Appropriate engagement gift

Parzival

What is the etiquette for an engagement gift these days. We have been invited to an engagement party and dont know what to bring. Some have suggested that if they are putting on food then it would have to be a more substantial gift, trouble is iv no idea whats happening at the party. The party is in london where we are based but will be flying to ireland for the wedding next year.

Diamond Doll

I'd go with a small token gift, maybe something like a card and an (inexpensive) set of wine glasses, or a dinner voucher, or a bottle of champagne/wine, or a photo album or nice bunch of flowers, all depending on budget. I certainly don't think anything extravagant is generally expected for an engagement, whether there's a party or not.

Arbiter of Good Taste

Parzival wrote: »

What is the etiquette for an engagement gift these days. We have been invited to an engagement party and dont know what to bring. Some have suggested that if they are putting on food then it would have to be a more substantial gift, trouble is iv no idea whats happening at the party. The party is in london where we are based but will be flying to ireland for the wedding next year.

An extravagant gift is not necessary. It is their choice to throw the engagement party.

A token gift would be nice if you can afford it. Try not to go with "thoughtful". Everyone thinks their gift is "thoughtful" and when we got engaged we ended up with loads of candlesticks which are now just gathering dust.

An engagement gift which I really loved was a voucher for a restaurant. When every spare penny is going towards the wedding, it's nice to have that to use when you've had enough of wedding planning. But again, a token amount should be plenty.

Toots

Bottle of bubbly is my go-to engagement gift.

michellie

We got a few vouchers for our favourite restaurant and we loved it.

Tarzana2

I didn't know gifts were expected for engagement parties. Any I've been to in the last few years, most people didn't give anything. If you want to give something, a token gift is fine.

Milly33

Just something small or else get homeware... We weren't expecting any at all but the best ones were like a nice bottle of bubbles or we got some loverly serving dishes.. If you like Nicolas Mosse they have a loverly little heart shaped serving plate could get something like that.

Jbubs

Bottle of champagne or voucher for a meal.

JustAThought

OP what did people give, and did you go? I never bring more than a card to engagement parties on the grounds- if you're " important" enough you will be invited to the wedding & they will get their present there. Good Champagne comes in at 50-80 + and a voucher for a meal would be rhe same - I just don't believe in gifting twice for the one event. Unless it was a sister or special female in which case she would get flowers but not at the engagement party venue!

Parzival

JustAThought wrote: »

OP what did people give, and did you go? I never bring more than a card to engagement parties on the grounds- if you're " important" enough you will be invited to the wedding & they will get their present there. Good Champagne comes in at 50-80 + and a voucher for a meal would be rhe same - I just don't believe in gifting twice for the one event. Unless it was a sister or special female in which case she would get flowers but not at the engagement party venue!

We got them a card and a nice bottle of wine, i figured we'd be flying over dor the wedding and giving a gift then so thats enough i feel

JustAThought

Parzival wrote: »

We got them a card and a nice bottle of wine, i figured we'd be flying over dor the wedding and giving a gift then so thats enough i feel

Good decision : )

dirkmeister

We never give gifts for an engagement party, it's their choice to throw one to be honest.

When we got engaged we didn't expect any gifts either.

bee06

dirkmeister wrote: »

We never give gifts for an engagement party, it's their choice to throw one to be honest.

When we got engaged we didn't expect any gifts either.

Same here. We specifically didn't have an engagement party because we didn't want people to feel obliged to give us gifts.

dirkmeister

bee06 wrote: »

Same here. We specifically didn't have an engagement party because we didn't want people to feel obliged to give us gifts.

Again, that's why we didn't have a party.
She went out with her friends,I went for a few low key pints with mine on a different night and we went for a meal together then just to mark the occasion.

hurikane

No gift needed. You'll be forking out for the stag / hen party, wedding gift, wedding day, wedding accommodation etc etc

Polo_Mint

I never heard of an " Engagement Party"

Is this a new thing. It sounds quiet daft

Truckermal

How much of a meal voucher is enough?

duffman13

Truckermal wrote: »

How much of a meal voucher is enough?

Whatever covers food and drink for two. It could be anything depending on the restaurant. I'd default to 50 but of your going for a more expensive restaurant then you'll have to stretch a bit more

SarahS2013

We didn't expect gifts, we just wanted to have a celebration with our nearest and dearest.
Everyone brought gifts...mostly bottles of champagne but also got everything from photo frames to nice candles to champagne flutes etc etc
We were overwhelmed with people's generosity.

woodchuck

Are engagement gifts really a thing now? The most I've done is chip in a small amount with a group of friends for a bottle of champagne and a group card.

Honestly, people spend enough at the wedding (gift, accommodation, travel etc) without having to worry about engagement presents too!!

SarahS2013

woodchuck wrote: »

Honestly, people spend enough at the wedding (gift, accommodation, travel etc) without having to worry about engagement presents too!!

We're keeping our wedding in Dublin for that exact reason. No pressure on people to travel or pay for accommodation. (Most of our wedding party are in Dublin).