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Registry and Gift Forum
badbnagdway
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Rule of thumb on items to guest ratio
I'm sure this should be obvious. I've googled and haven't figured it out. What rule of thumb is there, if any, regarding how many items you should register for. For example, we have invited 138 people, but with 73 invitations, so we have quite a lot of couples or plus ones and I would expect if they wanted to give us a gift they would do so together. I know you should register for mostly items in the $10 - $50 range, and we have done so, with only two items over $100 and the vast majority of items under $40. My concern is that, with about 45 items on our list two people have already bought 5 of the items. Our invites just went out so most everyone has not even seen the invitations yet. We wouldn't mind for people to give nothing or give cash, I just don't want to be totally off-base with what we have.
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Re: Rule of thumb on items to guest ratio
In your case I think, especially since so many of them are so low in cost, you could add a few things. If a lot of your items are $10-$40 I can see many people buying you 2 or 3 things, especially if they go together, like a set of towels. Maybe this range is normal for your area but I am going to register for most things in the $50-$60 range. So most things being under $40 seems low to me. BUT like I said, this is a know your crowd thing. When I am buying I tend to spend in the $100-$120 range.
Once again this is just how I feel, and there is nothing worse than going to a registry and seeing that everything is gone. Blah.
OH! Remember to take advantage of those completion bonuses if you can!
Edit: Your registry is NOT on the invite right?
Is there anything else that you would want to register for? Don't register for things you don't want/need just to beef up the list.
The stores will tell you to register for pi times the number of guests or something equally contrived, but that really isn't necessary. If people feel like there isn't enough to shop from on the registry, they will give cash, gift cards, or something off the registry.
Honestly, I think couples should register only for things they want/need. Make sure you have plenty of items to cover a shower if you're having one, and call it a day.
People are always able to buy off-registry if they don't want to give cash.
Many people that live together do not register for a TON of items, noting something to the tune of " We've taken care of furnishing much of our apartment in the past couple years, so we have added only a few items to our registry. While we could always expand on our collection, it just doesn't make much sense to swap a perfectly working toaster/blender/duvet cover/luggage/[insert other item here] for something new. "
I was not one of those people that had the luxury of having kitchen / living room essentials, so I had a more traditional registry. In all I probably had about 90-100 items listed for a 150 person list - ranging from 99 cents to a few hundred dollars. I received more registry gifts at the shower and from people that expressed regrets, but received monetary gifts as wedding presents. In total, we probably got about 80% of the items we registered for and the items on our registry that were not fulfilled tended to be on the more expensive side.
Some random things I wished I had registered for: trivets, pot holders, paper towel holder, in-drawer cutlery tray, bar cart, picture frames + hardware, board games, pyrex containers, steam cleaner, area rugs.
Some things that I've seen on other registeries that seem clever: cleaning supplies, paper products (paper towels, toilet paper), saran wrap, aluminum foil, space saver bags, blue tooth speakers, surround sound system, baby monitors, home alarm systems, satellite radio sbscription.
Register for some big stuff - a nice "buy it for life" vacuum, stand mixer, grill, etc.
A lot of families like going in on a big gift together.
Plus, it's not weird to have items like that on a registry, and no one will side-eye it. If it's something you'll use and want, you'll at least get a completion discount after the wedding!
Understood! My Fi and I have been living together for a yr and a lot of the stuff we want we can't pick now since we don't have a house. I think a minimal registry is completely fine. Anyone who doesn't want to purchase off it will give cash, gcs or find something themselves.
For my wedding I started with a Macy's registry and a honeymoon registry. After my shower I actually had to add more to my list because I got so much for my shower. I added a bed bath & beyond one with only like 30 items and probably my Macy's had almost 100 and then the honeymoon registry. We invited 240 people, not all of them came, I had at least 200 items with all my registries. There were only a handful of things that I didn't get.
Honeymoon registries are a great way to "ask for cash" without seeming rude. I used the money to pay for our honeymoon and writing thank you notes made it more personal. However you don't actually have to use the money, just keep it in the bank.