Friday 12 August 2011

The Art of Buying a great Wedding Gift

Well, wedding season is well and truly here. Which means one thing for the rest of us - gift buying! And that can be sooo hard sometimes. Most couples have either spent time living together before tying the knot, or have already established a home before even getting together. The traditional, practical sort of gifts are often simply not needed. The days of buying a toaster or a set of towels are pretty much over.

Unless the couple have a pre-prepared gift list, this can leave you with something of a nightmare buying situation! What to buy the couple who has everything? Wouldn’t it be great to find a gift that has a personal meaning behind it for the couple? Well, one way to do this is with a personalised gift which is special to the wedding couple. There seems to be a lot to choose from, but when you get right down to it, do you really think the couple would want a silver cake slice or a glass wine decanter with their names on it? Don’t leave taste behind when you go shopping! And it can be even harder if you don’t know the couple particularly well, or have a budget to work to.

The average spend on wedding gifts in the UK in the past year is just under a whopping £50 (that’s gone down by the way, a couple of years ago it was just under £80!). And when you factor in the cost of attending the actual wedding the costs can rocket. Considerations such at travel, childcare, clothing, spending money during the reception (and possibly the hen or stag night before hand!) all mount up. You don’t want to appear stingy, but in the current recession, cash-strapped guests can struggle to find a gift that fits within their budget.

So I’ll let you into a little trick if you’re heading to a wedding this summer: think of a gift that is something totally different and harder to put a price on. Perhaps you could offer your services to the couple as a wedding gift: decorate a room in their house while they are on honeymoon, organise a coming-home party when they arrive back, offer to help with their plans for the garden during the coming summer? Time to put your thinking cap on and think outside the box. Give yourself plenty of time too - rushing out to the high street to buy a gift at the last minute is a sure way of spending more than you wanted to.

Of course, you could always head over to PhotoFairytales too - you’ll find some amazing and totally unique wedding gifts there that won’t break the bank! All with free UK delivery (I’ll even post it direct to the couple if you like) and nothing over £30 - and it will be a gift the wedding couple will hopefully treasure throughout their lives together. (Plus, you don’t have to think about whether they would prefer the blue towels or the green. What colour was their bathroom again…??)

Sarah x

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