What to do with unclaimed wedding registry items
The thank-you cards are written, the dress is at the dry cleaner, and the wedding list still shows the stand mixer, the wine glasses and a fondue set that nobody touched. Every list ends up like this. A few things stay unbought, and each of them needs a decision.
Buy the things you needed anyway
If an item went on the list because the kitchen has no large pot, the kitchen still has no large pot. Buy it. A KitchenAid is just as useful even though the guest who eyed it chose the towels in the end.
Check for a completion discount first. Department stores and many kitchen shops give 10 to 20 percent off whatever is left on a registry for a few months after the wedding, and on an expensive mixer that pays for a second set of sheets. If part of your list was with a store, ring them before paying full price.
Keep the expensive things for the next occasion
The Le Creuset casserole and the espresso machine were a lot for a single wedding guest, and that is why they stayed. They are a much more normal gift from parents at Christmas, or from a group of friends who want to give one bigger present for a thirtieth birthday. You can create a Christmas list or create a birthday wishlist and move the big items over, with a note that people can chip in.
Expensive things do better as a group gift in December than as a single wedding present. Six people each giving a normal gift amount is easy. One person paying for all of it is a lot for anyone who is not a parent.
Reuse them for a housewarming or the first anniversary
Many couples move in the year after the wedding. The unbought serving dishes, the good towels and the bedside lamps go straight onto a housewarming list, and friends who want to help you settle in get something concrete to pick.
A first anniversary is the other moment. The traditional gift is paper, which nobody sticks to, and parents and close relatives usually just want a hint. The linen and kitchen things that got skipped at the wedding give them one.
Some of it is for later than you think
A few things on a wedding list are really for the family you might have. The extra set of plates, the big storage boxes, the eight-litre pot and the second set of good towels all come into their own when there are four of you, and they can move over the day you create a baby registry. Towels in particular get used twice as hard once there is a baby in the bath every evening.
Pass some of it along
Not everything has to end up in your cupboards. A set of frames that no longer suits the flat might be just what a sister moving into her first place needs, and the pasta machine makes a good present for the brother who has just started cooking. Have a look at the lists of the people close to you. Sometimes the same item sits on two lists, and one of you can drop it.
Let the rest go
Be honest about the fondue set. Tastes change during an engagement, a smaller flat has no room for a 40 cm platter, and the thing you added in a rush at eleven at night was never going to be used. Take it off the list. Nobody remembers what was on your list eighteen months ago.
For the next person who asks what you would like, a shorter list with things you still want is more useful than a long one full of wedding leftovers.
Go through the leftovers once, sort them into piles, and move what is left. You can create a wishlist for the next occasion in a few minutes and give the stand mixer a second chance.
