Importance of “parent of the ___” Gifts

Not required and often not given. It’s a Hallmark thing that Pinterest/Etsy ran away with.


Some couples give photo albums after photos are printed but beyond that, they are not given/expected/required

It’s not required to give your parents gifts. It would be nice if they contributed heavily financially to the wedding, but again it’s not required you do so. You could wait until you get your wedding pictures and the just get a nice frame and give them pics from your wedding you took with them.

I think gifts are necessary for anyone who has contributed either financially or with their time as a thank you. A cheaper but sentimental gift for parents could be a framed picture from the wedding and a handwritten, heartfelt letter.

My mom begged for a picture asap after, she’d even pay.
So I got her and dad a puzzle of a wedding picture as a gift 😏 😈 also gave them popcorn and a redbox voucher so they can do a date night. My in-laws got a collage of pictures to hang up. I’ll get my mom a real picture after she finishes the puzzle.
I might also make them little gifts from the wood flowers I used as decorations. ~Puzzle isn’t too evil since she actually has three old movie picture puzzles as decor in the house. She likes puzzles but not how long they take lol~

View Quoted Comment This is good guidance. Keep it simple and only gift I'd there is you big reason to say thanks..


My FH and I are only planning on giving gifts to my parents since they are contributing almost all of the money and have been a huge help in wedding planning. My FH's parents have been excited for us but it is more of a "send us the invite and we will be there" kind of situation. Our gift will most likely be a nice bottle of liquor or a voucher for a date night since those are things they would really enjoy. Both sets of parents will get a printed photo after the wedding but I don't really see that as a gift, more an expectation (at least in my family).

Typos galore... I meant to say:


"Keep it simple and only gift if there is a big reason to say thanks to someone for their help with the wedding."

View Quoted Comment Exactly this. I bought everyone who helped a little something as to show how much I appreciate it. If you don't want to you don't have to give them anything. But if you do you can check out Amazon, you can find really nice things sometimes for pretty cheap. We got custom gulf balls for the guys with their name and wedding date. I think it was like $15 or you could always give them pictures. But again you don't have to.

This is consumerist American society telling you to buy stuff. Most parents are not expecting any sort of gift at all.

I would not get gifts unless your family contributed to your wedding (either financially or with sweat equity) and then only if you feel they are appropriate. Parent gifts should be a thank you for supporting your wedding, not a thank you for giving birth to you and raising you.

I made albums for our parents after our elopement. I think these were extra nice because only our parents and a few friends were there, so we didn't post photos online at all because we wanted to keep everything private so that when we were able to have our wedding celebration things would still be a bit of a surprise to the rest of our guests. Now that we have had our wedding celebration and actually have some family photos, I will probably have a nicely framed photo done for each of them.