What do you think of this wedding gift?

[sk!mom]

Cash is so much better! My husband and I got married 3 years ago and I honestly wish everyone had given us cash instead of buying things from our registry. Our best gift was a $100 visa gift card from my hubby's aunt that we used to pay for an extra night in our hotel at Disney on our honeymoon! =)

Then why did you do a registry? No gift registry=few gifts!

My niece recently married and they did a honeymoon registry and no regular gift registry. She and the groom are several years out of college so between the two of them they had virtually every household item they could need or want. Since there was no traditional gift registry, they only got a couple of gifts- sentimental things from really close friends/family. Everyone else used the Honeymoon registry or gave cash.

 

[Tiger926]

Absolutely would give cash. I would have no use for a Groupon gift certificate either.

Gift cards, unless VISA or other credit card gift cards that can be used as cash on anything, are very personal in nature. You need to know if the person will actually get good use out of that particular product.

I am very selective and careful about what gift cards I gift to others, and a Groupon cert is not a good choice at all. Even if you knew the couple used Groupon, I would still give cash.

Tiger

 

[dzorn]

The daughter of some close friends is getting married, and we budgeted $100 for a wedding present, but instead of just putting $100 in an envelope, my DH and I decided to purchase a $100 gift card for Groupon and give that to them. The couple will be living in Pittsburgh, which is a Groupon town, and I thought it would be a fun way to encourage them to enjoy themselves with the $100 (and they'll get at least $200 worth of value for using it, because of how Groupon works). They have very few items on their registry, and have been living together for about a year, and are both in graduate school (both had full ride scholarships to undergrad and grad, so no student debt, thankfully!).

What do you think - does this sound like a fun gift?

KC

Just give the cash.

Denise in MI

 

[AmericangirlinFrance]

I just got married almost a month ago, and I must say... cash!

We are very grateful for all the gifts we received. But, just being honest... I can already tell that some of the more unusual (or creative) gifts/gift cards are things that we will probably not use (and we don't have a way to return them).
We live in a pretty small condo and just don't have room for all the "stuff".

My husband and I are going to a cousin's wedding in July. In the past we would have both picked something off the registry to give, but we will be giving cash.

We had a few people give us gift cards to some chain restaurants in $50/$100 amounts (places like Cheesecake Factory, Bonefish, Carrabba's, Chili's) and we LOVE those! It's great to go out and not have to cook. So I think that is a good, non-traditional wedding present.

 

[disneychic2]

I think the groupon idea is a fun one, but agree with most everyone else that the cash or a gift card would be better for newlyweds. I do think finding out ahead of time would be a good thing.

FWIW, One of the worst gifts I ever got was for E-Bay from my DS. It was a couple of years before I was able to use it up.

 

[jcemom]

*I* think cash would be a better gift. If they use Groupon, then they can use the cash for that. If not, they can use it for something else.

 

[crisi]

It's not an either/or statement. Both things are true. Many, many people use groupon, many, many people do not.


A reason I'd steer clear of it is it might not be financially stable, and if they go bankrupt the $100 is gone.

http://www.timwiseman.com/blogarticles/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/brendancoffey/2011/06/02/think-groupon-makes-money-think-again/

I like groupon a lot, but I go long periods of time without buying anything, so OP, I recommend giving the cash.

That was my thought as well. Groupon is spending money like drunken Pets.com execs. And all its going to take is for its venture capitalists to decide that they aren't going to fund the spree, and they'll shut down.

 

[NYEmomma]

I guess I'm one of the odd men out because I would LOVE a Groupon GC. We use it a lot and have had nothing but positive experiences with it... we've gotten restaurant GCs, online deals like photo cards, GCs to stores like Build-a-Bear, and we got our yearly zoo membership for $30 last year!

DH & I are the type to take whatever money we receive and spend it on things that we need... it's always nice (for US) to have an excuse to spend a little bit on fun things so we'd personally really enjoy the GC.

I'd ask the parents of the couple what they thought about the idea and go from there.

 

[kathie859]

While I can certainly appreciate the spirit of making a cash gift "fun", I'd just give the cash (either in a check or VISA or Mastercard gift card)--not literal cash.

 

[doris1976]

That is a great gift..and good imagination to think of it. I would love to have that as a present ...as Groupon always has more things I want then I have the money for.

 

[Tinkmom]

I'd give the cash. While I've been very happy with the Groupons I've used I just think as a gift it would be better to do cash.

