Family Gift Registry

December 04, 2011: The KISS Principle

I've spent over a decade writing code and building websites by now. One thing that has always stuck with me and grown truer over time is the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid.

The Family Gift Registry just got a major simplicity patch! Without getting too deep into the gory details, joining existing families is now done by just visiting a link rather than juggling a family name and family password. Also, you can now log in using your user name or your email address. Ultimately I'll be phasing out user names (the name you use to log in - not your display name!) so that all logging in is done with an email address and a password.

Did you send out invitations in the past few weeks? Have some of those recipients not yet joined the site but you expect them to? Consider sending out those invitations again. The newer, faster, easier method of joining families is different enough that those old invitations will not work.

This set of changes may be confusing to those used to the old way and may still have some minor bugs to iron out. Please contact me with any questions!

-Chris

November 18, 2011: If you love them, set them free...

A few years back I added the ability to

Create a new Child Wish List. Basically if you have a young child or an animal or something else that needs its own wish list you can create it for them, fill out their profile and add gifts, the whole works.

Today there are over 500 child accounts! Wow! Talk about a feature that got some mileage. Recently, though, a new problem came up. Here I am with my child list that I created a few years back but now this child isn't so much of a child anymore. They have their own email address and know how to work a keyboard. They should be able to manage their account on their own. What can I do?

Well, now you have the ability to

Release your child! It's a big step, I know. Just provide their email address and let them take it from there. Kids grow up so fast.

-Chris

November 06, 2011: One Child, Many Families

Hello everyone! With the year drawing to a close I'm seeing the usual bump in site usage, and with that comes the usual bump in questions and comments from users. It always makes me very happy to know that there are still hundreds of folks out there using the Family Gift Registry!

Today I've just rolled out a new feature for all of you parents... If you have a child wish list and you belong to more than one family you might have noticed that your child list only shows up in one family. Now if you visit your child's profile (through their wish list) you can choose which families in which they appear. This was a necessary step for my wife and I because our new puppy Freckle (who has a pretty impressive list at this point) was only visible for half the family.

As usual please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions, comments or concerns. Cheers!

-Chris

November 11, 2010: Another holiday season approacheth...

Wow. I blink and it's almost 2011.

I hope everyone has had a banner year! Not much to speak of has changed here at the FGR. I have a short list of features that I may be working on in between writing thank-yous (did I mention I married a beautiful, loving woman?) and projects around the home (did I mention I also bought a house?).

Otherwise I can see that many folks who let their accounts gather dust through the year are slowly returning. The FGR remains always ready! Everything is stable and humming along and your old wish lists are ready to be updated.

That said, please do not hesitate to email me with any issues, questions, concerns, or if you just want to say hi. And, as always, thanks for using this little website I built for my family... what was it, five years ago? Yeesh. Time flies. Regardless, it's your website now too. =)

-Chris

December 16, 2009: Milestones

The Family Gift Registry now has over 1000 users and 5000 gifts!

I'd also like to welcome our members from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Columbia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Turkey, Hungary, India, and Dominica. Things are truly going international these days!

I've gotten many great ideas from users for new features to add. At this point, being so close to the new year, it's unlikely many new features will be seen in 2009, but I'll be tackling that list with gusto in 2010. By all means, keep those ideas coming!

-Chris

October 28, 2009: Secret Santa

Hey Family Admins! A new feature has just been added. Secret Santa!

For those unfamiliar with it, secret santa is where a group of people give one gift and receive one gift and nobody knows who they're getting a gift from, only who they're giving to. It's a great way for families or friends to do a gift exchange without breaking the bank.

To do secret santa for your family it is up to the Family Admin(s) to decide who gets to be Secret Santa Admin (set this on the Manage My Family page). Secret Santa Admins are the ones that get to manage the list of players. Secret Santa Admins, just go to the Manage Secret Santa link to get started.

As always, please email me with any questions. Enjoy!

-Chris

October 01, 2009: Spookyvision

It's October! And that means the best holiday of the year is right around the corner.

Normally by today I'd have my costume already planned and in development. This is not a holiday I take lightly. Here I am with my lovely girl Amanda in 2007 as StrongBad, and here I am in 2008 as Morbo. Mandy's there too, under the Nibbler costume, and that's my brother Matt and his wife Laura as Trogdor and the fishbowl. Last year I learned a lot about making giant plaster heads!

This year it is bittersweet. I will build no such grand costume. I have a good reason though - I'm buying my first home and closing on the 15th! Mandy and I are very excited and little nervous. This is the kind of house where an awesome Halloween party can certainly transpire... next year.

In the meantime I was able to put together a new skin for the FGR to pay homage to the funnest, happiest, most candy-filled holiday of all time. I wish everyone a spooktacular time!

-Chris

June 27, 2009: Say Cheese

Welcome, wedding folks! Please feel free to use all aspects of the Family Gift Registry to the fullest, not just the My Images area. And please, email me if you have any questions.

For those not in the know, I built an Image Gallery website some time ago and just finished merging it with the Family Gift Registry as a bit of a gift for my brother and new sister in law who just tied the knot.

This new feature is on an invitation-only basis for the time being because of space restrictions. However, after some time tightening up, testing, and streamlining, the system may be opened up for more general use. If you are curious about it and are an FGR member feel free to email me and we may be able to work out a sneak peek. Otherwise, stay tuned!

-Chris

April 03, 2009: Spiffy New Looks

Like the new look of the site? I've started putting together some other themes because the green/red Christmas theme is good but a few months of the year. It will be back come November, but now is the time for sun, green grass, and birthdays!

Speaking of which, today is my 27th. Much thanks to the friends and family who have extended warm birthday wishes today!

