Tesco launches wedding gift registry featuring bin liners and toilet roll

Tesco is launching a wedding gift registry service featuring items such as bin liners and toilet roll after finding that many couples would prefer practical items to extravagant gifts.

A £63 Tesco Really Useful Stuff wedding gift package includes five packs of 12 rolls of own-brand luxury soft toilet tissue, two tubes of toothpaste, refuse sacks, kitchen towel, antibacterial hand wash and shower products – although the grocer admitted that it “might not immediately seem like the most romantic option”.

The range also includes a £39 I Love Brew gift containing six months’ worth of tea and biscuits and a Dine-In Dates package costing £72 and consisting of Tesco Finest ready meals and wine.

Tesco said it had launched six bespoke bundles on wedding registry site Prezola in response to the “real needs of modern couples across the UK” as they navigated their first year of marriage.

It follows a survey for the UK’s biggest supermarket that found 88% of newlyweds or engaged couples agreed that the need for practical gifts was greater than it used to be, with 48% of these people blaming rising living costs.

Some 40% of engaged or recently married couples said they would prefer practical over extravagant gifts for their wedding, with 87% of this group already living together and owning the household items they needed.

The poll found just 8% of couples wanted fine china and only 10% wanted crockery or towels, while 18% would choose to have their weekly shop taken care of for a year.

Tesco found 63% of couples felt the financial implications of their big day had caused them stress, with it taking an average of a year to pay off.

Of those who felt stressed about the cost of their wedding, 82% said they would prefer to use wedding gifts to help recoup costs after the day, while 93% said having a stockpile of everyday essential products would help them reduce their monthly outgoings.

A Tesco spokeswoman said: “Our research has shown that it is the little things that matter most to couples, whether it is hearing about your partner’s day over a cuppa and a biscuit, sharing the chores or making time for a dine-in date night.

“While toilet roll and teabags might not immediately seem like the most romantic option, it’s clear from our research that these are the products that could help to get married life off to a brilliant start.”

Censuswide surveyed 2,001 engaged or newly married respondents between May 2-7.