Happy Friday: Creative & Frugal Bridal Shower Gift
Sent from reader, Julie:
Recently, I attended a family bridal shower. I knew the bride and groom were going to be on a tight budget, so I decided to give them a practical gift. First I went to Walmart and purchased a laundry basket. I used the $10 ecard that I got from Walmart’s customer service from ordering Crayola markers and a fire truck that was listed on your site a little while back… making the laundry basket FREE! Next, I filled it with all sorts of practical things that I had in my stock pile (thanks to Hip2save). I wrapped it with tulle that I bought at Michael’s using a 50% coupon and then wrote a letter to tie everything together:
On July 13, 2013, Kaleb and Laura will enter a new ERA. Kaleb will WISK Laura off her feet, and they will live on the EDGE and REACH for all their dreams. They will be GLAD to go the EXTRA mile to help one another FINISH everything they begin. Every morning as the SUNLIGHT appears, Kaleb will kiss his new bride and it will DAWN on Laura that she has chosen a FANTASTIC groom…and then marriage will set in. There will be dishes that need a SOFTSCRUB, bathrooms that need cleaning, and then, Laura will discover a little SECRET. Kaleb is not the MR. CLEAN she thought he was, and marriage will require a little EXTRA effort! Fortunately, Kaleb is so SUAVE that Laura will happily overlook the messes! They will continue to love one another and SCOPE out their future! Some day soon they will sit on their porch, watching their 3 MUSKETEERS running around, and thank God for the special gifts He has given them.
The bride & groom-to-be loved the practical gift!
HAPPY FRIDAY! 😀
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** Check out all of the previous Happy Friday pictures here.
this idea SO cute.and they will def use everything in there. how do you guys come up with these poems? they are so creative. i loved this post julie!
Adorable idea!
Very, very creative and unique! Great idea and a great way of pulling together all of these necessities!!!
Great job! And such a thoughtful gift!
That is really cute!
Julie, this is great!!! You did a wonderful job with the poem!
This one really made me smile. I love it.
I love it! Great idea!!
What a super creative idea!!!
So adorable I got the chills! Love the idea.
LOVED IT.. and plagarizing off of it too! I am so into practical.
This is sooo adorable! I did something similar for a friend of mine who got married last year. Have you ladies seen the yahoo article about the dispute that some brides had with their friends from receiving gifts like these? It’s crazy!! I don’t live with my boyfriend nor will we live together until after we’re married anyway, but I would NEED household items when we moved in! They can get really expensive at retail price! I think these kinds of gifts are super thoughtful!!!
I read that article also and was just shocked that someone would even say that. You should be grateful for everything you get. Not have to figure out how much dinner will be and base your gift off that.
I invited a few people to my wedding that I knew didnt have money for a gift. When one of the couples came over and said they only had $5 for a gift and really embarrassed by that. I reminded them once again that no gifts were needed. Just having them there to enjoy our special day was a gift enough for us.
And I did get some horrible gifts which are now camping items. But I would never tell anybody or ruin a friendship over that.
I would never ruin a friendship over something so silly but I have to admit- I hated getting gifts like this. I had a registry for a reason. I had very, very cheap items on there (along with more expensive items- definitely an adequate spread). I would have much rather had the $2 spatula than the $5 dollar store items. My friends insisted on a lingerie party for bachelorette- it was such a waste though I did make some coin on eBay! Then my bridal shower I got tons of stuff like this- I am an organic high raw vegan a lot of this stuff is simply unusable by me- and they knew it! So weird.
At the time, I didn’t care for gifts like this either. But when you have to go shopping to “set up house”, you realize how cool gifts like this are! 2 gifts I got were a basket filled with ordinary spices, like cinnamon, garlic salt, etc. (I never would have thought to pick up that stuff when I was at the groc store for the first time:) and the other gift was a cooler filled with an 8pk of paper towels. The p.towels were so handy, because it was another thing I wouldn’t have thought to pick up and also paying full price for an 8 pk can be expensive! And everyone knows newly weds don’t have any money 🙂 They have to pay for honeymoon, furniture, appliances, groceries, pay to get the water and electric turned on, etc. So, yes, after about 2 weeks, I realized what thoughtful gifts these were after all 🙂 I mean come on, you can only use so many spatulas 🙂
We were dreadfully poor medical students living in the dorms (separately). We seriously had nothing for our first apartment and I still hated this crap!
Well, I guess you weren’t that poor?
Wrong- dreadfully poor. Like raw peanut butter sandwiches every meal poor. Like $500000 debt poor (school, books, dorm). We had our ceremony in the lobby of our school, done by a friend who got his license off the Internet.
We moved into a one bedroom apartment and had a mattress on the floor and the items we got off our registry. The cash I made selling off this stuff fed us for 6 months. So, I suppose it did come in handy…still would have rather had the sheets we registered for.
Me too!! I just read the article on yahoo (https://shine.yahoo.com/love-sex/wedding-gift-basket-sparks-epic-text-war–the-battle-over-cheap-presents–183304420.html) Unbelievable that anyone would ever be so rude as to say that wedding gifts were to be an amount based on the cost of the reception; or each person’s plate. Rude!!!!
Your gift and note were thoughtful and creative >> Priceless.
