Decided to spin this off of the wedding thread…I’m sure we all have wedding gift stories. I’ll start.
As everyone here already knows…I have 24 pieces of Orrefors Crystal much of which has never been used in 36 years…it’s now all boxed up. Probably the gift we least wanted or needed.
There are two wedding gifts we used a lot. One is. Depression glass pitcher. We love it. The other was our crock pot which we actually used for 25 years and then replaced.
To be honest…I can’t even remember what anyone else gave us.
One of my favorite gifts was a day sailing /snorkeling trip from the resort where we stayed for our honeymoon.
I actually have Orrefors (prelude), and use it at least once a year
Now we mostly use stemless wine glasses and throw them in the dishwasher.
I love the silverware people gave us. (The only thing I registered for.) One friend gave us a Waterford biscuit barrel, a favorite. Another gave us an antique etched glass jam pot with a silver lid and a silver spoon. My parents gave us Waterford sherry glasses that I love. A couple of friends gave us pottery pieces made by potters they knew. I am not much of a pottery fan, but I do remember them by this vase and bowl.
Well this goes back a long way to my first marriage , but I got the Silver Palette Cookbook…and I had no idea what to do with it back then. I was too young and inexperiences as a cook to appreciate it. I think I sold it at a yardsale , which I regret.
I don’t recall what other gifts that we got other than money ( that was used to buy appliances and furniture )
I wanted money for my wedding gifts. We literally didn’t need anything else. And our house is not big enough for more “stuff”
People still insisted on giving us stuff- pots, pans, a ketchup holder? We have not used one thing and my parents have now inherited most of it (mainly because it didn’t fit in our car since the wedding was in my parent’s front yard and 4 hours away from where we live) and the rest was donated.
lje62, a friend swears by the Silver Palette Cookbook so I asked for it as a gift this past Christmas.
I seriously do not like the recipes. AND I am a much better cook than my friend. I think we
have many better recipes today.
I still have a knife sharpener that we have used for 35 year received as a gift. I do remember it as a gift
but not who gave it. Otherwise, all of the things left are waterford wine, etc. Never use them.
We got a set of silverware from a sibling set of H’s first cousins. Apparently, they had bought their mom a new set for her 60th birthday a month before our wedding, and gifted us with her old set. It would have fine except a couple of the forks still had string bean remnants on them! I refer to these particular relatives, who are actually very sweet, if dim, as “Next Week on America’s Most Wanted…”
We also got a horribly hideous Chinese vase that my sister-in-law loved so we gave it to her.
One of the more interesting gifts we got was a beautiful pink seashell. My kids loved to listen to the ocean in it. We were told that it came from Iraq but I have never been able to prove it, although the man who gave it to us was Iraqi.
I got service for 7 of my registered Waterford - Ballyshannon. It works because there are 7 of us but someday I would love to finish it up for 12.
I returned a lot of the gifts we got and used the cash towards the down payment on our first house.
Ok so hear me out here on what this was. It was hand made by one of Mr R’s uncles (great uncle?) and was a mini picnic table- like one the size meant to go on a regular table like you would a bowl or something… It had two holes in it- one for a ketch up holder and one a mustard holder. The red and yellow squeeze bottles you see in like diners.
We had no freaking idea what to do with it. We don’t eat mustard and he doesn’t eat ketchup, and I only rarely do. It’s not going on our dining room table and we don’t generally eat outside, even in the summer.
He brought it to a white elephant party and some people really wanted it. Go figure!
I got a really ugly brown dish towel, the kind someone sewed a snap on so you can hang it on the stove handle, from my husband’s 95 year old great aunt. It probably cost $2 at most back in the day. Later on I found out she actually went shopping.
I loved that towel. It’s rags and stained now but I haven’t thrown it out. She was 95, living on a very limited income, and still came to our shower. She was really watching me open it. I remember her face.
Her hair was freshly done in the old lady do, and she had on her bright pink lip stick.
Someone else gave us 2 strange artsy margarita glasses. They were pretty enough, but they went back. Only two? We need 10. Margaritas for 2 felt so sad.
If anyone has anything Pyrex on their registry I always scoop it up. In my mind Pyrex always gets used. My daughters got invited to a shower and I had the Pyrex from one, the garlic press from another, and their set of pots and pans from me. It was fun to wrap a tower. The other thing I usually try to give off the registry is their knife set. I feel certain that will become part of their home over the long haul.
We had a very small wedding and had no more than 30 guests at the reception. My favorite gift was the subscription to the Sunday New York Times, which was a lifesaver to me during the first year of our marriage, when we lived in Germany. There were no gifts that I didn’t appreciate, especially because some came from friends and relatives on my side of the family who gave them despite not being invited to the wedding. The only acknowledgment from my husband’s extended family was a card from his grandparents; I did appreciate that a lot because they had a lot of grandkids to keep track of.
Dumbest thing- a silver plated silverware holder for buffet dinners- never used
The most useful- warm wool blanket that we still have.
Favorite thing- a stain glass hummingbird made by my mother-in-laws neighbor. I just thought it was sweet of the woman.
We had a tiny wedding and no shower. Tiny as in my family (Mom dad sis brother) Grandma. One aunt on each side and two cousins on each side and my DH’s brother and father.
I can’t remember any gifts from the event, but one aunt (that attended, I had five others that didn’t) gave a waffle iron that DH has repaired twice. We had waffles every Sunday when the kids were small to teens. Now just very occasionally. One of Dad’s cousins (so kind of aunt-ish to me) got me a beautiful vase. I worked a summer job where she worked one summer so I am glad to think of her when I see it. My first two years college roomie got me a silverplated tea set, never used it, but still have it, in its box… Last two years college roomie got a bunch of scissors, one of the best gifts!
We got a set of Laura Ashley towels which have been used for thirty years and still look pretty good, as does the giver with whom I am still friends. A set of mixing bowls that I use all the time and I think of the giver every time I do although we lost touch many years ago. A print hanging in our bedroom that I’ve seen first thing every morning for thirty years.
I didn’t get The Silver Palate cookbook for our wedding but purchased it shortly after. I still use it regularly, especially the gingerbread, pesto, and Dijon chicken recipes. So worn and stained but so loved.
The best gift we received was a Salton hot tray/food warmer. I thought it an odd gift at the time but we hadn’t registered for anything, so I was grateful for anything we did receive. 36 years later and that food warmer has come in SO handy. I don’t use it often, but when I need it, I’m glad I have it. It’s still in the original box, too.
We also received two beautiful, intricate wax Christmas ornaments that are always the first on the tree each year.
I think those two wedding gifts and a nice four-section glass relish tray are the only ones we still have. I don’t remember many of the others.
ETA: Oh, wait! I remember the “worst” gift – a bathroom scale. We never had one growing up and DH and I together didn’t weigh much over 200 lbs back then. I couldn’t figure out what the giver thought we would need it for.
Sweetest: a friend very much into his family’s lineage gave us a beautiful sterling serving spoon, once owned by some long gone relative. Every time we use it, I’m reminded of him, all these years later.
And coworkers stunned me with a set of Waterford wine glasses and a matching decanter. Still use those, too. I don’t think it would have been our pattern choice (I like wispier, antique-y glasses,) but DH and I slowly rounded out the set. We regularly use all the fancy pieces, enjoy them.
His grandmother’s sister ave us a small basket (bigger than a soap dish) that she had made herself, at some senior activity group. Wow, loved that.
Oddest: fav aunt and uncle (on his side) gave us an electric hot air popcorn popper. At the time, that was sort of a rage, pre- the microwave popcorn era.
