Groomsmen Gifts They Actually Want

A groomsman gift says thank you for standing beside you. The best ones get used on the day itself, and then again for years — not a shot glass that goes in a cupboard.

For the wedding day

A pocket watch. The classic groomsman gift, and one they can wear in the ceremony: chains across matching waistcoats look sharp in every photo. An open gear-work cover over a Roman-numeral dial in antique bronze suits vintage, rustic and formal weddings alike. Give them the morning of the wedding. How to wear a pocket watch.

A pocket compass in a matching bronze case, for a groom who wants something a little different — "thanks for keeping me on course".

For the card players

If your group plays poker, you already know what to give.

• A card guard — a lucky coin in a capsule to sit on their hole cards at every game afterwards. What a card protector is.
• A handsome deck each, in black and gold, for the bachelor party poker game.
• Clay chips to build the group's own set, ten at a time.
• A leather dice cup for bar games on the night before. Ship, Captain and Crew.

Keepsakes with meaning

• A memento mori coin — skull on one side, carpe diem on the other — for the friends who appreciate a little philosophy with their whisky. Memento mori meaning.
• A good luck coin for each — a clover, a koi or a dragon, chosen to suit each friend.

Matching or different?

• Matching gifts — the same watch, the same coin — look great in photographs and say "we're a team".
• Different gifts, chosen for each person, take longer but mean more. A middle way: the same kind of gift, each in a version that suits the person.

How to give them

• Before the wedding, at the rehearsal dinner or the morning of, so wearable gifts are worn.
• With a handwritten note. A sentence about why you asked them is worth more than the gift.
• Wrapped individually, not handed out of a shopping bag.

The best man

Give the best man something more: the watch and the compass together, or the card guard with a deck and a set of chips for the poker game he will inevitably organise.

A budget tip

A considered small gift beats an expensive generic one. A coin, a watch or a deck chosen for each person is remembered long after anything engraved with the date and put away.

Gifts for men who have everything · Gifts for poker players.