Wedding Guests Give Own Belongings as Wedding Gifts

That beautiful present may not be as new as it appears… Guests are resorting to some surprising tactics in order to avoid the stress and expense of buying wedding gifts

A survey carried out by One4all, the Post Office Gift Card, reveals some fascinating facts about wedding presents…

•    41 per cent of guests have taken something from their own home to give as a wedding gift

•   One in 10 dislike couples providing wedding lists

•    Brits expect guests at their own wedding to spend £6 more than they would on another’s

•    Over £6bn is spent by UK wedding guests every year

The survey of 1,536 adults found one in five has signed their name on another guest’s gift, while one in 10 has lied to the happy couple by telling them their gift is on its way, when in fact it hasn’t even been bought.                                                                                                         

And it’s not just what to buy that’s keeping Brits awake at night – but how much to spend. One in 10 confess to have broken their budget to avoid appearing ‘cheap’or unsuccessful, with £32 being the minimum the average Brit feels they can spend without appearing so.

And with gifts being the largest costs incurred by British wedding guests, who on average fork out £215 on each wedding they attend, it’s perhaps not surprising that 14 per cent of those surveyed confess to having turned up to a wedding without a gift, full stop.

Seven per cent admit they would prefer not to give gifts to newlyweds, if they had a choice.

However, when it comes to guests at their own weddings, cheeky British adults have higher standards – believing that they should be given gifts costing £52 on average, despite only being prepared to spend £46 on a gift for someone else’s nuptials.

The data also shows just how unpopular wedding lists are, with one in five adults disliking being told what to buy. Instead, they prefer to give more traditional gifts, with gifts for the home or a financial gift towards a honeymoon topping the list.

Aoife Davey, group marketing manager at One4all, the Post Office Gift Card, says: “It’s clear that British adults prefer to go down the traditional route of selecting a gift for the happy couple themselves, rather than being dictated to by something like a wedding list, and that traditional types of gifts – such as homeware and useful appliances – are still the preferred to choice of many guests.

“These days it is very common for people to have been living together for years before they get married, in which case it’s likely they will already have everything they need for the home.

“So unless there is something that you know the bride and groom need or want specifically, it’s often safer to give the gift of choice, such as a gift card or money, which they can use to get something they will really enjoy together.”

Manchester is the most generous city when it comes to buying wedding gifts according to the research, with an average spend of £66.22 per wedding gift.

Newlyweds from Newcastle Upon Tyne should give guests wedding lists to choose from at their own risk, as Geordies are more irritated by this than residents from any other city, with 32 per cent saying they aren’t comfortable with being asked to buy from a wedding list.

Wedding guests in Cardiff have been exposed as the most sneaky when it comes to gifting, as 83 per cent admit to having taken something from their own home and given it as a wedding gift.