What Wedding Gift Do You Either Still Use Or Use Most?
 

Nikki's post got me thinking, what wedding gift did you receive that you either use most or still use?

Mine is a wine rack. My sister also gave us a framed print hanging over our dining room buffett.

The Osterizer blender that has survived 5 years of smoothies, frozen drinks, and baby puree. The serving platters, and my Fiestaware daily dishes. I love all these things still, and they make me happy when I use them.

Besides our St. Louis crystal and good china that I still enjoy using on special occassions, I truly love a beautiful wooden carving board that dear friends of my parents gave us nearly 25 years ago when we married. I also have used it many times as a cheese board with fruit at parties and have given several as wedding gifts.

Good question.

We use a lot of our wedding presents. Regularly use the All-Clad cookware, wusthof santoku knife, cutlery, huge cuisinart slow cooker, serving pieces, and our dinnerware.

I actually prefered getting gifts from the registry than cash gifts. The cash inevitably got lumped into our checking account and used for other purposes than a wedding gift.

The gifts from the registry, on the other hand, will allow us to remember who gave them.

Even gifts off the registry were appreciated. Engraved stemware and things like that which we didn't ask for were appreciated.

I got great expensive bath towels and sheets that I loved. I probably wouldn't have bought the expensive ones myself so I'm glad I got them as gifts. Very luxurious.

Noritake China - 32 years later!

For us, a set of pots and pans is probably our most used wedding gift. We got some nice serving pieces too, which are great when people come over and we want to really set the table.

One I forgot was a set of monogramed plastic wine glasses! I love them because I can take them out on the beach and the boat and don't have to worry about glass.

My favorite wedding gift is a set of mega heavy crystal wine goblets (40 ounce) my best friend hand carried all the way back from Rome for me when her husband took her there for the millenium.

mine is a set of luggage (rollers) one of my bridesmaid's gave to dh and I - we each received a great suitcase. We're getting ready to take it on what seems like it's millionth trip in 7 years - thanks Sonja!

I'm still using a lamp from my first marriage 35 years ago. It was given to me by my ex-sisterinlaw's then boyfriend. He is currently in the same bowling league as my new(27 year marriage) husband. Probably way too much information. Small Town USA

We got a mini food processor, one-cup or slightly larger, that we use quite often. I will replace it in a heartbeat when this one no longer works. It's been so handy!

A very large majolica style ceramic tomato with lid (the tomato top). We were totally mystified when we got it, thinking we'd never had a use for such a doofus gift (even though it was an expensive item). But it turned out to be big enough to hold airline tickets so that's where we keep upcoming travel documents. We're quite fond of it now.

The two things that popped into my mind immediately:

1) For sentimental value, a lovely friend framed our wedding invitation beautifully. I hand-made our invites, so this gift meant alot to us.

2) You will laugh at this one, but it is literally something we use all the time. A guest gave us these cute funky 'pizza' shaped plates, and a little 'dough' to order some pizza, it was such a darling package. When they visit my nieces LOVE these plates and quite honestly my DH and I use them all the time when a little snack, or of course pizza is on the menu.

Just goes to show you, no one has to spend a million dollars, we valued these well thought out, heartfelt gifts the most!

Thanks to the Bob & Jenny, and to JoAnne!

a corning ware baking dish! Love it! But I can't say I remember who gave it to me!
I was so happy in the mid 80's with gifts like towels and sheets, glasses and a toaster oven!!!

A really good gift that my best friend received for her recent wedding was a picnic basket with nice stemware and a couple of bottles of wine for a future picnic.

I thought that was a great idea for a gift (and I may steal the idea for future weddings).

My Mikasa china which has now been used for my everyday dishes since 1997. I'm certainly glad that I listend to those who went before me and chose something microwave safe. ;)

A Revere Ware double broiler daily. Lennox good china on special occasions

After 55 years.:-B

There were times when I raised a chickens and you made a wooden spoons so you would bring me the spoon for my chicken and this is how it all started
BUT people! It is XXI Century for your relative's sake!

