To register, or not to register - that is the question..

I was talking with some girlfriends about registries today. It all started because Ziph and I are thinking of going on a cruise for our honeymoon and we have the following options:

a) an 11 night cruise, Fremantle->Singapore, and fly back home;
b) a 25 night round trip cruise, Fremantle->Singapore->Fremantle (the aforementioned 11 night cruise, plus a 14 night return cruise).

The thing is, Ziph doesn't really want to fly.. he would do it though, and atleast Singapore is relatively close..  being 6'7" doesn't make economy class all that comfortable on a long haul! And if we do the 11 night cruise, we could always stay in Singapore for a day or two before flying back. The only reason that I sound put out about this whole thing is that *normally* the cruise line runs a 17 day round trip cruise (which was the one that we'd been looking at before we got engaged) but next year they've changed it and they aren't offering the 17 night cruise, only the 11 night Fremantle->Singapore, 14 day Singapore->Fremantle or 25 night Fremantle->Singapore->Fremantle cruises. *sigh* Or our other options are something like 46 days to India/South Africa, but I think not!!

But if we go for the 25 night cruise it's a bit too long to be away from the kids, so we'd have to take them with us. Very romantic. AND it increases the cost.. Infact, the 25 night cruise (for the 4 of us) would be approximately 1.5x the cost of our wedding budget. Still, Ziph and I *had* planned to take the kids on a cruise at some point in the next year or two (even before we decided to get married).. and if we go on a cruise for our honeymoon, we might not be in a position to go on *another* cruise with the kids for another year or two after that (including annual leave etc)..

So one of my girlfriends suggested that perhaps we could look at a honeymoon registry.

When I was younger (pre-kids) I used to love the idea of going to Myer or David Jones and signing up for one of their bridal registries.. Getting to wander around and scan anything that took my fancy.. oh the things I dreamt of putting on there! But now that I'm older and have a home and children, I already have towels and sheets and cookware. Sure, they're not fancy, and you can never have too many towels.. but it just doesn't hold the same allure that it used to. Seriously.. I would *love* some Le Creuset cookware, but (well, I'd need a kitchen that looked the part ;) ) I do have other cookware that can do the same job. Maybe they're worth every cent, but seeing as I don't have one I don't know what I'm missing, yes? But I just can't justify the price.

Still.. there's a little part of me that wants to do the bridal registry thing, even if it seems unnecessary...

But a honeymoon registry? I'd never really considered that as a serious option before.. I know that it's popular with couples who want to go and do something exotic and romantic, but I never really thought that we'd do something exotic (or expensive) enough to need a honeymoon registry! But having priced our options, maybe it's something we should seriously consider..

It seems kind of bizarre to me to ask someone to pay for me to go on a holiday though, instead of buying a toaster.

So, to register, or not to register?