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Wedding gift boxes for the part the registry missed

Everything on a wedding list was chosen by somebody else. I pack every box myself, by hand, here in Canada, I write your card out in your own words, and there's no price on anything inside. Shipping anywhere in Canada is on me.

I pack every box by hand here in Canada, and the card is written out in your words.

Four wedding boxes from $99 to $119, shipped free, each with a card written by hand.

The Luxury Wedding Keepsake Box, a wedding gift box packed by hand in Canada
An example of the card, written in your words

Maya and Ben. Nothing off the registry, on purpose.

Love, Dan and Sara

The Luxury Wedding Keepsake BoxOne size, about four things.$119Buy now: The Luxury Wedding Keepsake Box, $119

Four boxes I pack for a wedding

Four boxes, and three of the four come in two sizes, where the larger one is the same box with about two more things in it rather than a different idea at a bigger number. Wedding gifts get compared, so I've written what each one is actually for rather than a list of what's inside it. The same handwritten card goes in all four, and shipping is free on every one.

Want to choose what goes in? Build your own box instead: you choose the box, you choose what goes in it, and it ships free the same way these do.

Not on the registry

A registry is a list of things the couple can already picture in their house, which is exactly why it works and exactly why the last items left on it are the ones nobody wanted. If it is picked over, or you opened it and could not tell which of the four kettles was the one they actually meant, a box is the honest way out.

It is not a cheaper version of the thing they asked for. It is a different job. Nobody puts a slow morning, or two glasses for their own kitchen table, on a registry, because those are not things you can ask people for, and they are the part of a wedding gift that gets remembered.

There's no price on anything inside the box, so it opens as a gift and not as a number, whatever else is on the table beside it.

When to send it, and where

I can't promise an exact arrival date, so don't plan on a box landing on the wedding day, and don't send it to a venue. Nothing about a wedding day is a good address: the gifts get moved twice, nobody is at the desk, and the couple are not the ones carrying them home.

Put the couple's own address in at checkout and send it a week or two either side of the wedding, which is where wedding gifts end up anyway. The week after is the quieter half, and it is the half where a box gets opened properly. You can pick a preferred delivery date at checkout, which tells me when to send it rather than when it will arrive.

More boxes that suit a couple starting a house

Each of these is sold here for another reason too, so nothing on this page calls them anything else. Every price includes free shipping anywhere in Canada and a card written out by hand.

Showing all 6

If you want to spend more than this

Three of the four come in two sizes, and together they stop at $119, which is what these boxes cost, and I'm not going to pad one out to reach a bigger number. If one of them is your brother, or a few of you are going in on one gift, the larger size of one of these is the straightforward answer, and after that it is a different box rather than one of these padded out.

Neither of the two below is a wedding box, so the card has to do more of the work. Nothing on this page is a smaller gift for costing less.

Or start from every box I make, sorted by priceThe whole ladder, $70 to $299, including the sizes between these boxes and those.

At a wedding, the card is the gift.

You type the message when you order, up to 280 characters. I write it out in pen on a real card and set it on top, so it's the first thing they read. Wedding presents get opened days later, in a pile, with a list beside them. A card in real handwriting is the one thing in that pile that says who you are without being read off a label.

Stuck on what to write? You could start with one of these:

"So happy for you both.""Sorry to miss the day.""Here's to the ordinary years. They're the good ones."

There are more lines you can borrow in my guide to writing a gift card message.

An example of the card, written in your words

So happy for you both. Sorry to miss the day, we'll make it up to you.

Love, Dan and Sara

How to choose a wedding gift

Most people start with the number, and the number is the part that keeps them up. The honest version is that the couple will remember who came and who wrote something, and will not remember the amount. If you're a colleague, a plus-one or a cousin who sees them at weddings, one box is a whole gift and you are not underdressing the occasion. If you're family, or you're standing up at the front, you'll want the fullest one here and probably something off the registry as well. My guide to how much to spend on a gift in Canada goes relationship by relationship.

Things they keep

Three boxes from $99 to $119: the Newlywed Toast Box, the Sweet Beginnings Box and the Luxury Wedding Keepsake Box. A box that gets eaten in a week is a perfectly good wedding gift. The ones people still bring up years later are the ones with something in them that ended up staying in the kitchen.

