Wedding March

Surprisingly (at least to me), the single biggest external threat to my Not New lifestyle is wedding gifts.

This is because:

a) it seems just about everybody I know is getting hitched

and

b) people setting up house together never seem to ask for a GoodWill gift certificate - much to the shock and dismay of HCB.

We've attended eight weddings in the last 16 months. Most of the time we have found a way to give green(ish): a wine club membership, green home remodeling books for a couple who was in the process, and even a gift certificate to a salvage yard for some super-handy friends who plan to build their own dining room table.

But there are some couples we just don't know well enough to stray from the registry, or others who don't share our obsession with sustainability. This year, I've broken my vow in order to purchase a stake in a new dishwasher, some non-organic his-and-hers luxury items, and one as-yet-undecided offering for a super athletic, outdoorsy couple.

I'm tired. Any ideas for me? We can always fall back on the wine club...it's local and earth-conscious - you can even return the bottles and packaging. But it'd be fun to find a new Not New solution...