Budget-friendly wedding gifts
If you’re attending multiple weddings this year, you already know how taxing these events can be on your finances. There may be multiple dresses, tuxes, plane tickets and hotel rooms to pay for. And, of course, engagement party gifts and wedding gifts for newlyweds.
Fortunately when it comes to the latter, it’s more than possible to find a wedding gift that is both special and reasonably priced. “When searching for the perfect, affordable wedding gift, I always look for small home items that will be well-loved for years to come with a bit of glamour,” such as a pair of champagne crystal flutes or a vintage picture frame, says Rebecca Gill, chief marketing officer and co-founder of ShopThing.
Here are more wedding gift suggestions – all priced at less than $100.
Map
A map doesn’t sound like much of a gift, but this is not an ordinary map. Kendall Valerio, owner of Sadie & June and based in Ottawa, Ontario, has a clever idea for a gift.
“We hand-embroider vintage map prints with hearts. For where you live, where you met your love, where you can’t wait to travel to again. Just like the red heart, your story gets stitched into your unique piece,” Valerio says.
Prices vary, but it’s easy to find maps on the website for well under $100.
Canvas print
If you have a striking picture of the couple, have it enlarged and printed on canvas. CanvasPrints.com offers a lot of options for under $100. Just upload a photo to the site to have it printed on cotton blended canvas. Soon you’ll receive a personal wedding gift, without having to leave your house.
Scratch-off map
If your newlyweds love to travel, this can make for a unique gift. Waypoint Wanders sells scratch-off maps, mostly priced in the neighborhood of $30. Among other things, you can give the couple a map of the United States, a map of the country’s national parks or a map of the world.
It’s a simple but ingenious concept. As the couple travels to the places on the map, they get to scratch the location off, eventually revealing a beautiful map.
Gift card
This idea may not sound personal, but it depends on the gift card. A generic gift card, like a Visa or an Amazon gift card, might be quickly forgotten by a newly married couple. But couples might remember some gift cards fondly, even years later.
“Couples today are very practical,” says Denise Buzy-Pucheu, owner of The Persnickety Bride in Newtown, Connecticut.
Also, if you’ve put off buying a wedding present, you may not have the time to look for anything else.
Buzy-Pucheu suggests considering one of the following gift cards:
— Airbnb.com.
— TJ Maxx.
An experience
The Date Night Bucket List, sold by Uncommon Goods for $20, is a unique little gift. Think of it like a lot of dates in a can.
Here’s how it works: The couple opens the can, and inside are little sticks made of birch wood. On the sticks are date suggestions, like pack blankets and pillows and go stargazing someplace secluded or attend a lecture at a local museum or university.
After the couple goes on the outing, they are encouraged to record the calendar date they did the activity on the back of the stick.
Cookbook
Who doesn’t love the gift of food?
That said, a restaurant gift card or a meal plan subscription service can be expensive.
As an alternative, consider giving newlyweds a book about food, like “Date Night In: More than 120 Recipes to Nourish Your Relationship” by Ashley Rodriguez.
The book is $14.99 on Amazon and full of recipes that should spice up any couple’s evening.
Couples’ aprons
If a cookbook doesn’t quite sound like the right gift, but you know or believe the newlyweds enjoy cooking, you could buy the couple a pair of matching aprons.
Walmart has a set of matching black and white aprons for $17.99 – and a lot of other couples aprons. Zazzle.com and Etsy.com are also websites where you may want to search for customized and unique couples’ aprons.
Appliance
Buzy-Pucheu suggests giving a newlywed couple “any small, sturdy appliance” from Cusinart. “They are rugged, they last and they are built for families,” she says. “Any Cusinart blender, juicer or chopper under $100 would be awesome.”
Entertainment
Give the newlyweds the gift of streaming and an affordable date night option.
“The first year after marriage should be all about the newlyweds settling into their new life together, and a subscription service will do just that,” says Martin Thornburg, a bridal designer who designs dresses for Mon Cheri Bridals, based in Ewing, New Jersey. A one-year subscription to a streaming service like Netflix, Hulu or Disney+ will give the couple “unlimited date night movie options,” he says.
And depending on the service, this gift, especially if you get an annual subscription versus paying it month to month, should come to around or under $100.
The wedding invitation, framed
Help the couple commemorate their big day.
“A sentimental and inexpensive gift is taking the wedding invitation you were sent in the mail and framing it. Framing the invitation is a meaningful gift. The couple can hang it on the wall and have a way to look back on their big day all the time,” Thornburg says.
Casting kit
Give the couple a hand – or two hands. We aren’t talking about clapping for the newlyweds. Consider gifting a hand hold casting kit.
Available on Amazon for $49.97, this kit allows a couple to create a mold and a statue of their hands clasping. It’s a gift that symbolizes their love and togetherness. A little sappy, maybe, but very memorable.
Cheese board set
This is the sort of gift couples often ask for on a registry, so it’s a pretty safe gift. But sometimes safe works really well.
This cheese board and knife set is listed on Amazon for $43.99. And maybe the next time the couple has company, you’ll be among the guests.
Chess board set
From cheese to chess. A chess set is classy, and when set up on table, it can serve as a design element. It’s also an activity that the couple can enjoy together.
Wayfair offers some upscale chess sets for way over $100 – and some for under, like this one on sale for $96.99.
Movie marquee photo print
Another Uncommon Goods item that would work well as a wedding gift: a personalized movie marquee photo print. It’s a photo of a cinema marquee, and it looks as if it’s playing a movie called “When (Name of Person) Met (Name of Person).” (A riff off of the classic 1989 movie, “When Harry Met Sally.”)
Or you can go with a different movie title like “A Love Story.”
You can also add bits of information about the “movie,” such as “starring (the names of your couple)” and “playing since (the date they met or married).”
Unframed, the photo print is $85, and in a black frame it’s $125, so you’ll have to think a little about this one if you were hoping to keep it under $100.
Wedding date photo collage picture frame
Bed Bath & Beyond offers a Wedding Date Photo Collage Picture Frame for $33.99. It’s a picture frame that allows you to create a collage of photos of the couple – so that you see pictures of the couple but also the date of the couple’s wedding.
Instantly, your couple will have wall art that will ensure they never forget their anniversary.
Affordable wedding gift ideas:
— Map
— Canvas print.
— Scratch-off map.
— Gift card.
— An experience.
— Cookbook.
— Couples’ aprons
— Appliance.
— Entertainment.
— The wedding invitation, framed.
— Casting kit.
— Cheese board set.
— Chess board game.
— Movie marquee print.
— Wedding date photo college picture frame.
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Affordable Wedding Gift Ideas originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 06/13/22: This story was published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