List of my junk not suitable for garage sale:
Ceramic Black vase 3 feet tall with huge RED flower with yellow and green leafes awkwardly painted on.
At my house warming party I was laughed at and very confused about where to place this piece of...art.
Cost $175.00 which would help me as a cash tremendously after my first down payment and settlement cost.

12small 12medium 12large plates TWO sets. One is red/green/orange/blue pattern flowers and another even prettier orange/black.
About $100 each. but could be more.
12shot glasses and 12 wine glasses...drinking from it will keep you sober no matter how much you drink...
this is how eye opening design is. Great for business party but be carefull - may lead to firing.

Several bottles of expensive parfume with eye opening smell and 2 bottle of parfume I use but HAVE already bought some.
Gift parfumes scheduled for use in about 2010. Could I use that cash? You tell me...

Linen sheets set (2). Given right after I bought sheets I actually liked. So these will end up as re-gift which I hate to do but
sorry, will have to.

The scary part that almost all of it except the vase came last year...and everyone sure thought their gifts were items I dreamed
about.

The usual pots and pans...but also our bed. For our wedding gift, my parents told us to go to Ethan Allen and pick out a bed. Sort of an odd gift...but very practical and we definitely appreciated it!

It's disgusting how some people are so ungrateful and spoiled. I can't even bear to read this, lol.

And, so that I am not offending people who actually make sense, this remark is directed at Z.

We use at least one of the big block of kitchen knives daily!

Most used is probably also the cheapest thing we received. It's a large, clear, thin cutting board with tiny grippers on the bottom. I have it snug up against the side of the kitchen sink and it is in continuous use. -- and protects the countertop. A few years ago I was invited to a bridal shower for someone I didn't really know. I bought her a small one ($6 at Target) and knew I had done the right thing when I received a great thank you from her.

I never grow tired of the Fiestaware daily dishes (turquoise!). And perhaps my favorite gift was a nice picnic basket with fun utensils, cloth napkins, and nice plastic plates and cups.

When we merged, our stuff was all mis-matched... So...

We registered for all new plates, glasses, wine glasses, bakeware, cookware, serving dishes - basically everything for our kitchen sans appliances from Williams-Sonoma.

I got it seetheworld, but if you saw it you would feel bad for me not disquisted.lol

Z -

If all this crap is causing you so much distress....

Donate it and get a tax receipt for it's value.

Our Wusthof knife set (5 in all, I think) gets used daily. Great example of buying a quality product, and being happy with it for years.

Also, our everyday dining set. It was a Crate and Barrel set, and I feel like I should write the people who gave it to us another thank you letter, saying "10 years, and still great".

We get gifted with non-cash items at wedding showers. Some girls by me have 2 or 3 different showers -even now. One is usually just the girlfriends'.

I don't think I got any wedding gifts that were non-cash except for maybe one silver plated tray that didn't hold up at all. I remember donating it to a church rummage sale.

I do remember that my Aunt and my Godmother who is 91 in 2006 gave me a unique gift for my wedding shower. It was an Italian manger/creche with figures that I adore and use every year. I had to glue one of the wise men together last year, but it's all together.

The kinds of appliances like blenders, coffee makers, etc. mentioned above also used to be far, far more expensive relative to lifestyle than they are today, unless you buy very high end product lines. I can remember the days when a small tv would cost you much more than a week's salary. And irons and major appliances like vaccuum cleaners did not have many low end cost choices as today. And look here on this thread how some have lasted.

I bought my kids Kitchenaid Food Processors/Mixer with the attachments for their showers, and good pans. They don't use the Kitchenaid like I do.

I really try to pick out what they like on their registry all the time now, and don't go with what I like.

Actually we were talking about this in group just recently, and most girls' moms said they had registered for more "art" or decorative type things than sheets, kitchen, appliances now. Why? Because they already had all those things from living alone or with their guy for 4 years plus already.

