Gifting has been an important part of many social gatherings. This tradition has been prevalent from a very long time. Just the type of gifts exchanged has changed. Take, for example, cavemen. When one man was skilled in hunting animals and another was skilled in curing people of diseases, barter system was followed and they gifted each other something that the other did not possess. Skip a few thousand years later and we had kings and queens of various nations trying to make peace and build relations with neighbouring countries by gifting the exotic and the precious. Some people gifted purebred horses while others gifted parcels of land. In the present generation, the gamut of gifts available for exchange is large and diverse. And with an increasingly complex list of gifts available in the market, the art of exchanging gifts too has become more complex!
Many people spend hours in choosing the right gift and attractively gift-wrapping them for their loved ones. But some people have doubts when it comes to selecting the right gift. A 5-year-old may crave the cheap chocolate hampers in bright purple and orange hues that are set in confectionery stores, but their relatives may wonder – are those hampers really good enough? So, what they may end up gifting is a space toy with many complex buttons, which the child may not want, but has to accept nevertheless!
Here are some useful tips for you to choose the right gift:
- See what is preferred by peers of the person whom you are gifting something to. Take, for example, a girl who is just blooming into adulthood. Do you think a copy of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice will do the trick? It may have when she was 12 but not anymore! She may hang out with young girls of her age who are now more interested in experimenting with makeup kits and fashionable hand bags so these may be good options for you.
- Not all people fit in a group, though. Some think predictably and are easier to choose a gift for. Stoic men, who enjoy a glass of port every night, will enjoy a bottle of good, vintage port. But some people are hard to categorize. They are unexpected. This may make them all the more dear but tough to buy gifts for! So get to know the person better and spot something they show interested in (usually from their hobbies) and gift them something accordingly.
- Gifts are not always measured by their monetary value. Some gifts hold special places in hearts because of the memories they bring back or because at a particular time, that gift meant something very special. Something in blue for the bride at the wedding, something in pink for a girl on her first date – it’s important to think from the heart for romantic and sentimental occasions to hit the jackpot with your loved one!
So, gifting is not really that difficult if you know a person reasonably well and open your heart (along with your wallet!) when the occasion demands it!