The week after

Two boxes from $99 to $119: the Breakfast in Bed Box and the Sweet Beginnings Box. The day itself is catered down to the last chair. The week after it is two exhausted people in a quiet house with nothing in the fridge, and that's the gap most wedding presents miss.

If you're worried it isn't enough

Three boxes from $99 to $119: the Newlywed Toast Box, the Breakfast in Bed Box and the Sweet Beginnings Box. That is a complete wedding gift from a colleague, a plus-one or a friend of the family, and nobody is ranking them afterwards. The Luxury Wedding Keepsake Box at $119 is the one for family and for anyone standing up at the front. Shipping is free on every one of them, with no minimum to reach.

For the house they are still filling

A wedding gift and a housewarming gift are nearly the same problem, and the boxes I make for one suit the other. These are for the kitchen rather than for the day, from $99, and they are the closest thing on this site to the useful half of a registry.

Before this, and a year after it

Engaged, showered, married, a year in. Four occasions, the same two people, about eighteen months, and I stock all four of them.

The shower lands a month or two before the wedding and it is usually the same people buying twice. If you are on both lists, that gift gets opened in front of a room, so send the quiet one from the bridal shower shelf and keep the one that lasts for here.

A year from now the same two people have a first anniversary and hardly anyone marks it. A box on that date lands harder than this one will, because yours turns up on its own instead of on a table with forty others, and the anniversary boxes are there for it.

If you are actually shopping for a couple who have just got engaged rather than married, that is a different shelf. The engagement boxes are smaller on purpose and nothing is expected of you yet.

Further out than the run itself, two or three years past the day, it is often the same two people again with a spare room being cleared out. The baby shower boxes are the ones built for that, and half of them are aimed at the parents rather than at the baby.

Four occasions, one couple, and you never land back on the same shelf twice.

Questions people ask me

I've already bought off the registry. Is a box on top too much?

No, and plenty of people close to a couple end up doing both without thinking of it that way. The two gifts are not competing for the same slot: one of them was asked for and one of them was not, and only one of them has your handwriting in it. If you are worried it reads as showing off, send the smallest box on this page and let the card carry the rest.

How much should I spend on a wedding gift in Canada?

Go by how close you are rather than by a figure you read somewhere. A colleague, a plus-one or a cousin sends one box and that is a whole gift. Family, or anyone in the wedding party, tends to go higher and often buys off the registry as well. My wedding boxes run from $99 to $119, every one of them ships free anywhere in Canada, and if you want to spend more than that the luxury boxes for her and for him are $299 each.

Can I have a wedding gift delivered on the wedding day?

No, and I'd rather say so than take the order. Shipping is free anywhere in Canada and takes 1 to 7 days in transit. I can't promise an exact arrival date, so nothing I send can be aimed at one particular day, and a venue is the worst address a box can have on the day itself. Send it to the couple's own address a week or two either side instead. You can pick a preferred delivery date at checkout, which tells me when to send it rather than when it will arrive.

What is inside a wedding gift box?

It depends on the box. They run from two glasses and something to eat beside them to a slow breakfast, or something wooden that stays on the counter. What goes in shifts with what's good this season, so I describe each one by how full it is and who it suits rather than listing it. There's no alcohol in any of them: where a box has glasses in it, the glasses come empty.

Can I send a wedding gift instead of bringing one to the wedding?

Yes, and most wedding gifts reach a couple that way now. Put their home address in at checkout and type your message. I copy it onto the card by hand, and the box turns up closed and unopened whether you were at the wedding or not, which is more than can be said for anything carried home from a venue.

Do you deliver wedding gifts across Canada?

Yes, anywhere in the country. Shipping is free anywhere in Canada and takes 1 to 7 days in transit. There's no minimum to reach and nothing added at checkout. I can't promise an exact arrival date, so order with room either side of the date rather than up against it.

Can I return a wedding gift box?

All sales are final. Every box is food, skincare and other things that can't be resold once they've left here, and each one is packed by hand to order. If you have a question before you buy, email me at team@swipegifts.com.

While you are here

Thanks for reading this far. If you have a question about any box, write to me at team@swipegifts.com. I read every email, and I write back.