A Practical Gift Giving Guide for the Uninspired

posted on 5 January 2012 | posted in Fashion

Gift buying can be a relatively simple procedure if one knows the individual they're purchasing the gift for and pays a bit of attention to the context. Even though the whole point of buying a gift is that you're giving the person something superfluous in their life that they wouldn't already have, you still want your gift to be useful and not a waste. Therefore, gifts should be personalized for the person who is receiving them. Sometimes I even make gifts using my jewellery making supplies, in fact! Gifts fall into two categories: serious and humorous. In some cases, a humorous or satirical gift is in order, depending on how well you know your friend or family member and what type of personality they have. Do you and the gift receiver share an inside joke? Are they starting a new job and need decor for their desks? In this case, it is easy to show that you care about the person and have paid attention to their particular life circumstances with a well thought out — and clever — gift. In other cases, a more serious gift is required. If the gift is a serious gift, then the gifts fall into two categories: thoughtful inexpensive gifts or expensive gifts. Both categories of "thoughtful" and "expensive" gifts should be items that the gift receiver should have the need for, have the want for, and finally, if you don't know them very well, have mentioned that they wanted or needed it. It's important that the gift be something that the person will use, which doesn't necessarily mean practical, but does mean that the gift will NOT end up in the waste stream. Thoughtful inexpensive gifts can be handmade items or items the receiver has specifically mentioned wanting or needing. Expensive gifts can be things that anyone would want, such as household appliances (especially if that person is a cook) or tickets to events (depending on what their interests are). The bottom line is that your gift should be a reflection of who the receiver is as a person and NOT you as a person. Try to give the person what they want and also that you as the giver are happy to give.