Meaningful gift-giving…
No doubt we have all experienced this situation: come Christmas or our birthday, we are handed a box or bag, a beautifully-wrapped package with a ribbon and a card. Eyes filled with expectations and a broad smile in front of us, we open the gift and… are stunned! “Errr, thank you soooo much! This really is a GREAT gift, thank you!”, is what we hear ourselves saying, when really our mind is going “What IS this?” and “Why on earth would anyone gift this?”.
Sounds familiar? Well, it happens all to easily and interestingly enough, it is often those closest to us who should really know better, that get it wrong. But let’s be honest - can we say with absolute confidence that we for our part have never ever given a gift that was thoughtless, disappointing, embarrassing or even offensive? Of course we would like to think that we always put sufficient time and effort into our gift choices to avoid this situation arising but how can we really know?
We have done a little survey, asked a few hundred people about the best and worst gifts they have received, as this gives a much better picture of what makes a thoughful gift than asking people about stuff they have given.
The results are remarkable - there is definitely something true about “It’s the thought that counts” but sometimes that thought seems to be a little “off”…
Watch this space for some of the best and worst gifts!
