Oh, decanter and bowl would be a great gift.

Back through Security after going through Customs? That's dumb. But glad you made it!

Not always. When returning to the US and connecting to a domestic flight, I've always had to be rescreened. Some airports don't have a continuous sterile area between international baggage claim/customs and connecting flights.

Jesse, yes, it's perfectly fine. We received three glass bowls as wedding gifts, and I actually rotate them as part of my dining room table centerpiece.

Connie, I'm in the same boat with my oil tank. I'm hoping to get another year out of it, since I don't have a landlord to bug. The house maintenance stuff is one of the only reasons I miss renting.

Jesse, yes, it's perfectly fine. We received three glass bowls as wedding gifts, and I actually rotate them as part of my dining room table centerpiece.

I am glad to hear from an actual glass-bowl recipient!

I still remember some of this wedding etiquette stuff, and it's ALWAYS acceptable, etiquette-wise, to give an off-registry gift.

Well sure, but I've heard from plenty of friends about the dumb-ass stuff people have given them that they don't want!

Some airports don't have a continuous sterile area between international baggage claim/customs and connecting flights.

That's the dumb part.

My mom got a couple of glass bowls as off-registry wedding presents and still uses them as fancy salad bowls. Probably more often than the fancy dishes she was registered for. Definitely more often than the fancy steak knives that she didn't register for, but that is because they are fancy LOOKING but terrible knives to cut anything with.

I have given many crystal bowls. But maybe people are making fun of me behind my back!

My campus seems to have been invaded by these [link] Scensible Bags for disposing of feminine products. THey keep popping up in every bathroom I visit, and they smell HORRIBLE. I find the scent of deodorant tampons/pads repulsive (I don't know what it is trying to smell like) and it smells like that but stronger. It is awful. I sort of feel like complaining to the intercessor.

YIKES.

I still remember some of this wedding etiquette stuff, and it's ALWAYS acceptable, etiquette-wise, to give an off-registry gift.

Well sure, but I've heard from plenty of friends about the dumb-ass stuff people have given them that they don't want!

That is the danger, of course. But I think a crystal bowl is lovely, and way better than, say, a crocheted toilet-plunger cozy that looks like a deranged Hummel figurine. (No, we didn't get anything like that, but I'm just trying to imagine something horrifying.)

I find the scent of deodorant tampons/pads repulsive (I don't know what it is trying to smell like)

me too!

So Franny is okay but her mouth is very sore now that the anesthetic has all worn off, and she has no Rx for anything stronger so she's taking OTC meds for it. So no school for her today. Cody and I are tag-teaming it. I'm at work now but will go home after my classes are over.

But I think a crystal bowl is lovely, and way better than, say, a crocheted toilet-plunger cozy that looks like a deranged Hummel figurine.

Right? I mean, I think so, anyway! And I do think right-minded people would agree, and I should assume my friends are right-minded people.

I am an anxious gift-giver.

Those are good assumptions.

I'm just trying to imagine something horrifying.

The worst thing we got was a ceramic mezuzah holder shaped like a bride and groom that was just not well made or pretty and particularly made the bride look terrified. I can't remember what we ended up doing with it, maybe just left it behind when we moved? Maybe I still have it in a box somewhere, I have a lot of boxes.

The same people who gave us that gave my sister-in-law something ceramic shaped like a house (I don't recall what purpose it was supposed to serve, perhaps a spice box?) that I believe her husband threw out a window.

So if you were considering giving crappy ceramics I would advise against it.

But glass bowls are fine.