Registering for gifts

We started to get inquiries about our gift registry, so I spent the majority of last week getting it sorted out.  Way more time consuming than I thought it would be!

I actually managed to drag poor Andy out to Sur La Table last weekend where we spent 2.5 hours registering.  He was initially excited by the scan gun but by the end of the day he was well and truly over it!  Apart from a minor disagreement about flatware, we were very much on the same page and it's funny how many kitchen basics we didn't have.  Our registries are very much kitchen focused, probably because we are so food focused ourselves!

I've since realized that while Sur La Table is a GREAT store, they are a little lacking in the registry department, particularly for online management and purchasing.  So while I am keeping a bunch of items on our registry there, I've since moved a lot of the items to the more user friendly registries like Williams Sonoma, Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn.  Took a while but just so much easier to use.

We've also set up a very alternative registry at MyRegistry.com, which contains items like chinese garden stools, unusual soap dispensers, paintings, wedding blankets, and the list goes on.  I didn't want us to have 10 different registries, but it's also hard to just pick a handful of stores, so MyRegistry seemed like a good compromise.  We added some big ticket items but they're ones that big groups can go in on together, and we've also got lots of little fun things people can buy us like lobster claw printed oven mitts and dinosaur cookie cutters.

MyRegistry was pretty easy to set up from my end.  I simply downloaded this button that I added to my browser and then when I see an item we want to add to the registry online I just click on "add to my registry" and it adds the item information, photo and link.  

Anyone who wants to buy us a gift from MyRegistry will then be directed to the original website where they can buy the item.  So if I found a balinese temple umbrella from a store in Downtown LA (and I did), they'll be directed to that store's website, and they'll purchase it from the store directly.  So MyRegistry is really just an online list.  People are supposed to log back in to MyRegistry to say that they've purchased the item to avoid repeat purchases, I'm just not sure people will actually do that.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see.  I've since heard there is another version called Wish Pot that I need to check out, maybe it works differently.

Last but not least I registered for a few items at a local store Maison Midi (the homewares part of American Rag Cie on La Brea) so that friends who live locally can pop in and pick up cute items like Moroccan tea glasses and vintage wall thermometers.  It's not online, but we figured why not.

We were up in Lake Tahoe this weekend fora friends wedding (they got married on a ski slope at Squaw and it was so beautiful!) and I briefly visited the most amazing store at Incline Village called The Potlatch.  They've been buying art and jewelry from a Native American reservation for over 60 years and they had the most amazing collection of items.  

There were a few items there that I would love to add  to MyRegistry, although they were more than a little pricey!  We both loved this buffalo head from a Native American reservation.  Amazing but - eek - $1,700!!!  

I fell deeply in love with this piece by a Native American artist also on a reservation.  He's $600, had he been any cheaper I think I would have bought him on the spot.  I can't stop thinking about him, I'm obsessed! He's only little, but the detail on him is truly amazing...