Engagement Party?

[burnsgirl001]

lately, i've been to a couple engagement parties for my boyfriend's friends. all of them have had multiple registries for the party, and the amount of gifts they got was ridiculous! it looked like a bridal shower. is this normal to expect not only that your guests will bring wedding gift, shower gift--but also engagement gift? it really seems like a lot to me. i sort of think if you have an engagement party, its ok to bring a small gift, but to register for it???

[EarlyBird]

I always thought that engagement gifts were not the norm. However, even before the invites went out people were asking about registries. We got about 25 gifts (people who didnt attend even sent) and we made a couple THOUSAND in money and gift cards. i was very upset at first, but in the end, people are gonna do it if they want and if they dont want to, they wont...

[SouthernQueenBride]

You are NEVER required to take a gift to an engagment party. In fact ~ the only time that registry info should ever be seen is on the invites to a shower and those are sent by the hostesses. Technically you are not even required to bring a wedding gift and it should never be expected from the bride ad groom....but it is accepted more so than at an engagement party.

[Joe's girl]

Personally I flat out refuse to have an engagment party, a bridal shower and a wedding..its too much to ask people to spend that kind of money. I would opt of either the engagement party or the shower. Not both.

[Danielle9608]

I had a small engagment party (15 of our closest friends and family at my sisters house). I was was told not to open my gifts at the party because it would makes those who didnt bring gifts feel bad. So we opened them later. Some did bring gift some didn't (we did register for any), either way I was just happy to see them and spend time with them.

[Danielle9608]

oops I meant to say we didnt register for any... lol

[bichonlvr]

We did not have an engagment party either, we did get congrats gifts, and we registered right before my birthday HA HA!!!

[stateofbliss]

My folks wanted to throw us a party to have our extended families meet. I know it was rude to even mention gifts on the invite (evite) but I really, really, REALLY don't want people to bring/give them. This party is for the family to celebrate our engagement and for everyone to meet each other and get reaquainted with our friends in our wedding party.
We aren't registering until the Spring for our October 2008 wedding.
Just my two cents!

[gennymac]

We are actually having an engagement party tomorrow night. The Hostess is one of my best and dearest friends. The invitation was very cute, and to make sure everyone knew they didn't need to bring a gift, we decided on a 'cookbook' theme.

So, the party is a Pot Luck (bring your specialty) and the gift is a recipe card from each guest of their favorite dish. The Hostess found a fantastic photo album style book, and it has three slots per page that are the perfect size for recipe cards.

So the cumulative gift is a cookbook of my best friends and family's favorite recipes at the end of the night.

We invited about 45 people, and looks like we have 35 attending.
Arrrrgggg I thought fewer would come !

Gen

[frenchie]

We didn't have an engagement party, and bridal showers just aren't done in France, so we're "only" getting wedding gifts. Which is fine with me :)

[Custom Wedding Stamps]

My mother had an engagement party for us but she said "Please no gifts" She just wanted to throw us a little gathering. Plus everyone wanted to say congratulations etc. See the ring and share in our excitement, all we had was champayne and a awesome engagement cake it was perfect. I agree it would be just too much to expect people to bring a gift for the engagement.