Karina Khristich
The Definition Of Gift Giving
Such abstract, general terms as love, care, anger, guilt, sadness can be hard to show for some people.
Humans have to come up with ways to show them - symbols. A symbol represents something—an idea,
an experience, a feeling, an object, etc. An engagement ring represents the wish of spending the rest of
life together, a college diploma represents years of hard work, a passport represents ;…..Gifts are a great
way to reveal true feelings and show care and affection for the receiver. Gift giving is an art. You are the
artist, and your paintings should make not only you, but others happy .
One of the best gifts I ever received for my birthday was when I lived in the States. It was my sweet 16,
and I was not really hoping for anything magical, when I got a message with a link from my best friend
from home. I opened it, and I started crying after a minute of watching it. My best friends asked our
classmates, teachers and my other friends to wish me something, and then edited the video, added
music and pictures and sent it to me. It cost them nothing to do it, but it left a huge impression on me
and showed how much they missed me. Most people do not understand that it is not about the actual
cost of the gift. Most memorable things are usually free
Goodbyes are the hardest. In my life, I had to say goodbye to many people. Some people come, some
people go, and it is important what kind of impression you want to give them, because usually no matter
how great a beginning was, if the end is not good, the overall perception will be ruined. Good-bye gifts
are there for us to show how much a person meant to us over a period of knowing them. I left people
three times, and I got photo albums and picture frames for them each time, just as a reminder of all the
fun times we had together. They really appreciated it.
Karina Khristich
The Definition Of Gift Giving
Giving and receiving gifts is one of the oldest customs on earth. It goes back to the ancient
times, when tribes would exchange goods or bring endowment to a stronger tribe for protection, or
share a skin or meat of a killed mammoth with one another. Sometimes, tribe leaders would present
their daughters to other tribes to guarantee peaceful relationships between each other. In the medieval
time, there were huge balls and feasts, where the people would present the best items they have
collected over a certain period. Nevertheless, over the time the definition of gift giving has evolved.
These days, we do not go to stores to choose presents, but shop online. We do not deliver the gifts
ourselves, but send them through mail. We do not buy the real gifts, but purchase gift cards. What
made us change? With such a vast variety of choices, such fast rhythm of life and lack of time we lost
the knowledge of what gift giving is truly about. Now is the time to find it again.
The process of gift giving seems quite simple: you buy a present and give it to a person. That is
what most people do. If I do not care about a person that much, I just buy them a standardized gift for
their birthday, or New Year’s, such as a bracelet for a girl, or a DVD for a boy. That sounds easy, doesn’t
it? In reality, it is very complicated. Choosing a gift is a three-step process. The first step is to think of the
occasion and the message you want to deliver with your gift. A gift is a symbol of something bigger than
just the money spent on a thing. A symbol that represents something—an idea, an experience, a feeling,
an object, etc. An engagement ring represents the wish of spending the rest of your life together, a new
wallet means that you have money to put in it, and even something as simple as a keychain means that
you have keys to a home or car to attach it to. Gifts are a great way to reveal true feelings and show care
and affection for the receiver. The creativity and depth of the gift will depend on you and only you. In
addition, it is completely up to you whether you want a person to understand the hidden meaning or
not.
The next thing to do after you are settled with the message behind your present is to think of a
physical object you can transform the deep meaning onto. The key is to picture what the receiver will
like, and not what you would. Each person is different, and you have to take into consideration his or
her age, gender, personality, hobbies and your relationship with one. However, what I learned from my
experience, the best gifts are the ones that bring back the memories. A toy that you both played with
when you were little, a person’s favorite t-shirt that you spilled coke on, a DVD of a movie you watched
together in theaters, or simply a picture frame with a picture of you two will make anyone smile each
time he or she looks at it. It is almost impossible to go wrong with those types of gifts, unlike trying to
guess what another person might like. One time, my mom bought me very expensive perfume Scarlett
Rose for my birthday. She had been talking about it being the best perfume she had ever smelled, and
how in love she was with it. I opened the bottle, smelled it, and… I did not like it. The scent was not too
bad, but it was excessively strong and sweet for me. Of course, I pretended that I adored it, because I
did not want to hurt her feelings, but eventually she figured out that I was not very into it. She started
using that one, and I got a new one by Escada for Valentine ’s Day that I really liked, and both of us were
happy.
Last, but not least characteristics of the gift giving ritual is the presentation of the gift. Nobody
will appreciate your gift if you just awkwardly slip it into his or her hands and walk away. The gift must
mean something to you, or that person, or, ideally, both of you. If there is a story behind the gift, tell it.
If the reason you bought it was that you immediately thought of the receiver when you saw the gift, tell
him. If it is just a something small, but unique, you can describe it as a symbolic meaning of something
bigger. If I buy something as simple as a chocolate, I at least try to choose a person’s favorite or the one
we shared and wrap it nicely. Or, you can create a short game and make them feel like they “deserve” a
present. For my mom’s 45th birthday, I printed out a picture of her on a poster that said “WANTED. If
you see this woman anywhere, please, wish her happy birthday! Reward: a beautiful smile and great
mood.” I hung those around the neighborhood and her work. When she came to her office, there was a
huge poster that I asked her colleagues to sign and a gorgeous red and white bouquet on her desk. The
actual present was a gift set of different lotions and shampoos, because she likes them, but what was
more important was how I led her to it.
