Finally, old coots like me get to cash in on gift registries! We missed out, \u201cback in the day,\u201d when we had our weddings. Guests gave us what they wanted to give. Everyone lugged a fancy wrapped package to the reception and added it to a pyramid like pile on the gift table. The groom was stuck with getting them home, often pulling out from the curb at the end of the reception in a car loaded with boxes of loot. The car itself was gift wrapped, in \u201cJust Married\u201d signs, ribbons, bows and a string of rattling tin cans dragging from the back bumper.<\/p>\n
The packages were opened in private, so nobody would know that someone else gave you the same gift they did. You often ended up with six toasters, two steam irons, five electric percolators and a mishmash of everyday and special occasion household items in duplicate, triplicate, quadruplicate. But, it wasn\u2019t really a problem. All the unwanted and unneeded items went into the hall closet. A treasure chest of sorts, to be drawn upon for future weddings, showers and house warming parties. It was a great system, except for when you mistakenly gave an item back to the original giver (and their name was on a card you missed inside the box, hidden under the tissue paper).<\/p>\n
Then some accountant came along and invented the gift registry; to bring into balance the gifts received side of the ledger with the gifts desired side. (It had to be an accountant, don\u2019t you think?) People could then pick out their own gifts. Invitees were required to go to the store or the web site indicated on the invitation and select something, setting up a frantic race of old coots to get there first and nail down the cheapest item. The groom is no longer responsible for getting the presents from the reception to the couples home; the retailer takes care of that, sometimes including a stack of hand written (fake of course) thank you notes for the couple to put in the mail when they get back from their honeymoon.<\/p>\n