Community Chat

[Sooner]

I will post my best gift giving tip and hope others will too! Sometimes we forget. . .

1. DON'T give someone "something they would never buy for themselves" unless you KNOW they want one. It took me a few painful experiences to figure this out. People often don't want what you want or think they should want.

[Shorty2U]

My tip is make gift suggestions via lists. We all make lists and exchange the lists with each other. We do that with my children and grandchildren every year, and everyone always loves their gifts. To add- we only buy gifts within the family. We don't buy friend gifts, the mailman the this the that gifts like Q suggests. lol. We give our hair stylist a bigger tip money wise at Christmas which is appreciated more than some gift she has no use for!

[deepwaterdotter]

Cash always fits.

[Burnsite]

I cast my thoughts to the giftee. Are there new enthusiasms? Has the person moved? Is the person scaling down or do they still like new things?

I also just randomly shop, esp. when travelling, and often see things I know family members or friends would love.

ETA: One thing I don't do is buy something for a serious collector. If they have been assembling the collection for a while, they have very precise wishes. So I don't ever just send an item vaguely related to the collection.

[NoelSeven]

What not to give: Things meant to be displayed in the home. Not unless you know they've always wanted it or collect them.

I've had people give me ornate pieces for the mantel that I would never want to look at every day. One was a large, ornately painted ostrich egg that was really garish, and the next year she gave me another one just like it only in different colors.

Remember, your taste may not be the same as the person you're giving to.

[chickenbutt]

On 11/14/2014 deepwaterdotter said:

Cash always fits.

I'll take cash any day of the week!

Anyway, these are great tips. I cannot remember how many times, usually from an in-law (hmmm), I received gifts to display that I found - let's just say, unappealing (times a million). You feel like you need to keep it close by so that if they showed up at your house you needed to put them out. It always made me feel bad. It made me feel badly that I didn't like the item that was gifted me and it made me feel badly because I was stressing that they would know I didn't like it.

I think some folks really try and mean so well. I also think you can tell if that's the case because they are genuine. Then there are those (like the mean inlaws I had back then) who did stuff just to say they did it and they would make it as uncomfortable as possible, just because they were mean people.

[Puzzle Piece]

Don't waste time/money on bizzare or wild gifts that you believe someone will get 'a kick out of' - doesn't work.

Don't buy them clothing that is not their style, taste, or to their liking.

[faeriemoon]

On 11/14/2014 deepwaterdotter said:

Cash always fits.

Especially for those between the ages of 10-20.

[NoelSeven]

On 11/14/2014 Shorty2U said:

My tip is make gift suggestions via lists. We all make lists and exchange the lists with each other. We do that with my children and grandchildren every year, and everyone always loves their gifts. To add- we only buy gifts within the family. We don't buy friend gifts, the mailman the this the that gifts like Q suggests. lol. We give our hair stylist a bigger tip money wise at Christmas which is appreciated more than some gift she has no use for!

That's such a good idea to mention wish lists!

QVC has one, I put up a couple of beauty gifts I'd like. Amazon also has a wish list, I put up a book I'd like to have. My BIL always puts up a pretty extensive wish list on Amazon, he has very well defined favorites in books and opera, so I just go directly to his list and order from there. You can also have a gift sent directly to the person, so you save money that way.

[AnikaBrodie]

I love to receive restaurant gift certificates, especially for a high end restaurant that we don't frequent often (i.e., budget restraints).