Finally, giving a gift brings this true joy of realizing that you made the other person happy and
gave them something they like or will use. Just because our lives have become a lot easier now, does not
mean that we should forget about true value of things. Showing your true feelings towards someone is
crucial, because you never know when will be the last time you talk to them. Surprise them with small,
meaningful or meaningless gifts, and, trust me, they will remember it. I can spend hours or days,
choosing a perfect present and spend my savings on it, but the satisfaction of seeing them enjoy it
outweighs the stress before that. . Gift giving is much more than spending money on a worthless thing
just to mark it as “done”. It is one’s way to express his or her true feelings through a physical symbol
with deep meaning. The sparkle in their eye at the moment they open a gift is what makes it worth it.
Gift giving may be motivated by feelings of altruism or gratitude, by a sense of obligation, or by
the hope of receiving something in return. However,
One of the best ones, though, are no-reason ones. When one day my boyfriend just walked into
my house holding a beautiful bouquet of nine roses, I had no words. He said that he just wanted to
make me happy on any day, and not only because it was an anniversary or another holiday. He also
explained, that nine roses symbolize the day we started dating, which was a very romantic presentation
of things.
Karina Khristich
The Definition Of Gift Giving
I love presents. When I was little, I adored receiving them, but when I matured a bit, I realized
that I was more into giving. I never had any money, but I still tried to come up with creative ideas and
maximize the resources I did have to make the best gifts possible. I always wanted to be like my
generous mother, who always spent a lot of money on cute presents and devoted all of her attention to
me. I wanted to pay her back as much as I could. I made all kinds of handmade and creative presents for
her: posters, vases, paintings, jewelry, and postcards. However, after a day or two after I gave her the
gift, I would discover it carefully folded in my drawer or on a shelf in my room. I got upset with mom
many times, until I realized that to her gift giving meant a lot more, than just the present itself. As I was
trying to find out how to make the perfect present for my mom, I learned some basic rules of gift giving
and discovered that it was not exactly what I thought it was at first.
First, no matter what it is, simply the presence of a gift counts. A small, cheap souvenir seems a
lot better than nothing at all – at least to my mom. There was a year I did not give her a Valentine’s Day
gift, because I totally forgot that she would buy me a present for every occasion. She presented me an
adorable bunny in a dress and did not say anything about me not finding anything for her, so I assumed
everything was fine. It was not until a couple weeks later that she said she could not believe that I had
not gotten her a Valentine’s Day present. Turned out that my mother was a bit upset and angry with me.
I never made the same mistake again.
Second rule states that creativity is key. Clothes, shoes, makeup are all great things we would
always use, but they are not very special, you know? If you want to make a memorable gift, you have to
think outside of the box. One year, I bought a huge map and little flag-pins for my mom’s birthday. I
hung the map up on the wall, pinned the flags to the countries my mother had visited, and gave her the
rest of the flags to pin a new one each time she would visit a new country. Mom was very excited and
surprised, and told me that it was such a great and creative idea. She bragged about it on the phone to
her friends and relatives, and then I found the map folded with pins laying on top of it on my bed. I
silently put it away. Even though the creative gift made her happy at first, it obviously was not good
enough for her to appreciate it, so I had to try harder.
Third, and probably the most valuable rule is to present the gift well. Nobody will appreciate
your present if you just awkwardly slip it into his or her hands and walk away. No matter how incredible
the present is, the way you to portray it greatly affects the overall impression. For my mom’s 45th
birthday, I wanted to do something special. I wanted to prove to her and to myself that I was good at
the art of gift giving. I bought a present and ordered flowers, but I knew that she would not be
impressed with just that. I decided to leave my comfort zone and dig into the challenge. To start with, I
made posters with her picture that said, “WANTED. If you see this woman anywhere, please, wish her
happy birthday! REWARD: a beautiful smile and great mood.” I got up two hours before she usually did,
just to make sure I had enough time to prepare everything. I picked up the bouquet that I had ordered a
night before in a local shop, and ran around the neighborhood, hanging posters on cars, buildings, doors
and trees. I put the last one on her car just to tease her. Then, I came to her work and arranged some
things for her there. Mom showed up in a while, and when she came in, she saw a huge poster that her
colleagues had signed, a red and white bouquet on her desk and the gift. The actual present was a gift
set of different lotions and shampoos, because she likes all these different beauty products. The gift
itself was not the most creative one I ever presented to her; nor was it unique or special, because she
could buy all of that herself. After all, the way I led her to discovering it was what made it truly original.
Finally, after all these years of figuring out a perfect gift for my mom and discovering each of the
rules one by one, I managed to put them all together and come up with the last key on my own. The last
rule is to combine all the rules. Gift giving is not only about actually buying a present, but also about
buying an unusual one; not only about choosing a creative gift, but about coming up with an original
way to present it. Gift giving is a process of putting your true feelings towards a person in a physical
representation. A truly memorable gift touches the strings inside one’s heart, awakens the great
memories you shared together with the person and just puts a smile on his or her face each time he or
she looks at it.