Question · Engagement
Who traditionally buys an engagement gift?
There's no strict rule — close family and friends often mark an engagement with a small gift, but it's optional rather than expected.
Unlike a wedding gift, an engagement gift isn't really governed by tradition or obligation. Close family — parents, siblings — and close friends are the people most likely to mark the news with something, but plenty of guests at an engagement party turn up with nothing more than a card, and that's entirely normal. There's no equivalent of the wedding registry expectation here.
If you do want to give something, keep it modest and celebratory — the wedding gift, which comes later, is where the bigger spend and the bigger thought usually goes. For ideas that suit the occasion, see our engagement gift guide, or for what to say on the card itself, what to write in an engagement card.
Written by Craig Fearn, Printed Weddings.