h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

We thought long and hard about our gift list. We went from the shop's gift registry into the department store with our pad and paper and were confronted by a bride in another couple throwing a real hissy fit over 'blue' vs 'purple'. Then we truely appreciated the aesthetic horror of the gift list.

We turned around and gave the pad back to the nice girl from the shop's registry.

The idea of having a house forever filled with our own taste, fossilised in time from that day (when we were under extreme pressure!), chosen from the limited range of a largish department store is not good.

It also removed the possibility of a guest who would happily spend two or three hours looking for the best value knives putting their good knowledge to use. We would have been lucky to spend 10 minutes looking at each item.

Gordy and Sue got married so long ago that gift registrys were typically for the more upscale folks not your everyday working people. They did not bother with a registry and only had one duplicate gift (which I'm told is the main reason for using a registry).

I confess I rarely purchase gifts anymore. Many of the places people register around here have a "get 10% off when you buy your own registry items" promo. That means that if I give cash they can get 10% more than if I give them an actual gift. And seeing as how any registry gift is really going to be what they want rather than what I want to give them I have no qualms about giving cash. It is really no more impersonal than the registry.

For people I really love, as opposed to those I'm obligated to give gifts to, I tend to give hand made items or family heirlooms that will (hopefully) be treasured and passed down to their (someday) children.

So why the comment on registries?