Ugh. Sorry about the typos. My tablet seems to be slow or having a glitch or something. 🙁
wow, hadn’t read that article. Maybe it’s because in my church people tend to be frugal (We spent less than $3000 on my wedding, including the dress!) so you expect mints and nuts and cake…not huge meals, but I can’t believe such greedy people. I understand the math of wanting to make money off of your wedding, it’s to help you go into the new adventure of matrimony, not dig a hole for you financially. I would expect people to gift what they can afford, heaven knows my husband and I can’t afford a $250 gift right now while he’s in school….no matter what food a bride and groom serve! I give these kinds of gifts with my own poem. It may not be the $100 new appliance they wanted, but it was thoughtful and useful. If someone doesn’t want gifts like this, maybe it would be better to not give a gift at all (or are they so greedy that they are checking attendance vs. gift count?)
I should also note: we didn’t “make” any money off of our wedding, we might have broken even on our costs. But it’s about celebrating!!!
Adorrrrrrrable!!! Cute and super practical gift too!!
Love it! Such a good idea!
Good job!
Love it! I’m not usually big on giving commercial household products as gifts like this, but the letter just pulls it all together so well!
Too cool Julie!
Awesome basket! Great idea!
And watch your bank statement. I’ve been on the phone with Walmart 4 times over that deal. I ended up having to file a fraudulent charge claim with my bank because they recharged me and refused to refund me again. I have the email saying keep the markers and we’re refunding you. But they don’t have any record of it.
Did you get the $10 e-card? I really havn’t checked if I was refunded or not since I received Crayola markers and a $10 GC – I think that’s worth what we paid.
I did the crayola deal and was refunded right away and received the $10 e-card along with receiving the markers.
Super cute! Love the letter!!
So cute!!!
Super creative and lovely letter!
That is wonderful!!!! Especially with some folks living together before marriages and they have everything.
SOOO cute and super thoughtful! Love it.
That’s beautiful, Julie! Well done!
I have done something similar to this (about 18 items) and tried to create a poem based on the couple. I have to admit though, I only feel comfortable doing this for close family or friends, as I wasn’t sure how it would be received. What is most funny is that most of my relatives know how much I coupon and were in awe at all the goodies I could get on the cheap. It’s the time spent behind it, nothing is free these days (including time spent to locate/do this). So glad to see others do stuff like this too!!!
I love the letter!! Great job 🙂
I try to keep extra Christmas lights, ornaments, decorations, cookie cutters, etc on hand and throw in a basket much like this. It has never failed that regardless of when the wedding was, I would get a second thank you note around the holidays. Wish I were creative enough to write such a neat letter.
That poem rocks.Awesome frugal gift.
One of my great aunts does this for all weddings/graduation gifts. I can say I loved it Both times. Its one of those things you know your going to get b/c yes she coupons but exactly as someone else said I would have never thought of the saran wrap, foil, all those type things, she had everything from bath/kitchen and such I actually looked forward to it and add it up that would have costed us alot of money to set up house! (come to think she did it for our baby shower too) I wish I could have another reason to get a basket full!!!!
I got married last May…. Then we moved states for a job right after… I would have LOVED this!!!! Actually, I would still love to receive this! Those items all together are expensive without coupons. And when you are just staring out, you can’t afford all those items in your very first shopping trip. I will definitely do this for any future house warming or baby showers I go to in the future. 🙂
My husband & I got married a few years ago and one of the best showers I was thrown was my MIL’s themed “Fill the Kitchen” shower. It was attended almost exclusively by older ladies from my husband’s grandma’s church, but those ladies knew what I would need. My husband & I did not live together before hand and coming from dorm rooms were clueless! No one bought anything off our registry but I got Pyrex and Corningware all filled with mixes and spices, kitchen utensils etc. One lady even gave us an under- the- bed storage container filled with food. We are both vegetarians, so we got some things that were donated to the local food pantry, but I will always remember those thoughtful ladies who hardly knew me trying to help me set up house.
Love your package and idea! The poem is absolutely adorable! Sounds like something my MIL would have done. She was always so crafty and thoughtful…and was always willing to give extra of herself for a good laugh. You did great, gal! 🙂
Love this idea – it was thoughtful and creative – thanks for sharing!
This would be a great idea for a shower. I wouldn’t do it as the wedding gift, though. Just my opinion.
Love the poem..so clever. And do hope people who receive these kinds of gifts appreciate the time and thought that goes into this kind of gift. Fabulous idea.
So creative, super-thoughtful, and fantastically frugal. Props.
what an amazing shopper, mom, wife, and creative saver for your family…so glad we are related, Julie…maybe some of your “hip” genes will rub off on me;)
I think this would be a nice shower gift, but not for a wedding,….
Very thoughtful and practical. And props on that poem!
I absolutely adore this idea and would definitely use it. I would love this gift if someone gave it to me.
I’m just seeing this post now but I want to tell you that I’ve given this gift at bridal showers for years and my friend Angela has been married for nearly 10 years and still says it was the best gift that she got that day b/c it was so useful and saved them a lot of money buying all that stuff when they moved into their new house! Be warned though – you’ll need someone to help you lift it – it gets heavy FAST!