This will be easy if you don't confine yourself to thinking in terms of "attendants' gifts" and avoid looking only (or at all) at stores and web sites designed for wedding stuff. Just get them nice gifts.

You know these two women; we don't. What would they most enjoy as a gift? They don't have to get the same thing. Maybe the perfect gift for the MOH is an unabridged dictionary, a telescope, or a cooking class, and the perfect gift for the BM is silver candlesticks, a circular saw, or a great umbrella. Forget about it being something wedding-y and just get a great gift. Definitely nothing engraved with YOUR names and wedding date.

Another nice thing about getting more person-specific gifts is that it puts the focus on THEM, as individuals, not as supporting players in the story of YOUR wedding. There is so much attention to brides and grooms at and before weddings, it is particularly gracious when they show that they took time to think about other people's lives and interests.

Happy shopping!

Thank you! I was initially going to go along that route, but wasn't sure if that was the "etiquette" way to go. I didn't even think about something with our wedding info on it. I thought it sounded odd since it was a gift for them and not for DF and I. Do people do that? (Darn, I'm so wedding ignorant! lol)

My MOH is a jewelry junkie and wears about 12 rings at a time. She's not allowed to wear them at work and is always worried about losing them. I found a "jewelry roll" that holds jewelry securely and fits in the pocket. I was going to have that personalized with her name and give her a thank you card along with a poem I wrote about her support and friendship. Does that sound too cheesy?

Now I just need to think a little about the other BM and help DF think about his best man. Men are simple though, right? hee hee hee

Thank you for your help!

The jewelry roll idea is PERFECT. She will love it, not only because it will be useful for her, but because it shows you were thinking just of her. I can't say whether a poem is a good idea; depends on how sentimental the two of you are. You'll know what feels right. You said it well: stop worrying about what you called "the 'etiquette' way to go." These things are not matters of etiquette, no matter what wedding vendors try to tell you!

DD gave her attendants a few gifts. It was a warm weather wedding along the coast, so she monogrammed luxury beach towels for each of them, and also included their jewelry that they would wear in the wedding.

I wish someone had bought *me* a circular saw for being in her wedding!

I love that jewelry-roll idea, esp. if it's got a good "rings" section, because that really fits her life.

And I like the monogrammed luxury beach towels--that's sort of neat, too!

my ds2, was very clever. he knew his groomsmen very well so found sweatshirts that were special in some way. it took days but he found a shirt with a player who had the SAME last name. found a team shirt for ds1, and the last
another spors shirt from his parent's home country!

I had two attendants - my sister and best friend. I gave them each a laser-engraved silver keychain with our photograph on it. My sister's said "Always sisters, forever friends". My best friend's had a quote from a favorite poem of hers. They both loved them.

I went to my local mall to purchase these keychains, but if you search for the phrase: "laser engraved photo keychain" on Google, you will come up with some ideas of where to get them. If you have enough time, there are sellers on eBay who will do the same thing. Just try to find the ones with good feedback offering genuine silver.

Best of luck and congratulations!

demigraf (married nearly 3 weeks now) :)

I actually gave my maid of honor and bridesmaids board games. A couple of them were just married or about to get married and board games can be a really fun way to amuse yourself in that first year of marriage! I was worried that I "ought" to give them engraved wine glasses or something, but it ocurred to me that I wouldn't really want glasses engraved with someone else's wedding date when I'm registering for my own glasses anyway! I agree with the overall sentiment of the other posters. Just get something your bridesmaids will LIKE. Nothing says thank you like receiving a gift you actually want!

www.walmart.com has some really nice gifts that you can get personalized. Go to their site and do a search for 'personalized gifts' and you will see a bunch of ideas.

good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: walmart.com

We gave each of our attendants something different. We had a winter destination wedding, so we gave my ring bearer and flower girl personalized sleds to go out in the snow. My MOH travels a lot and I knew she was missing a bag out of luggage set that she really wanted. We got it for her. Our BM is a pilot, so we got him some kind of watch that he needed... etc. We treated it like Christmas and got each of them something they would personally enjoy. My sister-in-law got us all monogrammed bathrobes for her wedding and we LOVED them!!