I am schizophrenic about presents. On the one hand I love surprises & have always wanted to be showered with gifts, (sadly it's never happened!) On the other hand I really don't want any more "stuff" & the chances of buying me something that I really like are slim. A lot ends up in the "present drawer" or the charity shop.
The obvious solution is to give a list to the giver, but this always rather destroys the whole meaning of giving I think, & makes it very mechanistic & unromantic. Nowadays I am hard pushed to even do this because I really have more than enough things, & if there is something I want I am able to get it straight away instead of waiting for a birthday or Christmas.
So I have taken the line of least resistance & agreed with most friends that we will not exchange gifts. This has the added benefit of getting me out of shopping, which I find a time & money wasting exhausting chore. There have been so many hours of my life lost trying to find a really great gift for someone that I am confident that they will like & haven't already got.
Giving money is a cop out, book or CD tokens are marginally better. At least the recipient can buy something they do want. I am always reading & love music. So for me tokens are always welcome if not inspired.
Giving to children is no easier. They all seem to have everything their little hearts desire & who can possibly keep track of what they have or haven't got? There doesn't seem to be any anticipation or saving up to buy something they really want for themselves, so that the gift is really appreciated. Christmas & birthdays just seem to be a frenzy of unwrapping & moving on to the next thing. Or tantrums because they haven't got the latest "must have" toy or game.
Having said all this I do think it's lovely to see someone's face when they get a surprise that they really like. I do think that the giving is much more enjoyable that the receiving if you get it right.
The obvious solution is to give a list to the giver, but this always rather destroys the whole meaning of giving I think, & makes it very mechanistic & unromantic. Nowadays I am hard pushed to even do this because I really have more than enough things, & if there is something I want I am able to get it straight away instead of waiting for a birthday or Christmas.
So I have taken the line of least resistance & agreed with most friends that we will not exchange gifts. This has the added benefit of getting me out of shopping, which I find a time & money wasting exhausting chore. There have been so many hours of my life lost trying to find a really great gift for someone that I am confident that they will like & haven't already got.
Giving money is a cop out, book or CD tokens are marginally better. At least the recipient can buy something they do want. I am always reading & love music. So for me tokens are always welcome if not inspired.
Giving to children is no easier. They all seem to have everything their little hearts desire & who can possibly keep track of what they have or haven't got? There doesn't seem to be any anticipation or saving up to buy something they really want for themselves, so that the gift is really appreciated. Christmas & birthdays just seem to be a frenzy of unwrapping & moving on to the next thing. Or tantrums because they haven't got the latest "must have" toy or game.
Having said all this I do think it's lovely to see someone's face when they get a surprise that they really like. I do think that the giving is much more enjoyable that the receiving if you get it right.
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