diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index eb2f048c4..bb8ecb0d9 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 **Fixed bugs:**
 
-- fix: Fix checking sublcasses of Future [\#665](https://github.com/pyapp-kit/magicgui/pull/665) ([Czaki](https://github.com/Czaki))
+- fix: Fix checking subclasses of Future [\#665](https://github.com/pyapp-kit/magicgui/pull/665) ([Czaki](https://github.com/Czaki))
 
 ## [v0.9.0](https://github.com/pyapp-kit/magicgui/tree/v0.9.0) (2024-08-05)
 
diff --git a/src/magicgui/schema/_guiclass.py b/src/magicgui/schema/_guiclass.py
index fce6a30bb..7018b5095 100644
--- a/src/magicgui/schema/_guiclass.py
+++ b/src/magicgui/schema/_guiclass.py
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@
 
     from typing_extensions import TypeGuard
 
+    from magicgui.types import NestedValueWidgets
+
     # fmt: off
     class GuiClassProtocol(Protocol):
         """Protocol for a guiclass."""
@@ -206,7 +208,7 @@ def __set_name__(self, owner: type, name: str) -> None:
 
     def __get__(
         self, instance: object | None, owner: type
-    ) -> ContainerWidget[ValueWidget]:
+    ) -> ContainerWidget[NestedValueWidgets]:
         wdg = build_widget(owner if instance is None else instance)
 
         # look for @button-decorated methods
diff --git a/src/magicgui/schema/_ui_field.py b/src/magicgui/schema/_ui_field.py
index f6b825a19..8af12d6f8 100644
--- a/src/magicgui/schema/_ui_field.py
+++ b/src/magicgui/schema/_ui_field.py
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
     from attrs import Attribute
     from pydantic.fields import FieldInfo, ModelField
 
+    from magicgui.types import NestedValueWidgets
     from magicgui.widgets.bases import ContainerWidget, ValueWidget
 
     class HasAttrs(Protocol):
@@ -45,7 +46,6 @@ class HasAttrs(Protocol):
 SLOTS = {"slots": True} if sys.version_info >= (3, 10) else {}
 T = TypeVar("T")
 
-
 @dataclass(frozen=True, **SLOTS)
 class UiField(Generic[T]):
     """Metadata about a specific widget in a GUI."""
@@ -394,7 +394,9 @@ def parse_annotated(self) -> UiField[T]:
             kwargs.pop("name", None)
         return dc.replace(self, **kwargs)
 
-    def create_widget(self, value: T | _Undefined = Undefined) -> ValueWidget[T]:
+    def create_widget(self,
+                      value: T | _Undefined = Undefined
+                      ) -> ValueWidget[T] | NestedValueWidgets:
         """Create a new Widget for this field."""
         from magicgui.type_map import get_widget_class
 
@@ -441,7 +443,20 @@ def create_widget(self, value: T | _Undefined = Undefined) -> ValueWidget[T]:
             opts["min"] = d["exclusive_minimum"] + m
 
         value = value if value is not Undefined else self.get_default()  # type: ignore
-        cls, kwargs = get_widget_class(value=value, annotation=self.type, options=opts)
+        try:
+            cls, kwargs = get_widget_class(
+                value=value, annotation=self.type, options=opts
+            )
+        except ValueError:
+            try:
+                wdg = build_widget(self.type)
+                wdg.label = self.name if self.name else ""
+                return wdg
+            except TypeError as e:
+                raise TypeError(
+                    f"Could not create widget for field {self.name!r} "
+                    f"with value {value!r}"
+                ) from e
         return cls(**kwargs)  # type: ignore
 
 
@@ -786,7 +801,7 @@ def _uifields_to_container(
     values: Mapping[str, Any] | None = None,
     *,
     container_kwargs: Mapping | None = None,
-) -> ContainerWidget[ValueWidget]:
+) -> ContainerWidget[NestedValueWidgets]:
     """Create a container widget from a sequence of UiFields.
 
     This function is the heart of build_widget.
@@ -849,7 +864,9 @@ def _get_values(obj: Any) -> dict | None:
 
 
 # TODO: unify this with magicgui
-def build_widget(cls_or_instance: Any) -> ContainerWidget[ValueWidget]:
+def build_widget(
+    cls_or_instance: Any
+) -> ContainerWidget[NestedValueWidgets]:
     """Build a magicgui widget from a dataclass, attrs, pydantic, or function."""
     values = None if isinstance(cls_or_instance, type) else _get_values(cls_or_instance)
     return _uifields_to_container(get_ui_fields(cls_or_instance), values=values)
diff --git a/src/magicgui/types.py b/src/magicgui/types.py
index e2c42fb9a..c102f9f77 100644
--- a/src/magicgui/types.py
+++ b/src/magicgui/types.py
@@ -10,7 +10,12 @@
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from magicgui.widgets import FunctionGui
-    from magicgui.widgets.bases import CategoricalWidget, Widget
+    from magicgui.widgets.bases import (
+        CategoricalWidget,
+        ContainerWidget,
+        ValueWidget,
+        Widget,
+    )
     from magicgui.widgets.protocols import WidgetProtocol
 
 
@@ -28,6 +33,9 @@ class ChoicesDict(TypedDict):
 WidgetRef = Union[str, WidgetClass]
 #: A :attr:`WidgetClass` (or a string representation of one) and a dict of kwargs
 WidgetTuple = Tuple[WidgetRef, Dict[str, Any]]
+#: A [`ValueWidget`][magicgui.widgets.ValueWidget] class or a
+#: [`ContainerWidget`][magicgui.widgets.ContainerWidget] class for nesting those
+NestedValueWidgets = Union["ValueWidget", "ContainerWidget[NestedValueWidgets]"]
 #: An iterable that can be used as a valid argument for widget ``choices``
 ChoicesIterable = Union[Iterable[Tuple[str, Any]], Iterable[Any]]
 #: An callback that can be used as a valid argument for widget ``choices``.  It takes
diff --git a/src/magicgui/widgets/bases/_container_widget.py b/src/magicgui/widgets/bases/_container_widget.py
index 192a6b65f..9daa0327e 100644
--- a/src/magicgui/widgets/bases/_container_widget.py
+++ b/src/magicgui/widgets/bases/_container_widget.py
@@ -335,11 +335,13 @@ def labels(self, value: bool) -> None:
 
     def asdict(self) -> dict[str, Any]:
         """Return state of widget as dict."""
-        return {
-            w.name: getattr(w, "value", None)
-            for w in self._list
-            if w.name and not w.gui_only
-        }
+        ret = {}
+        for w in self._list:
+            if w.name and not w.gui_only:
+                ret[w.name] = getattr(w, "value", None)
+            if isinstance(w, ContainerWidget) and w.widget_type == "Container":
+                ret[w.label] = w.asdict()
+        return ret
 
     def update(
         self,