What to do with unwanted wedding gifts when you have no receipt
Most unwanted wedding gifts arrive without receipts, leaving couples stuck between the guilt of donating items bought with hard-earned money and the awkwardness of asking guests what to do with them. This leaves homes cluttered with unwanted items while making it impossible to exchange them for things actually needed.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Send a thank-you note and then donate the items
- 2Store the unwanted gifts away in a closet or garage
- 3Regift the items to someone else who might use them
- 4Leave the items behind at a family member's house
- 5Assessing the risk when opening the gift
- 6Leaving unwanted items at the grandparents' house
- 7Asking for a general category or description of the gift beforehand
- 8Setting boundaries or sticking to a wishlist
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“So my question is, what are people doing with gifts that they received that they don’t want but also don’t come with a gift receipt?”source ↗
“It feels weird to donate or regift items, and also extremely awkward to reach out to the person and say “we really don’t need this or don’t like this, what would you like us to do with it.””source ↗
“I think I would feel really guilty about donating gifts that people have spent their hard earned money on, but at the same time it’s kind of irking me that people have asked for our registry and then have just gotten something completely different.”source ↗
“I had to explain to my brother that I appreciate gifts but I’d like to know what son is getting so he doesn’t get duplicates, or so I can remove similar toys.”source ↗
“I would probably be annoyed too, depending on what grandma is getting. Like if my two year old opened a tablet that I had to then take away I’m be mad. Or if it’s something HUGE that we don’t have space for.”source ↗
“It feels wrong to me that she doesn't tell me beforehand. I am the childs parent, and I atleast would like to know what gift she is getting in case it's something potentially dangerous or undesirable for my daughters age.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2How to ask for money instead of gifts without looking rude
- 3How to handle inappropriate donation requests from individuals
- 7Friends giving terrible excuses to skip my wedding
- 8Guests dropping out after RSVPing yes for a wedding
- 5What to get your spouse for a wedding gift instead of registry stuff
- 4Why don't friends care about my wedding as much as I cared about theirs?