10 Fun Gifts For Newlyweds

Most of the time, when you’re giving gifts to newlyweds, you’re choosing off of registries. This is a great system, really, and allows couples to stock up on the things they want and need to start their life together without having to make specific requests of specific people. However, if you’re a close friend it can feel a little impersonal to pick out a set of water glasses or couch pillows (to name a few common examples) from an online registry. Plus, registries tend to get picked over in the blink of an eye!

If you’d rather go your own route, you might be surprised how much your newly married friends appreciate it. A few thoughtful gifts that didn’t come from the registry can always be fun, and you can rest assured they’ll be getting at least a lot of what they asked for online. So in the spirit of doing something different next time you’re looking for newlywed gifts, here are 10 fun gifts to think about.

1. Wine
   

Giving wine as a gift used to be a little bit complicated, or at least a little annoying. You’d have to find a wine shop you liked, talk to the people there about recommendations, and then figure out how to wrap or present the bottle(s) you chose. Nowadays, however, you can browse a wine selection online and order it, either directly to your friends or to yourself so that you can give in person. It’s something most people will always appreciate, and it’s a nice way to give your friends something to enjoy for their first few nights at home as newlyweds. Plus, they’ll probably have a bunch of brand new wine glasses from their registry!

2. Custom Art

This would certainly be a surprise for most couples. It’s become incredibly easy to use various websites to turn an ordinary photograph into a work of art. Sometimes you can put effects on photos to make them seem like sketches or paintings. But even if you just use the original photo, you can have it blown up as a canvas print or metallic poster. A piece of art straight from the wedding photos, or using an old picture of the couple, can be a lovely gesture.

3. A Wine Subscription
   

We covered the idea of finding a bottle of wine online, or even a few bottles. But as with seemingly everything else lately, you can also gift someone a subscription to a service that will provide a regular wine stash. It’s a little bit less personal, but then again it’s also a way of letting the couple decide for themselves what they’d like to drink and when.

4. A New Bed
   

If you’re going for the element of surprise, a new bed will probably go a long way! At the very least it’s become easier to find a quality mattress online, and you can be the one to upgrade your friends’ comfort as they start their lives together. Again, it’s unexpected, but it’s the kind of purchase people don’t often make for themselves until they’re miserable with what they have.

5. A Food Subscription
   

Just as you can now buy a wine subscription, you can subscribe to a food service that will deliver ingredients and recipes about as often as customers like. Cooking together can be a lot of fun for a newlywed couple, particularly if it happens to be their first time living together, which means this can be a very enjoyable gift.

6. Dinner Out On The Honeymoon
   

Sticking with the food concept, you can also take a bold approach and pay for a dinner out during the honeymoon. It takes a little bit of advance planning, and you’ll want to make sure you’re not getting in the way of any plans they might already have. But by calling ahead to the honeymoon destination and booking a night at a great restaurant, you can treat them to a perfect evening just days after the wedding.

7. Dance Lessons

This is a little different because it’s a gift best given in advance. If, however, you’re aware that your friends are working on their dances for the wedding (plenty of couples do, in the months leading up to the big day), it can actually be a very thoughtful gift. You can find lessons with highly skilled instructors at a studio near where your friends live, and set them up with a few sessions in advance of the wedding. This is another gift that will certainly be unexpected.

8. A Home Garden

If your friends are excited about setting up their home together, or if you simply happen to know they enjoy working in the yard, getting them set up with a new home garden can be a nice gesture as well. Designing or supplying an entire garden is a little bit extreme, but a selection of plants and/or gardening materials can be a nice start.

9. A Smart Home Assistant
   

Able to control everything from music to lighting, smart home assistant devices are becoming vital to modern homes. Amazon and Google already have well-known devices in this product category, but Apple is getting in on the action as well with the forthcoming release of the “HomePod.” It’s said to blow other devices out of the water in terms of speaker quality, and it’s a very nice gift to consider in the near future.

10. A Second Honeymoon
    

We’ll wrap things up with a rather intense but very enjoyable option. For a married couple, there’s always a little bit of an abruptness to returning to everyday life. The weeks leading up to the wedding are a whirlwind, the wedding itself is a blur, and the honeymoon always goes by quickly. Then it’s just back to normal. But you can help extend the good times by booking a cheaper weekend getaway for your friends, perhaps a few weeks after the honeymoon. It’s probably going to be a little pricier than most other options, but it’s sure to be deeply appreciated.