“Life is just a bowl of cherries.
Don’t take it serious; life’s so mysterious.
You work, you save, you worry so,
But you can’t take your dough when you go, go, go.
So keep repeating it’s the berries,
The strongest oak must fall,
The sweet things in life, to you were just loaned
So how can you lose what you’ve never owned?
Life is just a bowl of cherries,
So live and laugh at it all.”

These lyrics by George Gershwin touch upon a significant theme: life is just a bowl of cherries.

It was this same idea that “Bowl of Cherries” founder Teresa Penza Aguayo embraced when she began the site in February 2010.

Teresa’s daughter, Kristen, was engaged to be married to a young man named Chris. When it came time to select a registry, the couple wished that there was a way to ask people to help them with cash donations toward a house, rather than spend money on household items. At the same time, they understood that asking for cash donations can be a very delicate subject, and couldn’t find an existing registry that was tasteful and secure. As a result, this universal gift registry was born.

Despite being conceived from the notion of a wedding registry, Bowl of Cherries serves as a resource for anyone to celebrate life’s milestones, whether it be an engagement, birthday, graduation, new home or first foreign travel experience. Each stage of life can bring about monumental happenings, and Teresa strives to embrace this philosophy and create a safe place to highlight various stages of life, and the exciting events that take place with each of them.

Users can create a custom event website and cash gift registry, all in one place, for free. We have a whole gallery of events, from weddings and engagements to birthdays and graduations. You can celebrate a one-time special occasion, or you can reach out to share your day-to-day progress on buying that dream house or renovating for that professional kitchen. You can even use our site to raise cash gifts for that marathon you’re planning to run – the possibilities are endless! It’s easy to set up new registries, or transfer old ones. Sample registries are available to provide ideas!

After the template is created, we’ll issue you your own website address for the registry, which can be accessed by anyone, at any time. Then, it’s your chance to personalize web page with pictures and text.

Once your page is set up, you’ll be able to create your “Bowl of Cherries” which can be updated, edited or removed at your convenience. For your loved ones that want to get you just the perfect gift, a set gift registry list lets them register for whichever gifts they choose.

Plus, Bowl of Cherries isn’t JUST about helping people get the gifts they truly want. Although that’s a big part of it, the owners of Bowl of Cherries also launched a non-profit organization alongside the company, with the hopes that your money goes even further.

Every time you buy a gift registry with Bowl of Cherries, a portion of the proceeds will go to the company's Juliet Rose Foundation.

"The Juliet Rose Foundation is what truly inspired me to take the risk and launch Bowl of Cherries."
- Teresa Penza Aguayo, Founder

The foundation is a nonprofit for children that gives them a place to call home, says Aguayo. They want to provide an environment where young children can thrive, grow and develop a chance at a promising future, the foundation's employees do all they can to build and enhance each child's self-esteem, and help them reach their full potential.

As Penza says herself, "Our purpose is to give them a loving environment with understanding and true values they will carry throughout their lives."

So, every time you set up a cash registry, whether it is for your upcoming wedding, baby shower, graduation party or charity event, you are giving money toward a home for children, too. In this sense, your gifts really do just keep on giving.