Gift giving - Waste of money or necessary sacrifice.

[Dweedle]

It is now officially boxing day and already the large amount of "unwanted gifts" are flooding websites like Trademe (my countrys version of Ebay pretty much) in the truck-loads.

 

Essentially, thousands of people are converting their Christmas presents into cash. I've also seen people try and swap gift cards for cash with other people.

 

According to this very minor research I've done I have come to the conclusion that buying physical gifts and gift cards is an utter waste of money for the buyer, you could spend $30 on something for someone only to have that someone sell it and make $15.

 

Instead, I say we all should give the gift of sentiment. In my house I do not buy gifts for anyone, instead, I give my parents a friendly handshake and that is about it. Sentimental value is more important.

 

Of course, if one must buy a gift then you should only give them cash as other gifts end up being sold or bartered.

 

Anyone else notice this trend? Would you still buy gifts for people if they sold them for a fraction of what you paid for it?

[Oubliette]

Meh. I'm in the US, we neither have boxing day nor has it become the 26th here yet.

 

As for not giving gifts, even to family, when I can afford to do so - my mother, for one, wouldn't hesitate to slap me silly for it (yes I'm full grown). It's considered rude to deliberately not offer family a gift when appropriate, it's also considered rude to sell said gift afterwards. To put it simply my mother did not raise me that way.

 

Gift giving is an art, one I actually have pride in being good at. A gift given that does not hold any interest to the person it is given to - is almost as rude as not giving one at all. It shows a lack of knowledge, understanding and thought about the person you're giving a gift to. As for gifting cash, I have no objection to that in itself. Some people are harder to shop for (from some perspectives) than others, in that instance, it's perfectly acceptable to give cash allowing the individual to do with it as they please though I'd usually recommend something a bit more modernly flexible like a visa gift card which can be used online and is just as good as cash money in most physical stores as well.

[Shadiva]

I totally agree with Oubliette, works the same way here in Sweden,

 

it's considered good behavier, to give respect and affection to your family and friends from the gifts,

and would be very rude to sell it or give away later to anyone else,

i realy like the idea of the gifts, and i can consider myself good at it too, to give the best possible gift to someone you like is equally fun for both

 

so no that trend it not noticed here in Sweden atleast, dont think it is in the rest of the Scandinavia

 

 

hope it gets better where you are from my friend, sounds so sad :unsure:

[Dweedle]

Yeah its pretty bad in NZ, must be a cultural thing then. I don't even bother buying gifts anymore for people simply because it could end up on Trademe.

 

Three things I hate in life;

 

- Giving to Charity

- People who try sell me things door to door

- Wasting money

Edited December 26, 2012 by Dweedle

[Thor.]

Boxing day, Hmmm which is better,, black Friday or boxing day, and wrapping gifts is fun, especially unwrapping them.

[Jiggalopuff]

I only gave out two gifts this year, one of which was to my team leader, the other to a co-worker with whom I've spent Thanksgiving, A sock-puppet and a t-shirt, both of which I made myself. The holidays, like most everything else in our culture, have become heavily commercialized.