What do you do when you are buying a wedding/shower gift and it is on sale?

AprilH81 · November 2013

Out of curiosity what would you do in the following situation?

You have been invited to a bridal/baby shower or a wedding and you go shopping for their gift. You have decided to spend $50 and when you look at the registry you find something in your price range you like. When you get to the store/look online you notice it is on sale at a greatly reduced price.

I'm sure there would be exceptions based on your relationship to the person/couple, but generally speaking what would you do?

ETA: If you could explain that would be awesome... I'm curious to everyone's reasoning.

Swazzle · November 2013

If it's a bigger item, I'll usually get a couple small things to get me to the price I originally planned to spend.

itzMS · November 2013

I always add on. I like to be generous. No other reason.

southernbelle0915 · November 2013

Generally, I'll buy the item on sale, nothing else and throw myself a 3 second internal celebration for saving money. If I feel really close to the couple, I'll throw in a few other things.

Same is true with coupons. If I have a coupon, I'll use it to buy the item and only add things to get up to my budget if I feel close to the couple.

I guess the way I look at a budget is that it's the MAX I want to spend - not a spending goal. If I come in under budget in general, I say southernbelle FTW! and put the rest in savings.

WinstonsGirl · November 2013

It depends. If there's something easy to add on, I do. If not, I just get them what I had originally planned to get them. I hate trying to decide what to buy off a registry, so once I have decided, I try to not pick others things. Too much stress!!

arrippa · November 2013

I am cheap and selfish so I would buy the item on sale and use the difference to buy something for me.

vk2204 · November 2013

If it is a close friend I will definitely add more. I usually over spend anyways so finding out something is cheaper than I thought is a bonus lol.

krizzo17 · November 2013

It depends on what it is and how much on-sale it is. If I plan on spending $50, and the $50 item on their registry is on sale for $40, I'll probably just go with that. However, if I plan on buying a place setting and it's 50% off, I'll probably buy two. I'm also a fan of buying "add on" items to go with a registry gift (k-cups to go with a keurig; polishing oil to go with bamboo cutting boards, etc), so I usually don't start out with a set amount so much as knowing I'll buy a specific item plus 3 smaller things.

FutureMrsN3312 · November 2013

It depends on the person who I'm shopping for. Last time I shopped for FI's cousin I planned on spending $75. Macy's was having such an awesome sale instead of 1 thing I was able to get her 4 things, saved $15, and got free shipping. I don't mind looking generous while saving money lol

I recently shopped for a baby shower for FI's parents' friends daughter. I set out to spend $50. The thing was on sale for $30. I left it at that.

AprilH81 · November 2013

krizzo17 said:

It depends on what it is and how much on-sale it is. If I plan on spending $50, and the $50 item on their registry is on sale for $40, I'll probably just go with that. However, if I plan on buying a place setting and it's 50% off, I'll probably buy two. I'm also a fan of buying "add on" items to go with a registry gift (k-cups to go with a keurig; polishing oil to go with bamboo cutting boards, etc), so I usually don't start out with a set amount so much as knowing I'll buy a specific item plus 3 smaller things.

This is very similar to how I operate. If I want to buy the shower curtain I will buy them an extra liner if it is in budget.

melbelleup · November 2013

southernbelle0915 said:

Generally, I'll buy the item on sale, nothing else and throw myself a 3 second internal celebration for saving money. If I feel really close to the couple, I'll throw in a few other things.

Same is true with coupons. If I have a coupon, I'll use it to buy the item and only add things to get up to my budget if I feel close to the couple.

I guess the way I look at a budget is that it's the MAX I want to spend - not a spending goal. If I come in under budget in general, I say southernbelle FTW! and put the rest in savings.

This is how I work too. I like to save save save as much as I can.

smalfrie19 · November 2013

melbelleup said:

southernbelle0915 said:

Generally, I'll buy the item on sale, nothing else and throw myself a 3 second internal celebration for saving money. If I feel really close to the couple, I'll throw in a few other things.

Same is true with coupons. If I have a coupon, I'll use it to buy the item and only add things to get up to my budget if I feel close to the couple.

I guess the way I look at a budget is that it's the MAX I want to spend - not a spending goal. If I come in under budget in general, I say southernbelle FTW! and put the rest in savings.
This is how I work too. I like to save save save as much as I can.

Yup Me too! If I can save money, fantastic!

daria24 · November 2013

I pretty much only buy a registry item that is on sale (or in the case of BB&B, use the 20% off coupon), so I tend to have a budget in mind, and look for something that costs that with the sale price. If there is an unexpected price reduction, I just take the savings. But I'm used to people registering at Macy's, where EVERYTHING goes on sale at least once a month (except a few items, like Le Creuset), so it's a 'waste' to me NOT to wait for the sales price.

CommitmentCat · November 2013

It all depends on who it's for. I'm either going to be ecstatic that I saved money or feel really guilty and add to it.

photokitty · November 2013

I base my purchase on what it normally cost. If I can get a $50 gift for half off then do not add on. The bride thinks I spent $50 and saving money is important to me. So basically I buy things I can get the cheapest for what I am willing to spend. I don't decide how much I want to spend and then add on if I got it cheaper. I'll add on the get free shipping, but not just to spend X amount.

csuave · November 2013

I spend my determined amount, adding to it if necessary. I am a bargain shopper so I use coupons, look for sales, etc. and try to do the most I can with my determined amount. It makes me feel good to try and give more in this way.

PolarBearFitz · November 2013

I buy the item on sale and nothing else for the shower. I would probably apply the saved money to the wedding gift.

audubonbride2013 · November 2013

I buy the item on sale and nothing else for a shower gift, because I tend to view my budget as the max. If I'm really close to the couple I would throw in another registry item if it was cheaper and went with the item (ie I planned to buy their bakeware set and it was on sale so I threw in their whisk).

However for wedding gifts, if the gift was on a great sale I would probably add until I got up to a price that I felt was reasonable. I can't really explain the logic but I like to be more generous with the wedding gift and save as much as possible for the shower gift.

lizandmark2014 · November 2013

I just buy the item on sale. No one I attend a wedding for is local. Most of my friends and relatives live in different states. I therefor have to have some money left to travel.

HisGirlFriday13 · November 2013

I basically ONLY buy registry gifts on sale -- BB&B always has coupons, Macy's and Kohl's always have sales, Target usually has sales, etc.

Here's a perfect example: A friend of mine got married right after Labor Day this year. Do you know what goes on sale around Labor Day? Sheets, towels, linens, etc. I wanted to spend about $100 for this friend. Because I had waited until two days before his wedding to buy the gift, there wasn't much left EXCEPT towels. I bought him ALL the towels on his registry, which would have been about $250, full-price, for $105 (and free shipping).

Since I had already budgeted for the cost, I wanted to spend that amount. If I'm able to get more items for the same amount of money, why wouldn't I do that? I'm always in favour of being generous over being stingy.

KytchynWitche · November 2013

It would depend on the item and on my relationship with the couple. If they're close friends and there's something smaller I can add on to the gift, I'd do it. Otherwise, not so much.

What do you do when you are buying a wedding/shower gift and it is on sale?

What do you do when you are buying a wedding/shower gift and it is on sale? 57 votes

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