andrewducker: (whoever invented boredom...)
andrewducker ([personal profile] andrewducker) wrote2012-05-20 12:14 pm

Houston, we have a gift problem

One of the things remaining on our slowly diminishing wedding to-do list is "Make a gift list."

The problem being that there's very little we actually want. It's not like in ye olden days when a wedding was the point where children moved out from their parents and set up their own home, needing sheets, plates, etc. to get them started. We've been living together for two years, we've both been living away from home for many years, and we have pretty much everything you need to run a home.

Julie's currently clicking through the John Lewis website, looking at crockery and trying to decide if these are things we actually want people to spend money on. I've stared blankly at the numerous other tabs, thinking "Well, yes, a 93" TV would be lovely, but I'd feel actively guilty if people spent cash on a new TV for me when the current one is great."

The things we do want feel like normal household improvements. We'd like to replace all the curtains, because they suck. We need a new kitchen, because it's godawful. I suspect we're going to say "Please give us vouchers, and we will use them to replace our curtains and kitchen appliances." But we can't even say "Please give us a new dishwasher", because the whole kitchen needs to be ripped out, and that's not happening until the PhD is finished (a month-ish after the wedding), and we don't have anywhere to put a dishwasher for a month.

[identity profile] coth.livejournal.com 2012-05-20 11:42 am (UTC)(link)
I don't know whether people do this, but you could nominate a charity?

This!

[identity profile] lsanderson.livejournal.com 2012-05-20 02:12 pm (UTC)(link)
It looks like John Lewis lets you add charities to their Gift List... or "Please ask your advisor for more details." + free coffee and cake!
ext_267: Photo of DougS, who has a round face with thinning hair and a short beard (Default)

[identity profile] dougs.livejournal.com 2012-05-21 12:02 pm (UTC)(link)
We did this, it was very successful apart from the fact that the BHF donation website was restructured comprehensively a few days after we sent out PR2 and the link we'd included stopped working. Our brighter friends went to the BHF homepage and searched on our names and the donations kept coming in. We ended up making about £1300 (and still rising) for them. Other excellent charities are available.