<p>Lovely thread. I have a chip and dip plate that one of my mom’s friends gave me at a shower that I use all the time! I do think of the giver every time I pull it out, 20 years later.</p>
<p>Greenbutton - for my first apt. in NYC, we had the living room decorated in “post mortem” as the furniture came from an estate and the bedroom in “pre-mortem” as the furniture came from a medically required move downsizing. Terrible! I still have the beds in my guest room (but we call it the “green room” now as we have matured)!</p>
<p>We bought nice dressers for both kids when they were born. Unfortunately they did not hold up nearly as well as the 1950s headboards and frames I got at an estate sale.</p>
<p>Well, it’s been 36 years, but I recall getting three soup tureens. The reason for that, I think, is that my Aunt Addie (95 now, and bless her) complained all the time that she had to serve soup out of the pot, and why didn’t someone get her a soup tureen. I kept one, used it as a table centerpiece for a while, and I think it went in a garage sale years ago. I LIKE serving soup out of the pot. It stays hot, and then there’s the pesky problem of having to wash the tureen, the underplate and the ladle! I also remember getting ash trays. Neither of us ever smoked. My Aunt Laura bought me an iron and ironing board, and though those are long gone, I think about her sometimes when I iron, which I like to do. It’s a sickness. Best gift ever: my 4 cup Farberware electric percolator, used every day for 36 years. I will have to stop drinking coffee if it ever goes. It will be a sign from above. Thanks, Aunt Pearl! I still miss you.</p>
<p>We didn’t (and still don’t) have put together furniture because we moved to Germany within weeks of getting married and spent our first five years in furnished apartments. I love our furniture, but it’s a real mix. Dining room table and chairs belonged to my great grandmother. One sideboard in the dining room we picked up for $15 at an estate sale. The other two pieces of furniture belonged to my husband’s parents who passed away a few years ago. In the living room is a chair reupholstered at great expense that my parents bought when I was 12, a big over stuffed chair from Pottery Barn, a chest from Zanzibar, a coffee table from Indonesia, a sofa that I got for my birthday a few years ago when we finally ditched the futon. There’s an African stool, a craftman style TV armoire and my favorite newest piece a desk my great grandfather made with a fold down front. The rest of our house is almost as eclectic.</p>
<p>Here’s an idea…before my Mom passed away she went around her house and put small stickers on the bottoms of her wedding gifts/antiques,special things. On the stickers she noted who gave it to her, the date and the occasion for which she received it (if applicable). After she was gone and we were cleaning out the house, it was somehow comforting for us to turn over pieces that we grew up with and see her handwriting there on the bottom documenting family history.</p>
<p>When we married 27 years ago, we’d already lived together for 10 years and our house was full of lovely vases, bowls etc. - we lived a few blocks from the original actual Crate & Barrel store in Old Town, Chicago. Every time we went to buy someone else a gift, we bought one for ourselves (too inexpensive to pass up).</p>
<p>For our wedding we properly registered at Marshall Field’s for both good and everyday china, and stemware (MIL gave us the silver as a wedding gift). We already had tons of cookware but did get more along with stuff like clocks, picture frames, serving trays, etc. Didn’t even think of bedding or towels!</p>
<p>Some weeks after the wedding SIL hadn’t gotten us anything and called DH to see what we’d like. Anything but a crystal bowl, he told her (we’d already received four as presents). Guess what she sent us? :rolleyes: That’s a tough thank you note - thank you for the one thing we asked you not to get?</p>
<p>^^packmom – my great aunt did that too! She left notes, but she also had my dad videotape her walking around her ginormous house telling stories about all her stuff (she travelled extensively) and who should have it. Before she died she had a party where she put out all her jewelry and had all her lady friends shop. She loathed the idea of the estate being taxed for it!</p>
<p>Countingdown, most of our bookshelves came from Ikea and everything is chippedm, scratched and generally aged. A few of the dining room chairs are so brittle we had to take them away because we were afraid they might fall apart. :)</p>
<p>When one of my great-aunts who had no children passed away they had a family auction. Everyone got chits to bid for items. I don’t know exactly how it worked, since I was out of the country, but one of my cousins got a pair of silver salt and pepper shakers for me.</p>
<p>I love the idea of telling stories about the furniture - you could tell a lot about our stuff!</p>
<p>Twice I have given couples their most favorite gift. Once it was a oversize cobalt glass vase, the bride collected cobalt glass and they were very surprised I knew. Another time it was a wood kestrel house, a kestrel is a small falcon. That couple’s other favorite gift was a beautiful orchid plant, from an orchid show judge/breeder.</p>
<p>This is a great thread! I can look around my house and see a Chinese bowl, a dessert plate and glasses, a couple small deco boxes, and glasses, crystal and plates (all in use). The flatware I use daily needs replacing but I hate to do it! My grandmother and Mom collected it using Betty Crocker points. I have some towels that I got that are in great shape after 30 years of use (wish today’s stuff was that good–they still look new and are soft too). We got a pole lamp (thank goodness–we would’ve been in the dark!), some great knives (still in use), a card table (my first dining table). Our friend was a photographer so that was an especially great gift. Another friend sang and I have it on tape. Great memories.
