Gifts for Parents?!

The only thing I have thought of so far is a card with an "IOU" a wedding photobook

parent gifts are hard, especially when you have then kind that buy themselves anything they want they are impossible to buy for!

Depending on your dad, you could do a pocket watch, frame with a picture of you both, and for mom you could do handkerchief or jewelry? I am still struggling with what to do as well

I bought these HUGE solid wood frames and I'm going to have a print of a good wedding photo of us made and professionally frame the picture.

I'm trying to find a cool frame we can give each set of parents for them to put one of our wedding photos in. I have a vision in my head of what it should look like - a nice frame with a sweet quote on it. I haven't found anything I like yet, though! And I'm not THAT crafty to make one myself, but I might try!

We're also thinking a gift card to their favorite restaurant (in addition to the frame so it's not impersonal) so they can have a nice night out.

Did most of you give the gift on the day of the wedding or after the wedding? Maybe I can get them something small and sentimental on the day of the wedding and then when i get the wedding albums, that can be their main gifts after the wedding?

For my dad I am going to get him a nice bottle of wine and for FMIL we got her a crystal wine decanter that she can display on her bar and use for all of her parties. For my mom since she is retired and spends all of her time traveling in her car we found a tablet we already had that we were not using and will be setting it up so she can listen to books on it while she is driving.

Here are a few other gift ideas. Since my brother just graduated college and I will be seeing him at the wedding for the first time since then I got him a go pro camera as a present. He does a lot of outdoor sports like mountain biking and kayaking and likes to film the trips.

My cousin also recently graduated so we got him a nice leather wallet and will be putting a gift card in it. My other cousin recently had a birthday so we got him a watch from fosil.

We did the handkerchiefs for our parents. But we had their title i.e. Mother of the Bride embroidered on it and also the wedding date. That way it was personal, but something that could come from both of us. We also gave my dad some cigars to enjoy later in the evening during the reception.

We also gave them their gifts during the rehearsal dinner, but later in the evening when they were just around.

As part of our photographer's package, it included parent wedding albums. They knew about it beforehand, so they picked their own pictures afterwards.

CHECK ETSY for frames I am looking for stuff and they have great stuff!

My dad is a photo nut so I am getting him a photo album for our wedding pictures. I have a horrible relationship with my mom so the photo album will technically be a gift to her as well. I'm leaving it up to FH to decide what to get his parents.

I had hankies embroidered from me to my parents and to my FILs.

FH got the moms a Pandora bead, and the dad's engraved Leathermans.

We ordered engraved bookmarks off of Etsy with a short personal message for each of our parents.

Http://www.pinterest.com/canyonembshop/mom-and-dad-personalized-embroidered-wedding-handk/ has some cool ideas!

Group gifts for us - getting each set of parents a gift certificate to resort areas they like going to. My parents like to go to this town with a lot of eagles and eagle/bird centers. His parents like a B&B they go to often in another small town.

Otherwise I had NO clue what to do either. Gifts are hard for any occasion we have, much less a wedding where they're each contributing a little bit of help.

Has anyone asked the parents what they'd like? Is that in bad form? I mean, if my folks would like a fancy, professional photo album, I'd be happy to give it to them. Or a nice dinner/night out!

I mean, for Christmases and birthdays we usually give each other lists (or better yet, just shop off everyone's Amazon wish lists). FH and I are both very close with our folks and I'm just wondering if it would be shocking or impersonal to just...ask?

I don't think it would be bad to ask. I was tempted to do it. I just wanted to make it a surprise because not only do I want to give them a gift but I wanted it to be sentimental too and something that reminds them of the wedding. It's very difficult!

I think it's fine to give them gifts after the wedding if you want to give them a photo book. That's what I'm doing. I'm going to write each of the parents a lovely card saying that's for their help and support during our engagement and with the wedding planning. And let them know in the card that our gift to them as thanks, is that we will pay for a photo book for them, or pay for several photo prints, whichever they want more. I know both my parents will want printed pictures of my wedding, so a perfect gift for them will be me paying for the pictures for them.

Making it easy and getting parents double photo frames, we intend on putting an engagement photo on one side and a cute poem saying the other side is for their favorite wedding photo.

I ordered the personalized handkerchiefs for each parent. I'm really glad I did. I think the parents will love them and they turned out great! Yes the handkerchiefs are addressed from just one of us. (my mom & dad from me) but I'm not to concerned about that.

I also had the wedding photo book idea as well. I'm just going to create a 'coupon' for the album so the parents know they are are getting their own wedding album after the pictures come in.

That's a great idea @jillandbill2014 I might do that too because I really want to get them the handkerchiefs (I can find reasonably priced ones) and an album after the wedding.

I'm thinking about doing what A&G said. Give them a thank you note thanking them for everything and their support with an IOU for pictures from the wedding and/or a photo book. My parent's are the type to go out and buy whatever they want. I feel they would want pictures from the wedding more than anything else. Especially one on one pictures with each of them.