Top 5 Wedding Registry Items A Man Needs

This post is written by Pete. For all his posts, check out this link.


Let me be honest: I've always considered wedding invitations the same thing as an invoice. I just wish people would call a spade a spade and say, "We're celebrating our love. Would you mind checking out the registry to see the gifts we want all of YOU to pay for?" When I expressed my opinion about wedding registries to Lisa, she somehow managed to perform some complicated mathematical mind trick on me that, for a minute, almost made me say "Oh yea, I had it ALL wrong."

Once I accepted the fact that we were going to have a wedding registry, I decided I’d make it as fun as I could. When we went to Bed Bath & Beyond to register, the first thing we did was sit down with a sales associate who helped us pick out our "regular" plates and "fancy" plates. I was already lost. Personally, I was hoping we could just pick "lifetime supply of paper plates and plastic cutlery" because cleaning sucks, but that was not an option. In a perfect world we could also have disposable pots and pans too.

When the sales associate was done confusing me (probably because I wasn’t paying attention), the fun part began -- we were set loose on the store with a barcode scanner and left to our own devices.

As we moved throughout the store, I slowly began to realize that there was some really useful and functional stuff a guy could use that's reasonably priced. In retrospect I guess I could say that I almost found a happy medium in this whole "registry" idea ... almost. Most of the stuff was reasonably priced too, and I also made sure to ask myself "Do I really need this or do I just want it?” If the answer I gave myself was the latter, we didn't scan it. If it was the former, I'd find a brand of said item that was the best deal. Now that the back story is out of the way, I'd like to share my list of the Top 5 Wedding Registry Items A Man Needs. Yeah yeah yeah, I know, before you even say it, some of you are going to say "Oh a guy doesn't need that." To which I reply, "You need to mind your own biz-ness" (haha).

Top 5 Wedding Registry Items A Guy Needs

1. A blender/food processor combo. 
The one that sealed the deal for me was the Ninja MEGA Kitchen System 1500 because it had a (pizza) dough blade attachment. So instead of scanning a blender AND a food processor, we were able to find one item that did both, and it costs less than buying each item individually. Eh, by conceptualizing the process in this way, I felt less guilty about having to do it at all. And best of all, a blender/food processor is so functional. You can feed yourself in so many ways! With just one machine you can make a pizza and a frozen cocktail to go with it. Done.
(Lisa's note: We actually use this every day to make smoothies for breakfast, pizza for dinner, hummus to snack on ... whatever the case. It is by far the most used item we put on our registry.)

2. A SodaStream. 
Yes, you need a SodaStream. Well, at least I did, and this is why: bubbly water on demand. If you're a soda drinker, this thing will pay for itself in no time. Personally, I use it to make one half of my favorite drink of all time: whiskey and soda. I also love making real ginger ale instead of drinking that crap they sell in the store that has no business having the word "ginger" printed anywhere on the label. I make my own ginger syrup from fresh ginger root, squirt a little in a glass, hit it with bubbly H2O, and BOOM! Best. And don’t get me started on the Moscow and Kentucky Mules I make ... HEEHAW! (Or whatever sound mules make. Or is that a donkey? ... Whatever, it's funny).

3. An ice cube tray that makes gigantic ice cubes. 
I forgot the name (Lisa' note: It's the Tovolo King Ice Cube Tray), but you know, those huge ice cubes people put in cocktails so your booze doesn't get watered down so fast? One of those. I had no idea how I lived this long without one of these, and they're cheap too. Gone are the days of saying "Ah, I wish there was a way to make my expensive bourbon ice cold without watering it down so fast." Well, I don't know if you say that, but I did for a while ... until I got a gigantic ice cube tray.

4. Cocktail glasses to put those gigantic ice cubes in. 
Nothing says class like drinking a cocktail out of an actual cocktail glass, even if it's the wrong one. Eventually we'll have people over who drink wine, but until then I use our stemless wine glasses to drink beer or an Old Fashioned because I just like the way they feel in my hand.

5. A pizza peel. 
Trust me, the pizza peel does more than just pull pizzas out of your oven. Same with a pizza stone. Anything that needs to be baked in the oven can be placed on the pizza stone with the pizza peel, and it'll cook extra fast since the pizza stone heats it from the bottom too. And when whatever you're cooking is done, you can just slide it right back out of the oven with the pizza peel. Hell, I've even used my pizza peel as a chopping board! I loathe uni-taskers. They're a waste of money, space and resources, so trust me on this one.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Ask your grooms. What are the wedding registry items your man needs?