When Vanessa James got married and I was searching for a special gift for her, I decided that I would sit down and write all my favorite recipes in a three-ring-binder cookbook for her. Since all new brides struggle with dishes to cook for two, this just might be something to consider.
Vanessa said this was one of the greatest things that she received. I was so pleased to hear this. The old tried-and-true recipes always please. She even said my commentary with each dish made it special.
Why not plan a family cookbook for that special bride in your family that is getting married? If all the aunts, grandmothers, sisters, cousins and the newly-added in-laws wrote their favorite recipes and added personal commentary, then a recipes collection becomes a journal from special women.
Be sure and select a ringed binder so additional recipes can be added in the future. What a family treasure you will be creating!
Please tell me about unique wedding gifts you have presented!
We all need fresh, new ideas.
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Comments 17
I like to do unusual gifts for any occasion. For weddings, I have done picnic baskets, complete with a picnic blanket, candle holders & candles, a wine opener, wine glasses and a bottle of wine. I have also done Christmas boxes with lights, ornaments, tree topper, skirt (usually handmade) and garlands, all geared toward the couple’s tastes. For shower gifts, I like to put together a basket full of staples: spices, oils, flour, sugars, extracts, etc., plus a few favorite recipes. I make sure that everything needed (non perishable of course) for the recipes I have chosen is included in the basket..
My mom gave all the cousins and my friends a hand-written recipe book for their marriages. I only found out about this wonderful gesture at her funeral!
I give the usual wedding shower gift but I also attach a wedding themed lavender sachet on it with a lovely wedding tag which I create from my website called babiesbridesandlavender. I feel that this is something handmade by me and makes the gift a little more personal. Just an idea!!
As a wedding gift from my boss we received a very large rectangle package. We opened the card and it said ” open this gift with you both side by side and you will see the greatest gift od all”. We sat side by side and opened the gift which was a mirror. We still have that mirror 33 years later but what has remained in our memory was the presentation of the gift. Two years ago I made a quilt for a young couple to be married and made a quilt label with “How Do I Love Thee” poem on it, the date of their wedding etc.
A recipe book sounds like a nice idea. I knew a lady who used to make beautiful albums covered with lace, etc. for brides. I always give one of my paintings. A cousin gave me a cookbook when I married many years ago, and now my daughter uses it. But, we only added a few recipes. My mother had a little box of recipes, but those were things she copied from magazines, that she might use someday. It wasn’t the things she actually cooked! So we didn’t keep those. Would be nice to have had some family recipes written down. But, no one cooked that way. They just seemed to throw things together and couldn’t tell anyonw hoe they made things. A hand full of this and a pinch of that!
I attended a bridal shower where one of the relatives put together a book. She had enough pages decorated – like a small scrapbook with additional room for future recipes. Asked each guest to bring a recipe and a picture of them making the recipe if possible or just a picture of them self. She placed them in the book and presented to the bride at the end of the shower. The bride loved it!
My momma wrote her favorite family recipes in a lovely blank book and gave them to me at my shower. I have treasured this not just for the recipes but also because it is in her hand. A few years ago, as a gift to her, I scrap booked those same recipes and gave them back to her in scrapbook form. She loved it.
Our church is creating a recipe binder for all the girls. Each recipe has the author’s picture and is written in their handwriting. Reminders of all the lovely fellowship dinners they have enjoyed. I know the young ladies will cherish them.
Tomorrow we celebrate our fortieth wedding anniversary. While attending college in Nashville, Tennessee, I met two sweet young married couples for whom I babysat. They became wonderful friends. I had the pleasure of being invited to their homes occasionally for a home cooked meal. They were wonderful cooks. Many times I would say, “You must share this recipe with me.” As I planned my wedding, I purchased an inexpensive spiral bound (blank) recipe book. I asked one of the ladies if she would mind writing her Barbequed Chicken Recipe in my little book and pass it to my other friend for her Red Velvet Cake recipe. She gladly agreed. When they returned it to me, not only did it contain those two delicious recipes, but they had filled almost the entire book with many of their favorite recipes. It meant so much to me and was responsible for my young husband thinking he had married a wonderful cook. It is still my go-to recipe book, although many of the recipes I have memorized. The pages of the book has yellowed through time, but it is a treasure I cherish, written by the hands of two special people who also modeled what married life should be. So, if anyone is thinking about following your suggestion, Phyllis, it’s priceless.
Cherishing mine,
Sherry
Several years ago, my daughters and I gathered many old recipe cards written in people’s own handwriting. Most of the people who’s cards we used are no longer with us but definitely not forgotten, especially when eating one of their favorite dishes. We scanned each card and copied it onto a page. The scanned cards were fun, especially if they had spots or worn edges from lots of use. We then typed the recipe under each scanned image so that it could clearly be read. We complied all of the recipes in a binder organized by season. Each family in our extended family received a binder
for Christmas. They were fun to give and receive.
I am a scrap booker. For my granddaughter’s gift I am preparing a scrap book on family weddings. Included are parents, grandparents, great grandparents and aunts and uncles. There are some wedding invitations, newspaper write ups, and pictures. My favorite part is each couple still living has written a story of how they met and fell in love.
My husband is building her a replica of an antique cupboard that she has admired. The big day is just a month away and we are as excited as she is!
The family recipe book you compiled is a real treasure. Just imagine the importance of that as time goes by.
Love this idea!
What a wonderful idea. My two granddaughter’s are always asking me to make their favorite dishes when we have a family get together. I think I will start them a cook book binder of all their favorite meals. They are 16 and 19. I know they will love this.
Both my daughter and my son are getting married this fall – 2 weeks apart. My daughter and future daughter-in-love are having two showers – one hosted by my sister and one hosted by friends. For the shower hosted by friends, I am preparing both girls a basket, chosen out of my collection of baskets. I have purchased a recipe book titled “To My Daughter With Love from my Kitchen.” It has 144 recipe fill-in pages and more. I’m writing some of my favorite recipes and I have some from my mom and sister that are in their own handwriting. I plan to line the basket with a new dishtowel and place the recipe book inside along with some of the small kitchen utensils they had listed on their gift registry. I’ll wrap the basket in the decorated cellophane, and the “bow” will be a kitchen scrubbie. Now I need to get busy recording those recipes – my daughter’s shower is one week from today!
Please tell us what those favorite recipes are and share some of them. I am doing a similar book for my grandson of family baked items….cakes, pies, savories as he lives “out west” (along with the altitude adjustments). He can’t wait to get these composition books of them that also include family stories about the recipes. He will have a sense of his southern family. What a treasure your sweet bride has!
I love to give a Christmas item at showers or weddings . It’s something they can remember each year …..beautiful set of ornaments or a crystal angel or Santa.
That is a wonderful idea…I did something similar but not to that extent…I gave my husband’s nephew’s bride to be a few unique cooking and baking utensils with recipes attached. Then I wrapped them in butcher paper…I wrote out all of my favourite,tried and true recipes on the butcher paper.