Gift list for money?

nm123_2

Hi there,

It's my step-dad's 60th birthday soon and we're having a party. People have been asking what they could buy for him and we know he'd really like an i-phone and a digital camera, but obviously these are too expensive as individual presents! We'd thought about setting up a kind of gift list where people can donate money towards the i-phone or the camera, a bit like justgiving.com but obviously rather than it going to a charity it would go to my step-dad.... It seems silly for people to spend money on something he doesn't want and we figure this way people can spend as much or as little as they'd like.

Does such a thing exist?

Thanks!

nervousftb_3

could you just put a note in the invitations asking for vouchers for a certain shop, eg. currys or whatever?

starbump

I reckon the closest you'll get is a regular gift list with vouchers/store credit. E.g. https://www.johnlewisgiftlist.com/

You could put the phone and camera on the gift list (in the expectation that no one will buy them) and then people could see what the store credit is likely to go towards. I believe vouchers/store credit are a standard option on most gift lists (although I believe they are usually intended as a back up in case everything on the list gets bought!).

nm123_2

Thanks - we did consider JL vouchers or even Amazon vouchers.... But I'm not sure you can get i-phones there...

Mojisola

You could ask for people to send the money to you in advance and you can get the gifts and a big card signed by everyone who has given money. That way he gets the gifts on the day instead of a load of tokens. We did this for an uncle when he reached 80.

If you can't get the card to everyone, send them a sticky label big enough for them to write a little message on and sign and then you can put it on the card. My uncle was as thrilled with the card as the gifts because it showed people had been thinking about him and planning stuff in advance.

amilotte

nervousftb wrote: »

could you just put a note in the invitations asking for vouchers for a certain shop, eg. currys or whatever?

I agree, there is something about asking for money that doesn't seem 'polite' in some way even though people will be spending it anyway

I had a wedding invitation with gift list this year which began 'for those of you wishing to purchase gifts......' which kind of takes the 'expectant' edge off it a little. Etiquette I guess its called lol!:rotfl:

Katie-Kat-Kins

I'd email/phone/write to all the invitees and explain that you know he wants an i phone for his birthday and you are hoping to have a collection so one big gift can be bought. Ask if they would be willing to chip in, and ask them to send money/cheques to you to co-ordinate. That would be the easiest way round it, you can word it so that it isn't compulsory and I don't think any one will be offened, it isn't like a wedding invitation asking for money as it isn't being asked for by the recipient it is a fellow guest organising it.

If you would rather do it via a website there are websites where you can do money contributions, but I can't remember the names as for our wedding we had a traditional wedding list.

Pee

If the contact specified that some people had asked and were stuck for what to get him, you couldn't cause offence. Obviously anyone who had already thought about his favourite single malt etc could do that.

nm123_2

KatP wrote: »

I'd email/phone/write to all the invitees and explain that you know he wants an i phone for his birthday and you are hoping to have a collection so one big gift can be bought.

This is what we're doing - we're just sorting out the invites now and wanted to set something up online where people could contribute.

There is no "expectation" that people will want to give money, it's just that some people have been asking what he wants and rather them "waste" their money on something random we thought they would prefer to get something he really wants.

KatP wrote: »

If you would rather do it via a website there are websites where you can do money contributions, but I can't remember the names as for our wedding we had a traditional wedding list.

This is what we're after!! Think think think! What is it called!??

You could ask for people to send the money to you in advance and you can get the gifts and a big card signed by everyone who has given money.

We'd planned to do this too.

Little_Miss_Penny_Less

nm123 wrote: »

This is what we're after!! Think think think! What is it called!??

We used www.thebottomdrawer.co.uk for our wedding, where people could purchase 'gifts' and experiences for our honeymoon - essentially we were sent the money to spend on honeymoon. They do take a % of the final amount - I think 5% or a maximum fee - can't remember how much it was though.

It's quite useful as you can add items to the list, i.e. put on a description of the i-phone / camera, then break the payment part down into multiples (£10 minimum unfortunately) that make up the total (i.e. if i-phone was £150 you could put on 15 x £10's. People can buy one, or as many as they like.

Hope that helps

Katgrit

i think paypal will allow you to send money via email as a "gift" so that they dont charge any fees, and then as long as the recipient is withdrawing a minimum or less than a maximum amount there are no fees to pay at that end either. You could email people giving a link to the site, and your email address. Get this checked out because i could be talking complete tosh but i'm sure it would work.