In some of these posters' pasts, I'm willing to bet they had to set up an establishment from scratch and loved most of the necessities that they received. That is definitely not the case in 2006. I do think you keep the receprient in mind as much as you can.

Ziana, I didn't ask about anyone's "junk", which is an ungrateful word to use for wedding gifts, but what you found most useful.

I had to think about this, but an inexpensive set of pyrex bakeware is our most used gift. I never registered for it, never thought I would ever use it (me cook?), but it has turned out to be useful and appreciated. It is funny how things turn out.

Also, Tiff's post reminded me of the pizza making kit we received. Although it might be considered an odd gift, we had a blast with it and used it until it wore out.

We were married 7 and a half years ago and neither of us had anything (poor college grads).

We use so many of our wedding presents everyday: the vacuum, the kitchenaid mixer, the pots and pans, the dishes, the knives, the coffee maker, the toaster, etc.

The crystal and silver is fun to take out once in a while. We've made great use out of a picnic basket. Our toddler daughter has recently discovered (and fallen in love with) the cookie jar we received for a wedding gift.

Almost everything we have was a wedding gift!

I just reread my response and have to admit that we don't use the vacuum everyday. :)

mikes mom: I am on year 24 with my Noritake china!! Just had it on the table last week when good friends came for dinner.
I have a quilt my now deceased great-aunt made that is a bit "shabby chic" now, but I still love it. After many years as our bedspread it is now on the daybed in our cabin sleeping porch. I think most of my cookware was a wedding gift. I have splurged on better knives recently, but the others worked for 20 years! I would love to have another shower now and get some new sheets and towels. tee hee.

We got a battery-operated kitchen clock that has been on our wall for 23 years, through several redecorations, paintings, wall paperings, etc, and it is still the last thing I look at every time I leave the house. I can't think of anything we got more use out of.

After almost 35 years of marriage it is kind of hard to think of things that we have left from our wedding gifts. From an elderly neighbour who was like a Grandmother to me, we got a bread knife with a pearl handle which we used to cut the wedding cake. We still use this knife and I treasure it. The only other thing that I can think of is a bedroom lamp that we got from a special aunt.

Is Ziana really serious with her talk of "junk" people gave her. If you are serious, count me as one person that wouldn't want to go to any event of your's for fear of not giving enough.

Even after almost 5 years, we still have almost all of our wedding gifts, but it was the stuff for our kitchen that gets the most use - the AllClad pots and pans that my brother and sister gave me should last forever, even though they are used every day. I just wish I were as good a cook as my brother (but I'm working on it).

We loved all of our wedding gifts. It's so nice to use something and remeber the people who gave it to you, especially those no longer with us.

One favorite, and it's travel related, was airfare to Switzerland from BIL & SIL, who were living there at the time. We had to wait a little bit to go because we had our first baby 10 mos after we got married, but he got to go along also.

Most used, a quiche dish and souffle dish that match, which were a shower gift from one of my late mom's friends (also no longer with us). I use the quiche dish for a great baked brie that I make (courtesy of Bon Appetit RSVP column), and the souffle dish for the sliced french bread to go with it.

I also use gifts which were wedding or shower gifts to my parents, 55 years ago. My kids favorite-a waffle iron. They don't make them like they used to.

Since I got married so long ago everything has basically been replaced. I loved all our wedding gifts however and this thread has me thinking about all of them and how much we enjoyed them over the years.

One very special present that I still have and use is an ivory handled carving set. Also still have a beautiful wood salad bowl sent to us from Hawaii. Oh, also have and still love a tiny little 14K gold bird sitting on the side of a birdnest with tiny little eggs inside made of turqouis (sp) and mother of pearl. And a rose colored Italian marble slab sitting on small little round legs. Have more wedding presents still than I realized!!

yes, ungrateful, and mean-spirited, too z....