Leverage Your Wedding Presents With A Gift Card Registry
Ladies and gentleman, it’s wedding season. And if you’re one of the happy couples getting married this summer or fall, you undoubtedly have a lot on your plate, so I’m going to cut right to the chase. Yes, a wedding is about celebrating the love you share with your partner, but it’s also about starting a new life and, believe it or not, your wedding presents can be an important part of that. Things you may never before have dwelled on – like sets of china and mixing bowls – will all of a sudden become important and expenses you’ve never had to worry about – like a honeymoon or furniture for a bigger place – will arise. With the right wedding presents, you can significantly ease this transition. So how can you go about maximizing the potential of your presents? Let’s find out.
Rethink Your Registry
Your registry needn’t be that something borrowed, so save tradition for the ceremony or reception and opt for a gift card registry. Whereas a couple makes an inventory of specific items they desire with a traditional wedding registry, a gift card registry allows you to create a list of your favorite stores. So what exactly does that mean for you? For starters, it means far less effort. Logging on, picking a few stores, hitting save and publishing the results to Facebook is literally the extent of your involvement. The question therefore becomes: Is it worth it?
Is A Gift Card Registry Really Worth It?
Benefits:
Besides being a time-saver, a gift card registry prevents the disappointment and hassle of unwanted or duplicate gifts. You’ll obviously get the presents you want because you pick the stores and select what the cards are actually redeemed for. Even if someone branches out on their own and gets you a card from a store not on your list, you can sell it for roughly full value through a gift card exchange. Therefore, no returns, or worse—allowing unwanted gifts to simply go unused.
Then there’s the matter of those big-ticket purchases that seem to materialize out of a marriage. A traditional registry is unlikely to be of much assistance in this regard. Sure, you’ll get dishes, glasses and silverware, but you probably won’t be on the receiving end of a new refrigerator or all-expense paid honeymoon when these are the sort of things you likely need most. Attaining such costly items is possible with a gift card registry because you can put multiple gift cards toward a single purchase or sell them for cash.
Finally, while much of a gift-giver’s budget is typically consumed by wrapping and shipping costs, gift card registries allow one to put the totality of their available funds toward the present itself. Ergo, better gifts.
Drawbacks:
Why don’t we address two of the most common assumptions/critiques people have about gift card registries?
Won’t you just be stuck with a bunch of iTunes, Best Buy and Amazon.com gift cards?
Nope. Pretty much every major retailer offers its own gift card, so you wouldn’t be sacrificing variety in using a gift card registry. Want your wedding presents to cover honeymoon airfare? Get a Southwest Airlines Gift Card. Need to paint your house? How about an AC Moore Gift Card? Rather decide what you want to buy later? Ask for a Chase Visa Gift Card. The point is: The options a gift card registry provides range from A-Z, from Ace Hardware to Zappos.com.
Aren’t gift cards a little impersonal?
Well, a gift card is no more impersonal than a toaster or a decanter. Besides, there are ways to add personal touches to any wedding present, whether it’s garnered through a traditional registry or a gift card registry. A gift giver can always add a personal note to your gift or present it in a personalized frame. What’s more, they can package a present in a keepsake box so you’ll always be reminded of them. At the end of the day though, creative guests will find a way to personalize their presents no matter where they order them, and your registry should be about what you want.
Conclusion
I think by now we can all conclude that gift card registries have their place in the modern-day wedding. If you want a little more simplicity and a lot more value from your wedding presents, then why not set up a gift card registry and let your wedding presents provide true benefit in the early stages of married life?
This guest post comes from the team of writers at Card Hub, a leading marketplace for credit cards and gift cards.
