I think Tyler Cowen's future is in advising the lovelorn and ill-mannered. His attempt to assume Dear Prudence's column for a day ended with a question over whether a cohabiting couple with a nicely appointed house could ask their wedding guests for money rather than registering for extraneous crap. No, obviously -- how gauche!
But Cowen comes up with a fine alternative solution: ask guests to donate to a hypothetical, future kid's college fund. The discomfort, after all, is due to the social convention: you ask for things, not bills. Somehow, the former are more acceptable than the latter. A college education for your kid, though, is viewed as much more sensible than a blender, and my guess is guests will be more generous in funding it. Then, if you do have a kid and are planning to send him/her to college, money you would've deposited in the fund becomes instantly fungible and you have exactly the same sum (a bit more, actually, thanks to the wonders of interest) to play around with. And if you don't have a kid, well, better yet! Just tactfully imply infertility to a loudmouthed relative and not a soul will ever question the tragic fate of the college fund. It's win-win.
