Unique Gift Ideas Newlyweds Will Love
Trying to figure out what to give a newlywed couple can be a daunting task and pretending to be excited by receiving a new kettle can be equally as difficult. A personalized wine bottle stopper would be nice, but at the end of the day do you really need it? Here are our top alternative gift list ideas that are so good they will make you want to get married (again).
How it works: By creating and sharing a Patchwork Present, the couple will get to show friends and family a special gift they want to be funded, broken down into a patchwork (hence the name of the service) of smaller, individually priced pieces. For example if you dream of one day becoming the next Andy Murray then perhaps couples tennis lessons combined with tennis gear and membership to a tennis club could be just the thing. At Patchwork Present each guest can pay just part of the whole gift – depending on what they can afford – so if it was a holiday to Greece the pieces might be the flights, a sunset cruise or even just a glass of wine and the sunscreen. You can customize an existing Patchwork Present or create your own from scratch, collect funds from friends direct to your PayPal account and send thanks with photos of you enjoying your gift. So whether you want your guests to help fund a house of your own or a get away for two, Patchwork Present will help you get started.
2) Gift The Day
How it works: With a Gift The Day List you can ask for all the things you may need for on wedding day. Couples can ask for monetary gifts to go towards key elements of the day, such as buying champagne or asking your guests for specific items such as bouquets or cake. Guest can even share their skills and time by doing a ‘job’ on the wedding day like helping out with the bar, or setting up the table placements. Just like a traditional gift lists, the guests decide which part of the process they’d like to take part of and ‘promise’ they will follow through using the Gift The Day website. You are notified of each gift so you can thank guests personally and send them more details if required. At all stages of the wedding you can manage the list and see who has promised what. Gift The Day is perfect for those who believe the day of the wedding is the greatest present of all.
3) The Reverse Wedding List
How it works: This website helps the couple de-clutter their home, while raising some serious cash towards anything they desire. Gift ides could be a swanky honeymoon, a helicopter to the church on your special day, or a new car! First off you create a list of things you would like to sell to your friends and family. You can list anything from old toasters or CDs you never listen to anymore, to favors or services like dinner in your home. The second step of the process is to upload pictures of what you are going to sell, decide on a creative caption, and list a price. You can have a look here at the original Reverse Wedding List if you’re in need of inspiration. The final step is to exchange the gifts for cash. Guests can choose to pay online or to give you the cash in person. They can also opt to give the items to charity if they’re not in a desperate need of an old DVD player they no longer need. As for actually delivering the gifts to your guests you can deliver them by hand, post them via Royal Mail, or even wrap them up and have a reverse gift table at their wedding.
How it works: The folks at Buy Our Honeymoon have put together a wedding list of experiences, activities and contributions for your travel and accommodations. Your guests choose any of the ideas you’ve listed under different categories such as Fun Stuff or Wining and Dining, and leave you a personal message, or suggest a gift themselves. Then guests gift the amount they deem is appropriate. They then pay the value of their gift to you directly — through a one-off Direct Debit straight into your bank account, by credit card through Stripe or PayPal, or in person on the day of your wedding.
