It's Time To Register ... For Your Anniversary?

When I was a kid—probably more like a teenager—I vividly remember thinking that all of the adults in my life seemed to have absolutely no style when it came to home décor and textiles. My own home was a showcase of patterns from the 70s way into the 90s; and I remember thinking that my grandparents’ décor was just older-looking because they were.

If you are in your late 30s or early 40s, chances are your parents had some of the same beauties in their collections as my family did … Harvest Gold Tupperware, anyone? Or that blue cornflower corning ware? It seems these things were, at one time, all the rage.

But, I’m here to tell you: I get it now. Your parents and grandparents had old, out-of-style stuff because they had been married for a while, and these were the items from their wedding registry 20 or 30 years ago. It all works just fine—and, as they have gotten older and more mature, they have decided they didn’t give a flip about what anyone else thought—so, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Right?

This is playing out in my own life as we speak. I pull out the same colorful dishes from my own registry for dinner every night, just as I have for the past 15 years, even though they don’t match the rest of my kitchen anymore at all. But, I can think of a lot of things I’d rather spend money on than new plates. So, they never get replaced.

Well, folks, I have the solution. We need to start registering for significant anniversaries. I’d like to propose the 25^th anniversary as the one we all begin celebrating this way. You’ve been married 25 years, and that’s a huge accomplishment to applaud. (I’d suggest we wait until 50, but let’s be real here, you’re a lot closer to dying then and won’t have time to enjoy all your new stuff.)

Anyway, I’m not joking. I think we should all band together and make this happen. I remember being told about a friend who had created a gift registry for her 50^th birthday—part of me thought, “Hey, why not?” And the other part of me thought, “Well, I never! The nerve!” So, I’m pretty sure this idea is going to take a while to catch on; but if we all do it, it will become more commonplace much sooner.

Think about it. Are marriages and babies the only things that we should celebrate with such magnitude as a shower and a registry? For most of us, those things happen pretty early in our lives. It’s sad to think that stuff is over and done with and will never happen to us again. And what about people who choose not to get married? Why can’t they have a registry? And a shower for that matter? Are we really sending them the message that since they have decided to do life single that they should be punished by having to buy all their own stuff?