One thing that I do not understand, is exchanging gifts over Christmas. Giving others gifts over a religious figure, that serves no meaning towards the religion's' believes whatsoever.
Using it as an excuse for family gatherings and an elaborate dinner, maybe. Although I do not agree completely on it.
The holiday has become a celebration for consumerism thanks to business. It generate a great deal of revenue.
It is a norm to exchange gifts over the holiday. It was expected. Quite rude to not return a flavor.
This is causing so much headache. Do I know one person enough to give them a gift? What do I get for them?
The same goes for birthdays, too. I understand that it means a lot to a person, whatever years ago they unwillingly came to this world. It is endearing when someone knew it was a special day for you. Thank your mom for your birthday, in all seriousness.
If you know me and came across this, don't get anything for my birthday.
How good would it be if a text or phone call is all we need to express that we care, instead of often useless gifts.
When the value of item as you view it is lower than the cost of the gift, it means time and money was wasted in generating this gift.
Gifs were given in special coactions as a curtsy. We give Christmas cards because it is a special holiday. We send post cards because it is from a special place.
Texts and phone calls were expected every now and then. We do not give phone calls only for one special day in a year, we make phone calls whenever we want to chat. It takes a step further to make a text or phone call particularly meaningful.
It has been easier to purchase a gift and call it a day.
Humans have been materialistic since the beginning of time. We gather food for survival, when we have excess we put them in our friends and family's stomach. Food is love, and it later transition into various things as human evolve. We indulge in luxury when we do not worry about our lives. Put ourselves in jewels and silk. It has been the way it is.
On getting the "perfect" gift.
We all say it is the thought that counts, but when you do not know the person well enough or simply want to please them, here are a few rules that I have concluded.
First, the better the recipient knows about the field your presents you give is in, the higher the chance of not picking the right one. The theory is, the more they know, the more they are specific on the subject.
For example, your friend is into brewing coffee, you purchase a bag of expensive African coffee beans, and it turns out they prefer a specific kind of Latin American beans. If they were not into coffee at all, it may be alright because the quality of the coffee beans is significantly better than the instant coffee they drink every morning for a caffeine boost.
Secondly, the price of the gift better be slightly over what that type of item usually cost, best from a largely recognized brand.
The point of wasting some more money on this gift is purely for vanity. It feels like you are generous (regardless of whether it is actually expensive), that you care about the person and looks good in the Instagram photo they were going to post. If the item is significantly cheaper than what that type of item usually cost, regardless of how good the product is, it makes you look cheap. Looks like you do not care about the person and is giving a gift just to get it over with.
Don't buy a Maybelline lipstick if you were to give a lipstick, get a YSL lipstick. It looks good on the vanity regardless of whether it is put into use or not. Don't buy Twining's tea leaves if you were to give tea, get Mariage Frères if your budget allows for it. It looks good on display. These were examples of items that does not cost a lot but feels very different when the extra money was spent. Prices that exceed their value means luxury, and luxury showcase status.
Another thing to note, is to get one single item instead of a pile of things when you can choose. Giving one single item is memorable, while giving a bunch of goodies feels like every one is insignificant. Feels like quantity to make up for quality. Again, this is regardless of cost.
Giving one Elder Scrolls game is more memorable than getting a Steam gift card, because the person is going tp remember it was Skyrim you gave them instead of some money for a lot of games on steam, of which they forget which game you paid for after a month.
Giving a gift that reminds of the person you care about them and make them feel special is the goal of giving a gift. You want it to be remembered for the years to come.
Of course, an expensive item will always look good. If you give a person an iPhone, chances are they will either use it themselves or sell it on eBay.
There is nothing as a "perfect gift", but there are certainly some qualities that will make a gift better than others.
The ideal gift, is one that is priced over what the person is willing to pay for and is an item they have been eyeing on for a long time. The reason being if they were willing to pay for it they would have purchased it themselves.
It could be a laptop that is slightly over their budget. It could have been afternoon tea that they feel like is too extravagant. It can be anything they feel like luxury.
The downside is, these are from a very materialistic value. It generates revenue, adds to the clutter we have in our homes, and probably bad for the environment.
Although not every person own Gucci bags and Christian Louboutin shoes, the majority of people we know are often materialistic to some extent (without knowing it).
There are exceptions, of course.
You want the person feel your love and care through the gift, but giving a thoughtful gift is not always easy. Sometimes we see an item that reminds us of a person, and you have purchased it without thinking. Regrettably, it does not always translate as a meaningful gift on their end.
The truly precious gift, is a gift that cannot be brought, cannot be replicated. A very personal and intimate letter. A fluffy teddy bear that you made. A ticket to the movies that later became a date. These are heavily based on the relationship you have with the person.
Lastly, I do not believe in Christianity and I have brought people gifts only because it does not hurt to give them something to show that I care about them.
Sucks to know that it was all consumerism and literally buying into it.
