If you don’t tell me exactly what you want, then you’re most likely getting either nothing from me or just a gift card. This goes for both friends and family and not just birthdays. Every year when it gets to Christmastime, my mom says she doesn’t want anything. So I just get her the same gift card I always get her for her favorite restaurant.
When I’m picking out a gift for someone I specifically try to pick something that I think they will like and use but is also reflective of my own personal quirks. I’m a bit more tech and DIY inclined then most of my family (clearly, I’m on Lemmy) so most gifts from me tend to be tools or computer related or electronics. Sometimes that’s a miss, sometimes it’s a home run and I get them a gift that never would’ve occurred to them on their own, but they end up using regularly.
The goal is something that fits into their lives while also carrying an element of me that using the gift will remind them of. It’s personal, it’s meaningful, and it exhibits a degree of thoughtfulness that makes the gift special.
All that said… I’d never turn up my nose at a gift card. I’ve received many, I’ve given several. Sometimes you’re just not sure. Sometimes a person has everything you’d think of wanting to give them. Sometimes you just don’t have the time. Sometimes the entire gift-giving ritual is just too much to deal with.
That’s perfectly fine. I will never begrudge someone for choosing a simpler path at a time that’s already fraught with expectation and other assorted stress.
If you don’t tell me exactly what you want, then you’re most likely getting either nothing from me or just a gift card. This goes for both friends and family and not just birthdays. Every year when it gets to Christmastime, my mom says she doesn’t want anything. So I just get her the same gift card I always get her for her favorite restaurant.
The point of a gift isn’t its material worth.
When I’m picking out a gift for someone I specifically try to pick something that I think they will like and use but is also reflective of my own personal quirks. I’m a bit more tech and DIY inclined then most of my family (clearly, I’m on Lemmy) so most gifts from me tend to be tools or computer related or electronics. Sometimes that’s a miss, sometimes it’s a home run and I get them a gift that never would’ve occurred to them on their own, but they end up using regularly.
The goal is something that fits into their lives while also carrying an element of me that using the gift will remind them of. It’s personal, it’s meaningful, and it exhibits a degree of thoughtfulness that makes the gift special.
All that said… I’d never turn up my nose at a gift card. I’ve received many, I’ve given several. Sometimes you’re just not sure. Sometimes a person has everything you’d think of wanting to give them. Sometimes you just don’t have the time. Sometimes the entire gift-giving ritual is just too much to deal with.
That’s perfectly fine. I will never begrudge someone for choosing a simpler path at a time that’s already fraught with expectation and other assorted stress.