Otherwise, I returned from Africa back in February in one piece and with lots and lots of images to process (over 3500!). Check out some of the best stuff here. Cheers!

-Chris

December 22, 2008: Wrapping Things Up

Everybody about done shopping?

I hope so! As the season winds down and everyone heads home to be with family, so slows the boom of new families and users we've had here this year. I've never advertised for the Family Gift Registry but this year we quadrupled in size thanks to all of you telling friends and family about us. You rock!

Now, as I jet off to be with family myself, I'm hanging it up on the FGR for a couple months. In January I'll be photographing the great migration in Tanzania to kick off the new year in style!

And just because I'm not around doesn't mean the FGR stops. This site is going nowhere! Please continue to use it for birthdays or for just giving stuff to each other. I'll always be available via feedback, so don't hesitate to write.

Merry Christmas, and happy new year!

-Chris

December 10, 2008: Suggestions

I've added a new feature (requested by many) that will let you suggest gifts on anybody's wish list. So, if your sister really needs a new toothbrush but hasn't put it on her list and you're already giving her something else, suggest it and the rest of the family will be in the know. Your sister will be the only one out of the loop, until she's enjoying her new clean teeth, of course.

Come to think of it, maybe you shouldn't hold out until the 25th to give her that toothbrush.

-Chris

December 02, 2008: More ideas

Today Stephanie asked me for a way of getting notifications when a list is updated, so I just put that together for everyone. Just check the box on any list you want to receive updates to, simple as that. Thanks for the great idea, Stephanie!

And also, I must say, I'm absolutely floored at how many new people have come to this site. Not two weeks ago I posted about our 300th user, now we're nearing 450! It's all you guys spreading the word, so again, much thanks!

-Chris

November 20, 2008: Numbers and such

The Family Gift Registry has welcomed its 300th user! If your name is Louise and you just created an account, that's you. You're awesome.

Here's a breakdown of where the FGR is right now:

85 families
Over 300 user accounts
Over 1300 gifts

Considering that I've never done any advertising (and don't really plan to), I owe it all to you gents and ladies, the wonderful users of this site. You've helped the FGR grow through word of mouth alone and things are looking great. So... thank you for being here!

-Chris

November 16, 2008: Quit poking me

In a move sure to annoy many many people, I added a new feature that let's you harass lazy family members who never update their lists. It's called "poke" and looks like this:

.

Go ahead. Try poking someone who needs poking. See what reaction you get. I felt it was necessary because I'm sure every family has that one member who never touches their list *cough*mom*cough*

-Chris

November 13, 2008: Something for the kids

So this has been going on for a few weeks:

Q: How do I create an account for my son/daughter/pet/imaginary friend who has no email address/can't type/doesn't technically exist?
A: Um... you can't. Sorry.

Until now! All users can now create child wish lists and all you need to do is supply a name (all the same clothing size options are available too). This feature was long overdue for a site geared toward presents presents presents.

Also, I must give a huge shout out to Erik. Erik works with me at SparkFun Electronics and wrote the amazing SparkDBI class that this site is now using to drive the database. If that's just jargon to you, basically it makes things run cleaner, faster, and lets me build new features at warp speed! Well, a whole lot faster at least. Erik is a rock star.

-Chris

October 10, 2008: Another year gone by

2008 is almost behind us. Crazy. So it should be evident by now that I only seem to be posting to this blog at the end of the year. Truth is that the site pretty much runs itself and I tend to forget about it after a certain green and red holiday has passed. However, I recently started receiving messages from users with feedback and requesting various tools, so I guess the season is once again soon upon us! Hooray!

For you family admins, you have a new toy to play with. Under My Stuff you'll see the link that will take you to a tool for sending invitations to new family members. If you've long forgotten your family login information, this is the tool to use. A big thanks to Monica for requesting that one.

Thanks to Eric too for sending me some good suggestions (hopefully one of which I can have put together soon). Now my ears are most definitely pricked up, so if anyone else has feedback, now's the time to let me know. I'll probably be developing some new stuff between now and January, so don't hesitate to contact me. Cheers!

-Chris

October 12, 2007: Back in Business

Happy October everybody! The Family Gift Registry has completely migrated to this new location with the snappy domain name.

If you were here last year you can still find all of your old lists just the way you left them. Feel free to get back into the swing of things. There may be some tweaks over the next couple months but I'll try and make them as unobtrusive as possible.

Here's to a fantastic 2007 holiday season!

-Chris

December 15, 2006: Your Shopping List Has Changed

Hey all! I reformatted the Shopping Lists to include Clothing Sizes for everybody. This shows up on the printable version too, so that should make for easier clothes shopping.

One thing I forgot to mention about about the Public Comments feature... There's a checkbox labelled Anonymous that can be checked to hide your name. The comment will still show up but your name will not be on it, in case you need to comment on Secret Santa gifts or you're just shy.

-Chris

December 12, 2006: New Features!

One problem that some families have encountered involves somebody adding a gift to their wish list that is really a list of several gifts that have something in common, like a list of DVDs. If you want to claim one DVD off that list, how do you let others know which one you're getting?

To help with this we now have a Public Comments system. When you make a claim you can add any necessary comments to help other family members know what's going on. Public Comments are invisible to the owner of the wish list, just like claims themselves already are.

Along with this I've also added Private Notes, which you enter for gifts on your shopping list and can only be seen by you. I'm sure somebody will find this handy.

That's all for now. More to come soon!

-Chris

December 11, 2006: Welcome!

Hello All!

Welcome to the Family Gift Registry's second year in existence. I'd like to especially welcome families that are new this year. The feedback I've been getting from everyone has been great and I've got plenty of new features in the works to make using this site much easier.

-Chris