Do people give gifts at engagement parties??

Yes some people tend to give gifts but I wouldn't designate a gift table or do a registry yet. For ours the gifts where just set off to the side on a coffee table and most gifts where wine, picture frames and other generic items like that.

@samanthaN thank you! That insight helps a lot. Did most of the people who gave gifts tend to be older/ family? Or did younger friends give gifts as well? Just not sure what to expect.

I only know one person who had an engagement party. She registered before and got gifts there. Hers was at a very swanky restaurant.

**THIS IS NOT MEANT TO BE A DIG AT ENGAGEMENT PARTIES** They called their engagement off like 2 months later. She did NOT return the gifts, which is fine, but she had like 3 Kate Spade place settings - not sure what she ended up doing with them.

Yes they sometimes do

@ELK hahaha that is actually kind of a funny story... Sad, but funny.

Yeah there's no need for a gift table or to set up your registry for that purpose. We got some cards and a few bottles of wine at our engagement party, and a couple friends of mine got me ring holders as an engagement gift. These were from friends my age who were at our engagement party - we have no family in town so our engagement party was all friends.

@rebecca good to know, that sounds about what I thought it might be like (:

Some do, some don't. Personally I don't go to any hosted event empty handed so a bottle of wine or champagne is normal, or a small household item. We didn't have an engagement party but we got some engagement gifts: bridal magazine, bottle of champagne, card and a ring holder. I'd have a small registry set up, but probably wouldn't broadcast it. Our registry was set up when we got our house and a couple family members purchased housewarming gifts from our registry, they found it on their own, we hadn't even made our wedding website public yet.

Most guests did at ours. We didn't need a table though, because it was mostly cards/money. About three people gave us gifts, and one was a guest book for the engagement party.

We didn't have an "engagement party" we had a house warming and then surprised everyone with the news that he had popped the question a few days before. But we did get a few of your traditional host gifts, wine, picture frames, house plant, etc. and a few family members sent us engagement gifts after the party with a congratulatory note.

Whatever you get (or don't get) be gracious, send thank you notes, and be sure to welcome everyone.

I had an engagement party and wasn't expecting gifts from anyone. they all gave me envelopes with cash $50-$200. it was totally unexpected but very much appreciated. I wouldn't register for anything if I were you. I went to my friends engagement party I was in the wedding and I got her Tiffany wine glasses. she cried when she opened them. she wasn't expecting gifts either.

You might get a few but I wouldn't worry about a table or creating your registry yet.

For my engagement party we had about 150 people but I still did not designate a specific table for gifts and did not make a registry for it. People don't usually come empty handed to an engagement party they usually bring something cute and small but I would still keep an open space area for your possible gifts that your guests will be bringing just not a "gift table"

Where I live and in my social circle, engagement parties are really, really informal and really, really rare. Sometimes a family member invites a bunch of people over for a BBQ; some couples invite their friends over for an informal gathering at their place; sometimes it's a "hey everyone, let's meet at [restaurant/bar] name here at 7:00 to celebrate." I've seen "gifts," but they're typically something small and cheesy -- a token to state hahaaaa! wow! marriage! Gifts are not expected and what I've mostly seen are food or drink contributions. If anyone gives something else, it's usually a card with cash and opened privately later.

I'm sure someone will negate this. It depends on who you all are and where you're from.

We had no registry and said that we didn't want any gifts BUT if people still wanted to get something anyway we wanted them to donate to our friends baby who was born with CHD.... Some people donated, some did nothing, some people still bought us stuff. We got towels, a blanket, ALOT of picture frames, and some money.