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Original poster

Wedding gift ideas under £200

37 replies

Bearnecessity · 05/02/2021 14:57

Hi there

I am looking for inspiration on a budget for my godson/nephew's wedding. I don't have huge sums to spend. What did you get for your wedding that you thought was lovely?

OP posts:
samlh · 05/02/2021 15:40

After we got married, my aunt gave us her present. She got us a frame with the first dance song title engraved into the top and our names & date of wedding at the bottom. I love it and it is a thoughtful and inexpensive gift.

We didn't ask for anything, didn't have a gift list set up and didn't expect anything from anyone. We got a lot of vouchers and euros for our honeymoon but the frame is my favourite gift because it is so thoughtful and we have it on display in our living room on the fireplace :)

You could go for something personalised, or something like a newleywed hamper (towels, candles, bottle of fizz?) and put something together on your own budget? x

AtleastitsnotMonday · 05/02/2021 16:50

Do they have a house together or are they just starting out? I think it depends if you want to go practical or more of a keep safe. Well under your budget but I’ve bought a few of these framed pictures for wedding gifts, buying the home towns of bride and groom.

NigellasMicrowave · 05/02/2021 17:08

The best wedding present we got, which I appreciate may not seem sensible now, was Mr and Mrs Smith hotel vouchers. It was such a lovely and welcome idea. Mr and Mrs Smith has been really good about using them during the pandemic and have extended the expiry deadline (which was a year) and we hope to be able to use them this summer.

The other gifts I absolutely loved receiving were plants. If they have the space, something like a little olive tree is lovely to look at all year round.

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Same4Walls · 05/02/2021 17:11

We found someone on etsy who made framed prints with the lyrics of our first dance song. It wasn't a gift but it's absolutely my favourite reminder of our wedding day.

Echobelly · 05/02/2021 17:22

A really good, big throw? DH and I were a little taken aback when a rel sent us a huge, bright turquoise furry throw.... but my God, it has been so useful. For the

EventuallyDeleted · 05/02/2021 17:22

We did have a list so most of ours were from that or giftcards, the non list items that are still in regular use 20 years later are all crystal - wine glasses, vases and a freestanding picture frame. I'm not very keen on personalised things myself and anything with Mr and Mrs on it would have been a massive thumbs down.

EventuallyDeleted · 05/02/2021 17:23

Yes to plants for the garden, also we would have liked a nice bench.

thecatsthecats · 05/02/2021 17:31

Just to give balance on the range of personal taste, we absolutely drowned in "stuff with a personalised element of our wedding" type gifts. You can't move in our house for having something shoved in your face with the date on it

And I'm afraid almost everything with Mr and Mrs on in went to a charity shop.

You have a generous budget there, so if you don't want to give money, I'd go for something really high quality but not wedding branded. Like expensive bath robes or high quality knives.

The gifts I bought that went down best were a cast iron meat plate with vouchers for an online butcher, plus steak knives etc for dining.

lastqueenofscotland · 05/02/2021 17:33

Do they actually want stuff? The last 3 weddings I went to (2019 those were the days!) the couples all requested no gifts. In all cases these were people who’d been together yonks who had houses full of stuff who really would not have appreciated more frames/candles/kitchenware etc etc.

I got one person a seriously nice bottle of champagne and gave the others cash for their honeymoons.

reluctantbrit · 05/02/2021 17:38

For this amount I would go for something they really appreciate/need. I personally hate all kind of ornaments unless I buy them myself, I don't like personalised items and not keen on anything framed again, unless I get it myself.

In the past we gave either items from a wedding list, vouchers towards a large purchase, clubbed together - again for a specific large item, theatre tokens (maybe not ideal at the moment), honeymoon voucher.

Nonamesavail · 05/02/2021 17:41

200 :o

Someone got us a tesco choccy cake and custard it was the best gift!

nicknamehelp · 05/02/2021 17:42

I think I would ask them for ideas if they have no list. Explain you want to get something they will cherish as a reminder of their day.

Twizbe · 05/02/2021 17:55

One of the best gifts we got was a picnic blanket and a picnic bag. The giver had put some champagne inside.

We've been married 10 years abs still use it, especially during the lockdowns

bananaboats · 05/02/2021 18:01

Tbh I would just give cash or vouchers unless you know their taste very well

Alexandernevermind · 05/02/2021 18:04

One of our best gifts was a hotel voucher. We married young and didn't have a lot of spare cash in the early years, so we treated ourselves to a couple of nights in a posh hotel for our first anniversary.

Zarinea · 05/02/2021 18:04

YY to asking them, or vouchers.

Like PP we ended up with so much stuff with the wedding or venue date on, which I'm sure was well intentioned and was probably expensive. But it's just not me!

Alexandernevermind · 05/02/2021 18:04

The picnic basket is a lovely idea too.

snowy0wl · 05/02/2021 18:15

One of my favourite wedding presents was a framed version of the readings from the service. However, as others have pointed out £200 is a very generous budget and so I would be inclined to ask the couple what they would like. In our case we wanted some good quality cooking equipment.

jacqelinedaniels · 05/02/2021 18:28

£200 seems an enormous amount of money for a wedding gift, to me! Am I a cheapskate?!

ShyTown · 05/02/2021 18:36

Honestly?! We didn’t receive anything that I would class as lovely. We specifically asked people not to buy us gifts but lots did anyway and whilst the sentiment didn’t go unappreciated, 90% of the gifts did and anything that wasn’t booze went straight to the charity shop. I’d vote for either asking them what they want, vouchers for somewhere that covers a lot of basis like John Lewis or just giving them the cash.

Original poster
Bearnecessity · 05/02/2021 18:55

Thank you everyone, fantastic ideas in every post. They are saving to buy their own home but paying for a wedding is not cheap, is it. I think I might go down the route of a night in a good hotel with dinner...he proposed in the Empire State Building so I thought of a framed print of this but you can just imagine 20 of the things turning up. I did think of a good quality window crystal for daily rainbows as some kind of permanent trinket or maybe JL vouchers or cash as you have suggested for home goods. God it will be nice to get dressed up and to celebrate and party again....

OP posts:
EventuallyDeleted · 05/02/2021 18:57

I'd ask them too to be honest. While we appreciated the thought, we did end up charity shopping quite a few non-list gifts as we had no use for them or colours clashed with our other things (red lasagne dish when all our other crockery is blue and white for example). We don't like champagne either so that would have been re-gifted.

Original poster
Bearnecessity · 05/02/2021 19:45

I understand the sense of what you say Eventually....our family is really quite old school...we don't do gift lists or asking...you get given what you get given and if it gets moved on sharpish so be it. It is an unspoken thing...I think we all like it that way as well to be fair...and if anyone doesn't we don't really care anyway...tis just stuff at the end of the day.

OP posts:
CorianderBee · 05/02/2021 20:16

Cash tbh. Most people have everything they need for a home and would secretly rather have money

Dogonahottinroof · 05/02/2021 20:21

An Emmy Bridgewater Year jug- they are lat releasing them but they will be out shortly. Usually about £40 and our wedding must have with a cheque

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