[Note: This is a sponsored guest post contributed by Sonia Pinto, Co-Founder of Fig & Wally, an online service for creating invitations and gift wishlists for meaningful giving.]
Have you ever tried to figure out what six nieces and nephews want for the holidays? I have. My three sisters politely thank me for my gifts, but half the time they collect dust. Over the years, I’ve bought hundreds of dollars in toys that could have gone in to college savings, a family day in a chocolate factory, science camp, or toys that helped them pick careers.
When my sisters finally told me about my epic toy fails, we decided to help other families change the way they gift. Enter Fig & Wally, a gift registry for toys, family experiences, classes, vacations, charities, and college savings.
The name Fig & Wally came from our favorite ice cream, Fig and Walnut. We’d get one or two new toys per year, but every week we’d take a family trip to get Fig and Walnut cones — a tradition among our fondest memories. We couldn’t imagine not including experiences as a potential gift in our registry tool when an ice cream shop was the center of our childhood fun.
How do you create a Fig & Wally registry? Start with creating a digital invite on our site to an event, like your kid’s birthday, or a special gifting occasion, like Christmas. The invite will allow you to include your child’s wishlist that you also can create in a few minutes. Think about all your options from toys they love to a family cooking class, skating passes, a visit to donate to the local animal shelter, or tickets to Disney on Ice.
Don’t worry about duplicating gifts because your friends and family won’t buy gifts directly, they’ll click to send you the amount for the gift to your PayPal account. Then, you can decide which items from the list to purchase.
I’m so grateful my sisters posted their wishlists this year. One year, we all bought the same gift for my niece: a mini piano. There were three in her living room! We had to lug two back to the store and exchange them.
This year, their kids’ wishlists are decked with two favorite toys each (after all, how many toys do they need?), a sprinkling of activities, and the rest goes to a local charity of their choice (one they can visit and connect with) or their college savings plan. Grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, and cousins have all contributed. My sisters are hard at work writing thank you notes for each contribution to tell each family member where their money went.
So you don’t have fond memories of carrying mini pianos back and forth this holiday season, try Fig & Wally this year. Let us do the heavy lifting as you sit back and enjoy the sight of your little one’s eyes light up as they receive their perfect presents.
Join us on social!
Instagram: @figandwally
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/figandwally
Have questions or need help creating an invite or wishlist:
Email us at reachus@figandwally.com or call us at 917-310-0841
Giveaway(s): Fig & Wally is hosting a giveaway on their website this holiday season, with a chance to win fun, kid-friendly experiences to share our belief that the best gifts make lasting memories. Prizes include gift certificates to the Kennedy Center and Adventure Theater! They are also giving away skating passes to the home of the Capitals! (A special thanks to the Capitals Iceplex for sponsoring the skating passes giveaway.) Submit your entry here!
KFDC readers only also have a chance to enter a bonus giveaway of a $50 gift certificate for Adventure Theatre. All you have to do is leave a comment below letting us how you would use Fig & Wally (FYI: email addresses will be shared with them). This giveaway will run through Tuesday, November 12, 2019, then a winner will be picked at random and notified shortly thereafter. Good luck!
This is such a great idea! You can get the gift you want and no duplicates or putting stuff away for regifting. And the best part is that you could choose experiences as gifts, instead of things.
Thanks Pallavi! We totally agree about the duplicates and gift closets! We are working on how to make it easier to gift experiences as gifts as well.
I would use Fig and Wally fo gift giving ideas.
Thanks Naomi! We are hard at work on pulling together ideas that can help guests find cool gifts outside of traditional options. Make sure to check back with us.
I would use Fig and Wally to help out of state grandparents decide what to purchase for birthdays and/or Christmas. I love that we customize it with local experiences and theater performances that they could also gift.
Thanks Piper. We have spoken with many grandparents who always mention wanting a better way to contribute to their grandkids gifts – whether piano classes, college savings, or their first bicycle – without having to guess every time. Fig & Wally makes it incredibly easy for grandparents to gift easily and feel great about giving their grandkids what they love!
Such a fun way to let family know what the kids want for the holiday.
Thanks Sandy! We agree! It saves so much time calling each other to find out what the kids – figuring out the size, color, etc. Plus you get to contribute to bigger items or experiences which is great!
As a registry for clueless grandparents. I like the idea of experiences more than toys
You are spot on Shelly. Grandparents we chat with are so happy with Fig & Wally. Thanks for the feedback!
I love that Fig & Wally give suggestions for local experiences. That’s a great way to discover something new and have your child jazzed about doing something fun right after their birthday! And it’s less about the toys.
Thanks Al! Something cool we have also noticed (totally on accident) is that guests actually get a chance to learn about the birthday kids/kid-of-honor. We often show up at our kid’s friends parties and know very little about them. Our users have been really amazed with the different interests of each kid. Some are into dance others into science, traveling or animals. Fig & Wally helps guests and parents share the diversity of interests of the kids, which is really great.
I’d use it for kids’ registries
Thanks Wally! As of now we offer a wishlist that gifters can contribute to. Our next step is registries, that allow group gifting as well as picking single gifts to send. Stay tuned!
I would use it to help coordinate my next family get together
Great! Let us know when you are planning it Dan. We would love to customize the invite design for your family gathering. Thanks for the feedback!
I’d use it to share what’s on my kids’ wishlists.
Perfect Kinny. We make is super easy to do that! Thanks for the comment!
Coach gifts for end of season thank you.
Thanks Michelle! We also stumbled upon that! We have made it easier to send teacher appreciation invites by allowing users to send the wishlist without an event associated with it (i.e. birthdays). Also, there are invite designs just for Teacher Appreciation. You can send out the invite and easily collect funds via PayPal and transfer it to the teacher. Let us know if you have any questions trying to set it up.
I love this! I’m always at a loss when family members ask what to get my children for birthdays, Christmas, etc. They have too many toys that they don’t play with already, so the last thing I want is to add more. We would use Fig and Wally as a way to encourage family to give a different kind of gift that our children will remember forever!
Thanks Sarah! We totally get you. It is EXACTLY why we started Fig & Wally. Everyone is so happy now that we’ve upgraded the gifting experience with much cooler things added to the list.. options we would never come up with. The best part is since parents help guide gifters, there is no fear of giving an experience gift that parents struggle take their kids to. The whole thing just clicks, saving parents having to come up with 20 different ideas to share with gifters every time they ask ‘What should I get?!’.
Lovely idea! Would certainly use to keep faraway family a bit more involved in our DC toddler’s upbringing. Perhaps look into an option to have people contribute from abroad, if not yet possible.
Thanks Andreas! That is such a great way to put it. Keeping people engaged in your child’s upbringing is something we stumbled upon. When you include experiences, toys, and anything else on the wishlist, gifters get a chance to learn about the kid-of-honor in very different way.
As for contributions from abroad, we currently use PayPal Money Pool to route contributions directly to your PayPal accounts. PayPal already allows foreign contributions so you should be able to start using it right away. It is super easy to create a PayPal account and a MoneyPool fund for the wishlist. And guests can contribute with Credit Cards or from their PayPal account. Please feel free to reach out if you have more questions.
I would use this by sharing with my family and grandparents.
Thanks Katherine! We totally agree. Family and grandparents, especially, love Fig & Wally 🙂
Hi everyone! Sonia from Fig & Wally here. Thanks so much for your comments and entering our giveaway. We will be pick and share the winner with Linda soon. We look forward to continued feedback from you and hope you will join Fig & Wally on our mission. Please don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram!