No toasters please! Millennial couples now ask wedding guests to vow to cut their waste, help the elderly and plant flowers instead of giving traditional gifts
- Social gifting has becoming a popular trend among young engaged couples
- It involves pledging acts of kindness rather than traditional wedding presents
- It is most common among socially conscious millennials in their early 30s
It's the latest trend among enemies of materialism and the socially conscious, as well as millennial renters with no space for a new dining room table.
More and more engaged couples are shunning lavish wedding presents in favour of so-called 'social gifting'.
These couples, typically in their early 30s, have no use - or space - for expensive homeware.
Instead, they ask their wedding guests to carry out small acts of kindness, such as picking up litter, volunteering at a local charity or helping an elderly neighbour with their groceries.
Social gifting - whereby friends and family pledge acts of kindness (examples above) rather than traditional wedding presents - has become a trend among young socially conscious engaged couples
The concept has been growing in popularity in recent years, among both engaged couples and their guests.
Wedding gift website Prezola even lets users place their pledges (at £0.00 each) into their online baskets.
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'Social promises don't cost a penny and allow wedding guests to give the gift of their time to the happy couple,' the website says.
But could the well-meaning concept really be the ultimate gift to cheap guests, who may not even make good on their promises?
Katy Darcy, 32, and Daniel Lockwood, 33, will have asked guests to pledge acts of kidness rather than expensive homeware gifts for their August wedding
There is no way to tell. Couples will have to rely on the good faith of their friends and family to carry out the deeds.
'Prezola leaves the fulfilment of social promises to the couple and their generous guests,' the website says.
Speaking to The Times, Daniel Lockwood, 33, and Katy Darcy, 32, explained their decision to opt for social gifting rather than traditional presents ahead of their August wedding.
'We decided to just ask people to be a bit more thoughtful,' Katy said.
'One of the things is to try to reduce food waste, one was invite an elderly neighbour, which just made me cry, I thought it was so lovely. There are really simple things, like to compliment people more.'
Dom Beavon, Prezola's chief executive, told The Times that the website began to offer social gifting in response to requests from young socially conscious couples.
'The couple asking you in honour of their marriage to change your behaviour in some way, such as by doing something charitable, don't buy me a gift but buy yourself a reusable coffee cup — that's the kind of thing we are beginning to see,' he said.
