When It Comes To Gifts, Baby Gets The Pick Of The Crop
The Age
Saturday April 12, 2008
UNLIKE most babies, Alexander Tyler Zarewicz won't receive too many unnecessary gifts when he is born in June.
His mother, Amber-Jane Zarewicz, knows this because she has picked them herself.Ms Zarewicz has asked guests attending her baby shower in a few weeks to buy their presents from a registry of about 80 items, ranging from $7 Peter Rabbit toys to a $150 lambskin rug.The first-time mother is what you might call organised: she has learned the sex of her child, named him and set up a parental version of the wedding registry at Myer."I do like surprises but with the first baby I suppose it's a lot easier to have everything prepared," she says.Ms Zarewicz is not alone. Among the demographic with money but not time, gift registries are back in vogue, not only for weddings, but for a handful of other milestones. The big department stores say more people are choosing to set up gift registries for key birthdays, bar mitzvahs, anniversaries, baby showers, christenings and house-warmings.The trend suits Ms Zarewicz, of Sunbury, so well that she plans to create another registry for her 21st birthday in November. "Everyone has told me it's a fantastic idea, and almost everyone has chosen to pick their gifts from the registry," she says.Myer spokesman Mitch Caitlin says alternative gift registries are being driven by changing demographics. Since registries were introduced more than two decades ago, he says, fewer people are choosing to marry, and those who do are often older, have lived together and already have a vast collection of homewares.For this reason, he says, department stores around the world switched from promoting traditional wedding registries to more general gift registries."The reality is that often 30th and 40th birthdays come before marriages do, so we are finding that birthdays are just as important when it comes to selecting gifts as it is for marriage."The gifts have changed too. Mr Caitlin says while consumers once opted for gifts such as glassware, now they are now more likely to list a plasma TV.Carla Ferraro, of the Australian Centre for Retail Studies, says attitudes towards gift registries are changing. "Registries have lost the stigma of being pushy or rude from a guest's point of view, mainly because of their popularity," she says. "It's incredibly popular to engage a registry for any birthday up to 60, but 18ths, 21sts, 30ths, 40ths, 50ths and 60ths are most popular."Despite this popularity, Ms Ferraro says people are more likely to approve of registries for weddings than for smaller events such as birthdays. She says silver and gold wedding anniversaries are common, but adds that she knows a couple who set up a registry for their first wedding anniversary.As her own wedding day approached last month, Ms Ferraro and her husband set up a registry that mainly included homewares. "We were different to the norm because we weren't living together previously, so we needed all the essentials. But what is typical today is the reverse, so what retailers are finding is that couples are choosing products differing to what they did 20 years ago," she says.Ms Ferraro says department stores are competing with registries at hardware and furniture stores, while honeymoon registries - where wedding guests contribute towards a couple's holiday of choice through a travel agent - are also booming. Cosmopolitan Bride magazine editor Franki Hobson says registries are not for everyone. "A lot of couples are saving an enormous amount for a wedding then thinking, 'hey, that could have been a house deposit', so when it comes to a wedding, many are finding it more practical to just ask for money."TOP SELLING REGISTRY ITEMS ELECTRICAL 2008 - Digital frames- iPod speaker docks 1988 - 35mm film-based cameras or Polaroids- Big floor hi-fisystems with turntables HOMEWARES 2008 - Decorated bone China- Stainless steal cutlery- Porcelain servingware 1988- Silver plate cutlery- Plastic hanging cutlery- Mediterranean recycled glass SOURCE: MYER
© 2008 The Age
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