one thing has been bought from the registry yet.  I know my sister and FMIL went off registry (FMIL told me she had my gift purchased before we announced our engagement).

    Is this normal?  I will have around 15 guests at the shower so I didn't expect huge traffic at this point but I thought something would have been purchased yet.

    I hope I don't sound like a brat, I would never mention this to anyone else but I was curious what other people's experiences were.

    Sheer coincidence, but my baby shower is in two weeks and nothing has been purchased, either.

    Most people are procrastinors and/or like to see what others purchase before they buy.

    Depending on your crowd, they may prefer to get/make you something unique/personal, too.
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    photokittyphotokitty mod
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    edited October 2013
    I buy the week of the shower typically. Unless I want something super specific or I happen to go to the store...which I pretty much only go to BBB for gifts bc I can't be trusted in there!!

    HAVE FUN!! :)
    :kiss: ~xoxo~ :kiss:

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    Maggie0829Maggie0829 member
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    I typically by the week of the shower as well.  Also, sometimes I am an idiot and forget to tell the store that what I am buying is from a registry so it doesn't always show up that the item was bought.

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    annathy03annathy03 member
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    I was a BM last month and for that shower I bought the gift two weeks out BUT I was the first one to buy off her registry, and I wanted to get her the teapot she registered for since we were throwing her a tea party themed shower.  I stalked her registry the week before to make sure the item didn't go on a better sale plus I was considering getting the matching mugs, so I happened to notice no one else bought until a few days before.
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    JoanE2012JoanE2012 member
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    I think there are some people that by immediately upon receiving an invite (that's me! - I want a decent selection of items to choose from) but most buy during the last few days leading up to the shower, some even the day of.  Now stop stalking your registry.  :D
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    Jen4948Jen4948 member
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    Lots of times people do wait to the last minute before making any purchases from a registry.  If you wait until right before your shower to check it again, you might be pleasantly surprised.

    All the best!
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    SP29SP29 member
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    I think most wait till last minute. For my shower, out of 10 guests (not including my mom and MOH), only 1 person bought off my registry. One other guest gave her own gift, the rest of the guests gave cash. 
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    courtneythesquidcourtneythesquid member
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    At my shower, two people purchased in advance, the rest waited until the last minute (1-3 days before).  For gifts, I would say we got 25% cash/ gift cards, 60% items from the registry, and 15% items not on the registry.  I think I live in a region (Texas) where people tend to give box gifts over cash, I did notice that it seems like my husband's family from California had a greater tendency to give cash.

    I gave in to the temptation to registry stalk too, but I would advise you to try not to do it for a week before your shower, that way you will be happily surprised!

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    AprilH81AprilH81 member
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    Okay, I'm feeling better now, someone bought our luggage set yesterday when it was on sale.  :)  I will do my best to stop registry stalking now, but I make no promises. 
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    hoffsehoffse member
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    Yay!

    And I am pro-registry-stalking.  I would seriously start writing thank you notes that were like Dear _____, thank for you so much for the luggage set!  We can't wait to use it on our honeymoon!"  etc. when stuff started disappearing from our registry.  I had to re-write a handful of them when stuff actually came and there were additional gifts we weren't expecting attached, but for the most part it helped me stay current with thank you notes.

    Bonus: if there is a thank you card manager on your registry, then you can also address the thank you notes as you go.  Just don't mail them until the gift shows up on your doorstep.

    All this talk about gifts being a surprise is great and all - but you will get plenty of things off-registry and probably lots of cash too.  There were enough surprises to make the registry stalking completely worth it in my opinion, and then we didn't have 100 thank you notes to write right after the wedding was done.
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    AprilH81AprilH81 member
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    hoffse said:
    Yay!

    And I am pro-registry-stalking.  I would seriously start writing thank you notes that were like Dear _____, thank for you so much for the luggage set!  We can't wait to use it on our honeymoon!"  etc. when stuff started disappearing from our registry.  I had to re-write a handful of them when stuff actually came and there were additional gifts we weren't expecting attached, but for the most part it helped me stay current with thank you notes.

    Bonus: if there is a thank you card manager on your registry, then you can also address the thank you notes as you go.  Just don't mail them until the gift shows up on your doorstep.

    All this talk about gifts being a surprise is great and all - but you will get plenty of things off-registry and probably lots of cash too.  There were enough surprises to make the registry stalking completely worth it in my opinion, and then we didn't have 100 thank you notes to write right after the wedding was done.
    I thought about starting to write thank you notes for the shower gifts and I have mixed feelings.  I will definitely start addressing envelopes but I will probably wait to write the note itself until after the shower.  People may give something off-registry, buy something at the last minute or something that just didn't get taken off the registry and I would rather not rewrite notes.  :)
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    hoffsehoffse member
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    Yeah I didn't write thank yous in advance for the shower because I knew people might pick up stuff last minute.  But for actual wedding gifts I started early, since most people mailed things in advance.  It was frustrating having to re-write a few notes, but overall it saved me a ton of time.  I had all my thank yous done and mailed within a week of the wedding.

    I think the reason most couples take so long to finish thank yous is because they get overwhelmed by the number they have to do... and it makes it feel like it's impossible to get started.  I got in the habit of waking up 30 minutes early, writing about 5 thank you notes each day, and then either holding them if I hadn't gotten the gift or mailing them on my way to work if I had.  I had maybe 40 to do after the wedding itself, but I did 5 in the morning and 5 in the evening until they were done.  I then got on a plane to Jamaica and drank cocktails without thank you note guilt.
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    AprilH81AprilH81 member
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    hoffse said:
    Yeah I didn't write thank yous in advance for the shower because I knew people might pick up stuff last minute.  But for actual wedding gifts I started early, since most people mailed things in advance.  It was frustrating having to re-write a few notes, but overall it saved me a ton of time.  I had all my thank yous done and mailed within a week of the wedding.

    I think the reason most couples take so long to finish thank yous is because they get overwhelmed by the number they have to do... and it makes it feel like it's impossible to get started.  I got in the habit of waking up 30 minutes early, writing about 5 thank you notes each day, and then either holding them if I hadn't gotten the gift or mailing them on my way to work if I had.  I had maybe 40 to do after the wedding itself, but I did 5 in the morning and 5 in the evening until they were done.  I then got on a plane to Jamaica and drank cocktails without thank you note guilt.
    Thank you notes are one of the many reasons I'm happy we are having a smallish wedding (37 couples/families, 88ish people).  Thank you notes for the shower and wedding should be pretty managable.
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    kmmssgkmmssg mod
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    BFF's DD's shower was last weekend and 90% of a 32 person shower was not from tbe registry. I was really surprised by that.
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    AprilH81AprilH81 member
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    kmmssg said:
    BFF's DD's shower was last weekend and 90% of a 32 person shower was not from tbe registry. I was really surprised by that.

    Wow...  I know some people just don't like buying from registries (my mom hates them) but that is crazy.
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