I agree with this. Overall, I have been happy with my Groupons purchased, but it is somewhat limiting, and some people aren't comfortable with them.

Unless you know that they are familiar with, and like using, Groupon then I would definitely go with cash.

 

[Maybelle]

Personally, I love Groupon, but I wouldn't give it as a gift. I would purchase a Visa giftcard instead.

 

[nilseks]

I love Groupon too and I use it quite often, but I don't think I would want to give/receive it as a wedding gift. We always give cash/check. If they want to use the money to pay off their wedding expenses or put it toward a new home, Groupon can't help them do that.

 

[rachel09985]

Give them cash unless they love groupon and you know it!

 

[awfullybigadventure]

Another Pittsburgher here who is saying, go with the cash. I get daily emails from Groupon and there is almost never anything that is even remotely close to my house, so I have only been tempted once or twice to purchase anything from Groupon.

 

[Leigha]

I think the Groupon idea is fantastic!! So creative! It goes with what you see on TV and the magazines these days - give experiences that make memories!

 

[dhardawa]

I love Groupon and use it all the time. For the record, I have never seen a Groupon that requires you to spend more than the amount of the Groupon. Also, if one expires, they will credit you the amount you spent on it back to your account if you email. I really love it. But, without knowing if they use it, I'd just give cash. If they choose to spend some of that money on Groupon, it is their decision then.

 

[kaytieeldr]

While it is nice for them to double their money, I find Groupon to be mostly useless. I've only used one deal ever and they put a lot of limitations on most of their deals. Such as "pay us $15 for a $30 gift certificate, but you have to spend at least $50 in our restaurant to use this deal".

While I think your heart is in the right place, the practicality of the gift is kind of lacking. But a gift is a gift, so I am sure they will be grateful. It just might not work well for them, but ya never know...they might like it.

That sounds like the restaurant.com certificates, not Groupon

+ o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o

OP, I think it sounds like an interestingly unique idea! I like creativity; a gift registry is a suggestion, not a command; investors like and trust Groupon.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I'm not a hipster, I'm a card-carrying member of AARP (or would be, if I could remember where I left the darned card!) and I think the daily deal sites are great.

You don't need to be young to understand or use them (although the engaged children of friends probably are).
A number of posters have mentioned "the" daily deal not being something they'd use. It appears many Groupon users aren't aware most deals are available for several days. I have the Groupon app, and today alone I have my choice of:
....Forty-four (because three have sold out since they were first offered) daily deals that can be used in the future
....One hundred "instant" offers to be used some time today (and if I buy one or more and don't use it/them before expiration, Groupon automatically credits my account)
....Eighty of 84 Getaways (from a $50 per night hotel room, to $3,500+ tours of Australia or Africa
....twenty-three of 24 actual consumer items (including, I just saw, the entire "21 Jump Street" series for, what else, $21 )

Pittsburgh has 27 Featured offers.

So Groupon ISN'T just one special at a time, for one 24 hour period before changing to the next deal.

 

[jcemom]

I'm not a hipster, I'm a card-carrying member of AARP (or would be, if I could remember where I left the darned card!) and I think the daily deal sites are great.

You don't need to be young to understand or use them (although the engaged children of friends probably are).
A number of posters have mentioned "the" daily deal not being something they'd use. It appears many Groupon users aren't aware most deals are available for several days. I have the Groupon app, and today alone I have my choice of:
....Forty-four (because three have sold out since they were first offered) daily deals that can be used in the future
....One hundred "instant" offers to be used some time today (and if I buy one or more and don't use it/them before expiration, Groupon automatically credits my account)
....Eighty of 84 Getaways (from a $50 per night hotel room, to $3,500+ tours of Australia or Africa
....twenty-three of 24 actual consumer items (including, I just saw, the entire "21 Jump Street" series for, what else, $21 )

Pittsburgh has 27 Featured offers.

So Groupon ISN'T just one special at a time, for one 24 hour period before changing to the next deal.

I think a good question to ask would be -- do they live IN Pittsburgh? Many people say WE live in Pittsburgh, when we actually live south of the city, and I never see a deal closer than an hour from home for us. So, that makes Groupon far less useful to me. If we lived inside the city, I might find more deals I would take advantage of.

I'm looking at the site right now, and the only thing I might be remotely interested in (even if I did live IN Pittsburgh) is concert tickets. Seems like a pretty good deal, but I'm not available on that date so I can't go.

While I would prefer to give (and receive) cash, the OP is giving a gift, and I think it will be appreciated no matter what they choose to give.