Sometimes it almost feels good to say no!
And I second kjdavis4 on the lack of thank you notes. It's especially troubling when we picked a very nice gift for the daughter of a friend who was getting married in another state. It was on the registry of a major department store, and it was to be delivered to an address that the couple had provided to the store. We are left to go completely on faith that the gift was ever received. Maybe it was stolen from their doorstep? Maybe the store is bilking thousands of people coast to coast? How would we ever know? I was tempted to pointedly ask the bride's parents if they knew whether the gift was ever received, but I let it go because meanwhile we moved away and rarely have any contact with them. It still troubles me several years later. Maybe they really did not get our gift and think we sent only a card saying we regret we couldn't attend.