Should you have a bridal shower without a registry?

I think that would be quite rude and it misses the whole point of what a bridal shower is all about. A bridal shower is for the guests to 'shower' the bride to be with gifts and watch her open them. How are you going to watch the bride to be open the gifts if there aren't any to open? Honeymoon funds are great for the wedding, but I don't see how anyone could have a bridal shower without a physical registry.

I would say no because the entire purpose is to "shower" the couple with physical gifts. If you choose to not register for household items and go with a honeymoon fund instead, skip the shower, even though the bride is not planning/hosting it. However some people will still host one for you, whether it's work, book club, in laws, etc.

My sister is still putting on a bridal shower for me and it's my second wedding and my FH and I lived together for the last 6 years and we have everything. We did not register for gifts and we specifically said no gifts on the invitation. We're doing a shower tea and I don't think it's a requirement to be registered in order to have one, it can be just a lovely get together with the ladies in your family and friends.

I would rather get the couple/bride something they really want. If they would rather be gifted with an experience rather than a physical gift, I'm all for that.

I didn’t register anywhere. We have everything we need. All I wanted was for all girls/family to get together and have a good time. It was also an opportunity for both sides of the family to meet each other before the wedding.

I think the entire point of a bridal or couples “shower” is to shower with gifts. I wouldn’t feel comfortable giving cash, I feel like that’s what the wedding gift is. Unless is was more I’d meet and greet type party but not a “shower”.

View Quoted Comment I honestly hate watching the bride open a million gifts, the bridal shower is to shower the bride with what she wants and needs and if all she wants is a honeymoon fund then so be it

I’d probably call it a bridal lunch/brunch or something to that effect so guests are clear about the purpose of the event.

You can't have a bridal shower without a traditional registry

Honeymoon funds are fine for weddings, but extremely inappropriate for bridal showers. You can't have a bridal shower without a traditional registry! If you don't have physical gifts to open, then it's not a bridal shower. Might as well call it a bridal luncheon and specify no gifts

I also think it's up to the couple. If they do not want to be showered with physical gifts, it's their choice and I wouldn't call it paticulary rude

The whole purpose of a shower is to "shower" the couple with gifts. If they don't want physical gifts, then call it a bridal luncheon or something else, which makes it a non-gift giving event.

I’m all for it! The point of a bridal shower is to shower the bride with gifts and there’s no point in showering her with gifts she doesn’t want or need. I’d much rather watch her open gift cards than watch her open boxes of plates and boxes of towels and things she didn’t ask for. Plus it’s a great time for important women in her life to meet each other and to play games and get to know her better!

My fiancé and I had no intention of doing a bridal shower since we too have lived together for years and own a house so we have everything we need. My aunts are insisting on throwing me one so we made the registry with simple things that could replace the older items but I will not be opening them in front of everyone. I always hated watching the bride for an hour open each gift. It always feels forced and a competition on who got the most expensive gift. I also have severe anxiety with being stared at like that so I begged them to do whatever it took to let me open them at home or have them not wrapped so it’s not a big thing. I don’t even wanna think of the anxiety with walking down the aisle!

I disagree with a lot of posters on this. We aren't doing a traditional registry for our shower - we have lived together for almost two years and have everything we could need or want, and if we didn't, we would go buy it. The thought of creating a registry of random household items that I don't need to clutter my house seems a little silly LOL.

I know most of our family will give us money with or without a registry.

As a guest, I would rather give money, a wanted experience or a personalized gift to the couple rather than a blender they don't really need or a random wicker basket from Target that they could easily get themselves, just from the sake of shopping off of a registry.

I think that's tacky and rude. If you don't want physical gifts, don't accept a shower.

I truly don't understand this (asking for money for a bridal shower). The couple will (presumably) also be asking for money for their wedding. Why do they need another event to get money twice from the same guests?

And for those saying that they don't expect gifts for a shower and they just want to celebrate with people, then don't call the pre-wedding event a shower. Words do still have meaning in a culture, and all of your guests will feel obligated to bring a gift (money is a gift) to an event called a shower, even if that's not the host's intention.

My actual wedding registry was just a honeymoon fund split into activities.

so for my shower i actually had to make a separate registry for that otherwise it was like how do i respond when someone asked me what i wanted?

Depend on your area and people. Where I am, 5 people would give to the honeymoon find, equally as many would give nothing, ticked off at being directly asked to give to a honeymoon fund. And the other 30 would try to give nice gifts without the suggestions of a registry. Fairly likely not returnable things.

View Quoted Comment Of course you can, how silly. The kind of computerized anything and everything registries you are use to came into being twenty years ago.. Before that were kitchen,fancy entertaining, china, silver and glassware. , 1 store only, and mostly for the well off couple. And still there were shower and wedding gifts. Everything else, non registry. People had no problem getting gifts without a registry then, and
( with a lot of thought, we hope) have no problem now. ***** Where did you get the idea you cannot have a shower with no registry? *****