Japanese Wedding Gifts

February 9, 2007 on 2:52 pm | In Culture | | Email This Post

In Japan there is a tradition of “hikidemono” at weddings.

Basically, the bride and groom give a gift to everyone who attends their wedding after party. This “after party” I am referring to is called the 披露宴 (ひろうえん) in Japanese. The gift is called 引き出物 (hikidemono), and usually it comes in the form of fancy silverware, or expensive desserts.

In the past few years however, people have started giving catalogs as hikidemono.

Many companies offer these wedding specific catalogs, and they are an easy way for the bride and groom to ensure that no one is disappointed by the gift!

Inside the catalog are a wide variety of gift options…

You got your standard meat and fish…

Neckties and too expensive ball point pens… Pocket watches…

Even Saran Wrap, Ziploc containers, and dust busters…

Yay, gifts.

- Harvey

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6 Comments »

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  1. Gravatar

    How can they afford to put on a wedding and then buy gifts for everyone who attends the party afterwards?? I can’t imagine. (But then I shelled out a little over a hundred I think it was for the “deluxe” wedding at the Little White Chapel in Vegas. So perhaps I’m a bit thrifty when it comes to the big day.)

    Comment by Jessica — February 10, 2007 #

  2. Gravatar

    Good question!

    There is one Japanese wedding tradition that explains it.

    When attending a Japanese wedding party (hirouen) the guests are expected to give a cash gift. The cash gift is usually given in 10,000 yen bills (about 100USD). It is considered bad luck to give number of bills that can be divided by 2. So people do not give 20,000 yen usually. Just giving 10,000 yen is kinda cheap.

    So I would say on average people give 30,000 yen to the bride and groom when attending these parties.

    Of course, at Japanese weddings company managers and co-workers are also invited. These types tend to give a little more.

    I have heard that some weddings can end up breaking even… though this is tricky to work out.

    Fun fact, Nagoya is famous for having the most elaborate and expensive weddings in Japan.

    Comment by harvey — February 10, 2007 #

  3. Gravatar

    Thanks, that explains it! :)

    Comment by Jessica — February 11, 2007 #

  4. Gravatar

    Thanks for the explanation in the comments! (and the original post as well)

    Comment by smallq — February 13, 2007 #

  5. Gravatar

    Thanks for this. I always found giving money at Japanese weddings difficult but between your info and the other info here I figured out it out
    http://japansugoi.com/wordpress/japanese-wedding-and-funeral-money/

    Comment by Smithy — February 20, 2007 #

  6. Gravatar

    when I buy these high price gifts such as Pocket watches,how can i afford it?

    Comment by steven — May 17, 2008 #

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