My parents gave us money too which was great. We used it as a nest egg. We’d buy something we truly needed or wanted and then save the money to put back in the pot.</p>
<p>We got married in my hometown and then had a reception some months later in H’s hometown. H’s father was a pastor in very rural church and everyone from the congregation was invited. An old, old bachelor farmer gave us a 5 gallon stainless steel bowl. I remember thinking “What in the heck am I am going to do with this?” I have used it everyday of our married life. The first summer we were married I was writing my Master’s thesis in a small apartment with no air conditioning. I filled that bowl with cold water, stuck my feet in and typed away in comfort. When I had S1 and S2 I used it as baby bathtub. Later I filled it with water and they played splashing games with it on our small apartment deck. We used it as the Throw-up bowl next the bed of a sick kid at night. After a good bleaching we used it make raspberry jam. It is perfect for making turkey stuffing. Right now it is sitting on my kitchen counter full of artichokes H harvested from the garden early this morning. And everytime we use that bowl I think of that old farmer. There is wisdom in age.</p>
<p>I try to give practical gifts rather than “flash and dash” ones that will break or lose their lustre over time. When we turned 25 (quarter of a century), my room mate & I each got hold-plated cognac cups from her Swedish parents. It was lovely but the acid from the volcano has spewed particulate matter that has not been kind to them over the years.</p>
<p>The cups still evoke good memories. I gave my sister a blanket that we handmade when her 1st child was born. Sis still has it & brought it to her D’s baby shower. :)</p>
<p>Spurred by this thread, I just looked up my silver on the internet. Holy Cow! I wouldn’t dare register for it now! 5-piece place settings are $1359, and I have 6-piece settings, plus servings pieces. The whole lot, if bought today, would cost over $25K. I’m going to have to speak to H about our insurance rider…</p>
<p>Wow, Consolation! You could probably buy a whole semester of CC or perhaps a credit of tuition at a private U with the price of a place setting! Weird how much money can get tied up in silver! At this point, not sure why we got it, but H really wanted us to have it. We have rarely used it. My SIL passed away & had a large set as well. Not sure what will happen to it–H & BIL are the heirs.</p>
<p>I did get a purple plastic salad bowl with matching salad servers. It was from Saks, which had a home department at the time. I returned it.</p>
<p>We received 6 silver trays. I used them early on, stopped…and now they came out often.</p>
<p>Oh…we received an Irish tablecloth with 12 matching napkins. (no return possible). It was GoRGEOUS. Used it a few times and then sent them to have it laundered. Seventy five dollar later I put it away for “someday”…when I don’t server red wine, sauce…mean…perhaps cottage cheese…and water.</p>
<p>The artist mother of one of my bridesmaids painted a light watercolor overlay of the floral pattern of the bridesmaid’s dresses on her copy of the wedding invitation, and gave it to us in a beautiful silver frame. I loved that gift the most. It looks like a floral still life until you get up close to it and realize what it is.</p>
<p>We also got a a Cuisinart and a Crock Pot, both still in good working order and used constantly (23 years old).</p>