May Contain Peanuts

Haaay!

This is not my idea, but I am a strong proponent of it. This idea is that everyone who has ever had a birthday party, a house-warming party, wedding party, baby shower, or any party where gift giving is involved should have a registry. Everyone is familiar with the typical wedding registry where you get to pick out a plate or two or maybe some nice towels; or the baby shower registry where you can give the gift of cotton booties that will be used maybe twice. The benefit of these registries is that the person receiving the gifts gets exactly what they ask for and are happy to receive them.

Don't get me wrong, the 'surprise' gift at one of these events are usually nice and can be heart-felt, meaningful, blah blah. Often though, these 'outside' gifts are meaningful dust collectors, if not re-gifted to the next sap, er, recipient. People make a list of things because it is what they would most like to receive from the party-goers. It is also far easier for the giver to get something worth while without putting too much thought into it. Note: thought and care should be given for gifts for a significant other or even a family member, as the conditions are a bit different and the time and effort put into that gift are well appreciated. But for the rest of us, who are going to a friend's place or a more distant relative, a gift off a registry is just right.

This idea is not that hard to institute. Just make a list at your favorite store or two and let people know about it. The list maker must, however, take into consideration budgets and 'gift-worthiness', of course. This means having a range of price options, with a majority of those being on the lesser end so people will actually buy it. No one is going to buy you that surround sound system for your Labor Day cookout. Taking this into consideration, it should be fairly easy to come up with decent gift lists, especially at your large department/get-it-all stores like Target or Macy's.

Now, the trouble with this grand idea is getting past the social stigma associated with the word 'registry'. If I were to have a birthday party and I include on my invitations that I am registered at a certain place, there is an immediate reaction of snobbery or disdain, as registries are considered appropriate only for what they are known to be associated with: weddings and babies. I propose that for now the non-wedding/baby gift registry only be indicated as available by word of mouth, as in "Oh by the way, if you are having trouble with gift ideas, I went out and made a random gift registy at store X. Feel free to look at it if you need some ideas". You know, something off the cuff and relaxed that gets others thinking about how good an idea this and how they want one themselves, and not what a d-bag you are for making your own personal gift list.

If these personal gift registries can be looked upon as a good for all people socially, and not a stab at a person's self-importance than this can work. I think the underlying issue is that people like to give gifts that mean something to the recipient and often do not want them to be acutely aware of the cost involved. Registries put the dollar figures out in the open, allowing the recipient to draw a conclusion (whatever that may be) simply from that figure.

Still, for all the parties out there, it sure would be nice to know that the $10 wine holder is something the party thrower actually wanted. I'm sure the party thrower wouldn't mind either. Even better, is that if people actually got things they wanted for these run of the mill parties, there might be a lot more parties, and better ones at that. I can only imagine the party competition once personal gift registries are commonplace. But I won't get ahead of myself, just pass the idea along. The super parties will come...