Gift for Parents

[snu]

This is one of those etiquitte issues I'm not sure about! :bblol: I know some couples give gifts to their parents to thank them for paying for the wedding. Or others give them as a general thanks (for being good parents, etc)

However, our budget is limited, and we are paying for the majority of the wedding ourselves.
My FH's mom isn't contributing anything to the wedding. My parents are paying for our reception music (which is a pretty small percentage of our overall budget).

If you gave your parents a gift, what was it?
If you paid for the wedding yourselves, did you still get them a gift?


Just wondering. :) I'd like to get them something. I don't want to leave them out, but we also reaching our max budget-wise.

[gwenshack]

I think it's really a personal choice. :) I gave my mom a bag with a mother of the bride sweatshirt in it and a few other mother of the bride themed things, along with candy (she has a sweet tooth), and then I also got her a photo montage CD of the wedding but I'm waiting until Christmas to give that to her.
DH's parents I got nothing for - they did nothing, paid nothing, and didn't even want to do a rehearsal dinner (so we didn't have one). It was up to DH to get them something and he chose not to.
Maybe you all could just write them each a nice letter thanking them for being good parents - that is inexpensive and something I'm sure they'd treasure. :heart:

[Ninedays9]

We ended up getting them picture frames.. and we got 4 8 by 10 pictures with our photography package, so we gave them each one of those to put in the frame. I would say that's a fairly inexpensive, yet meaningful gift.

[melissa1031]

We ended up getting them picture frames.. and we got 4 8 by 10 pictures with our photography package, so we gave them each one of those to put in the frame. I would say that's a fairly inexpensive, yet meaningful gift.
I agree with her.This is what I plan to do.

[dodgercpkl]

We ended up getting them picture frames.. and we got 4 8 by 10 pictures with our photography package, so we gave them each one of those to put in the frame. I would say that's a fairly inexpensive, yet meaningful gift.

I agree with Melissa, I love this idea! I think this is what we'll do, although I am also planning to do handmade scrapbooks for both families (I love scrapbooking!).

[hmz819]

I think the picture frame and picture is a great idea. Just wait for sales. Look at Kohl's (I love their frames) they have 50-60% off sales a lot and that is when I buy the frames. If you have an Old Time Pottery near you they have inexpensive but pretty frames too.

[SkippyNXC]

i like the framed picture idea... i get 2 small parents albums w/my photography package n i plan on giving those as their gifts ;)

[uptowngirl]

We did pictures too - I had mini versions of our wedding album made for both sets of parents...although that was for Christmas, not a wedding thank you. LOL.

At the rehearsal dinner we gave both sets of parents a gift from the glass-blowing studio where we had our reception, his parents got a pair of wineglasses and mine got a decanter.

[WBandMe]

Well, we ordered parent wedding albums (but that was more so that we could get the copyright to our pics :)) and gave them those, but we didn't really do any gifts otherwise. I gave my mom my bouquet and made a little speech of thanks, and our other parents took some of the flowers from the ceremony... but we didn't give actual gifts.

[snu]

I like the picture idea, thanks!

We are getting epics taken on the beach next month and we will have full rights to the photos (so I can get cheap prints!) I think I will put together a nice album for them once we get closer to the wedding. Everyone always complains they don't have pictures of us, so thanks for the great idea! :hearts:

[sandy03]

Each set of parents got a little album in our photography package, but I wanted them to have something to "open" at the rehearsal dinner so I got them each handkerchiefs that were embroidered with their role (father of the bride, mother of the groom, etc) and our names and the date.

[ryanmclean79]

You can think of a nice photo frame, and if you had an engagement picture taken that would work perfectly. If you don't have that, slip a note in the card that says, to be filled with the wedding picture of your choice.

And if you think that’s not enough and you can afford a little bit more, how about a gift certificate for a dinner ?

[EarlyBird]

for my parents, We got them a digital picture frame.. mom loved it cuz it was loaded with pictures of the wedding, dad loved it cuz it was an electronic... we also got them a giftcard to their fav rest. for like 100.00 bucks and i gave my mom a picture frame that had a bunch of pictures of my brother and i from the wedding, because it was very significant to have my brother there, enjoying himself.
but.... originally, dh and i were paying for about 1/4 of the wedding- and in the end my parents paid for everything, so that was a major reasoning for their large gifts..

i think if they were not paying for the ENTIRE wedding, we would have done the digital frames (FYI , BLACK FRIDAY ADS HAVE THEM SHOWING AT 30BUCKS!!! THATS WHEN WE GOT OURS LAST YR)

[snu]

Ooh, a digital picture frame is a great idea!! Thanks!
We are going out for BF this year, so I'll make sure we look for them!

[Bella]

i would gift my parents with a comfortable car to enjoy the romantic drives ;)

[VickiLynn84]

I found a picture of me all dressed up like a bride as a little girl and I had it professionally hand drawn and framed and gave that to them at the rehearsal dinner. When I get the dvd's from the videographer, I will give his parents and mine a copy as well.