By Nayera El-Zeki
It’s April already! Other than beach weather and breezy nights, it means that wedding season is right around the corner and the hunt for hair accessories, dresses, shoes and makeup artists is about to commence.
The hardest hunt of all though, is the hunt for the perfect gift to give a newlywed couple. The reason this is a difficult task is because a wedding gift can be something completely disastrous if picked out wrong, but if done right, could be a lifesaver to the newlyweds.
Things to go for:
1. When picking out a wedding gift, think useful rather than decorative. A set of trays and clay bowls from Fair Trade Egypt would be a perfect example. They offer a large variety to choose from, and you can even get them custom made to taste.
2. Consider storage boxes from Ikea. No one can ever get enough of those, and they have them in almost every color known to man. Stick to plain colors in order to make it easy for the gift to fit in any setting.
3. Zara Home offers so many frame sets that will end up being extremely useful to the just-married couple when they return from their honeymoon. All the wedding photos and honeymoon photos will be adequately displayed, thanks to you.
4. A fondue set from House of Cocoa is a creative and delicious gift to give at this specific occasion. Romance will be at its peak with the newlywed couple, and a fondue set will be the cherry on top.
5. You will be graciously thanked for thinking about this next one; an OSN subscription will make you the couple’s favorite! With all the wedding shenanigans price lists, the couple will be delighted to have you take an expense off their hands, replacing it with 24/7 entertainment!
Things to avoid:
1. Avoid paintings, bathroom and bedroom decorations and/or anything that may not match the taste or design of the newlywed couple and their house. Unless you specifically know the house’s color spectrum and the taste the bride and groom prefer; don’t risk it.
2. Don’t take the easy road and pick out a kitchen appliance, wrap it up and hope they use it someday. Instead, when going for kitchen appliance, find out what they need or what they haven’t already got, and be the nice person who helped them get their life started rather than cluttered.
3. Picking out scents and aromas is a big no, for two reasons. First, like flowers, they’re extremely impersonal and say nothing other than I couldn’t be bothered to make an effort for picking out the gift. And second, unless you’re very close to the bride and groom, it’s close to impossible to get a scent that they wouldn’t mind their entire house smelling like all the time.
4. Cakes are always nice, I mean everyone loves cake. But what do you do when you have a million of them sitting around in your brand new, unfinished kitchen? The better scenario says they go to relatives who don’t mind taking some off of the couples’ hands. The more realistic scenario says they all go right into the garbage bin. Keep in mind they have also just spent thousands on a wedding cake and probably never want to see one again.
Directory
Fair Trade Egypt is located on 27 Yehia Ibrahim Street, Zamalek and 12 Street 205, Degla Maadi. Call on 002-02537235.
Ikea, Cairo Festival City, Kattameya.
Zara Home, Cairo Festival City, Kattameya. City Stars, Nasr City.
House of Cocoa, Downtown Mall, Kattameya. Call on 02 2314 6278. 17 Cleopatra Street, Heliopolis. Call on 02 2418 1148.
OSN, Downtown Mall, Kattameya. Al-Rehab City, 5Th Settlement. Maadi City Center. Hotline 3827 6666.