Season of GIVING

"It is not how much we give but how much love we put into giving." Holiday gift buying can feel a little empty, when all of those endless lists, long lines at the mall and money spent lead to a 5-minute frenzy of flying wrapping paper and ribbon... But it doesn't have to be that way. The most important thing in the exchanging of gifts is it shows that you really know the person well, and you really care about them. That generally means tailoring the gift to the recipient. For example, people who want to buy meaningful gifts don't buy the same gift for two of their friends, even if those friends don't know each other, would never compare the gifts and would both enjoy the same item. It's also important to consider practicality. A 2014 study in the Journal of Consumer Research found that gift givers focus too much on the desirability of potential gifts and not enough on how the recipient might use those gifts. In one study, gift-giving participants tended to choose gifts that were desirable but impractical like a gift certificate for an expensive but faraway restaurant rather than those that were more practical but less desirable like a gift certificate for a closer but cheaper restaurant. Surprisingly, the participants who were receiving the gifts actually preferred the more practical option. In other words, gift givers shouldn't choose presents based on what they would like to give but rather on what the recipient would really want to receive. Gift giving is an expression of truly seeing the other person and knowing what they want. Well of course there is always an alternative. Another way to have a memorable and less hassle gift-giving is by giving experiences rather than items. People who receive experiential gifts, such as concert tickets or a zoo membership, feel more connected to the giver than people who received material items. The giver and the recipient don't have to share the experiential gifts in order to get this connectivity boon. People fail to realize that experiential gifts are a better choice than something tied with a bow. Part of the problem, is that people hesitate to give experiential gifts to people they aren't very close to. Getting people an experiential gift is actually a safe bet. According to a research, a person who expects a material gift but gets an experiential one instead report being satisfied anyway. In contrast, those who expect an experiential gift but get an item instead are very disappointed. If gifts are about expressing and forging love, one of the best ways to do that is with your own time. That will always be a really powerful gift.