The gift-giving ritual is one that is very exciting and rewarding, but when you give a gift, you often receive one in return, and that can be stressful and unpleasant. When you give a gift it is out of true selflessness, it should be given because you want to give it, not because you have to. When it comes to receiving a gift, you don't have a choice to get it or not, to not accept a gift would be considered rude. Most people when they receive a gift will then in return gift one back to the sender, because it is part of our cultures reciprocity norm (chapter 14, Consumer Behaviour). As Christmas just passed, opening gifts was weighing heavy on me the days leading up to Christmas morning. I tend to get ideas in my head of items that I would like, they're usually quite unrealistic gifts, but it's hard not to show disappointment when your gift giver has not gotten you what you had in mind. I almost thinking not getting any gifts would be easier on ourselves. We have made gift giving into such a big deal in our society, we take a lot of the fun out of the whole exchange process.
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This is a really difficult economic time of year, and I find lots of people spend more than they can afford on gifts for loved ones. When I open up an expensive gift, I can't help but feel guilty that I am putting my loved one into debt for me. Is that really fair to them? Not at all, but returning a gift that you really love would be really hard to do, because yes of course everyone else has the latest brands and gadgets and we all want to have them. So when I received Michael Kors boots for Christmas I was overjoyed, but that is a lot of money for my mother to spend on a gift, and I think, we spend so much to just get a name brand...is it really worth it? Of course the answer to us young people is yes, it makes us feel special and gives us confidence among our peers to be wearing high end brands. It is part of our human competitive nature to try to feel superior to others, and by wearing expensive brands we achieve a small part of that.
Also, depending on the gift that you receive, your relationship with that person can improve or be ruined. Although gift cards are meant to be a good way to diminish concerns from a buyers perspective of buying the wrong gift for someone, a gift card is really impersonal and can be taken as the giver does not know or care much about the person they are giving the gift to. To me that is a worse offence than not giving any gift at all, it has to either be thoughtful or be nothing at all.
Source: www.popsugar.com
When opening a gift, hiding our facial expressions is near impossible. Our facial cues say exactly what we are thinking and they tattle on us when we are not feeling the same levels of happiness about a present as we say we are. We have so many different expressions that our facial expression may not actually be saying what we feel, so people should not just jump to conclusions by a persons reaction to a gift, let them process the gift and tell you how they are feeling. This happens so often at my house at Christmas, people get offended that the recipient doesn't like their gift and it turns into mayhem over a misunderstanding.
After reading the gift-giving section of chapter 14 of Consumer behaviour, it has really gotten me thinking as to how much is really involved with gift giving. The process is extremely complicated if you start to over think it. I believe that this really affected me this Christmas, as I never used to worry so much as to what to give and receive over the holidays, I didn't want to give the wrong gift, or react the wrong way and negatively affect the celebrations. I never knew the implications of gift-giving, but now that I do, finding the right gifts for others is that much harder, and I'm starting to think of non materialistic/consumer things to give to people as gifts instead.
My suggestion to all is that you give a gift that you believe is nice for someone else, and if they do not like it, don't take offence and get mad, life is too short to worry about that. It also ruins all the fun of the holiday season! When it comes to a gift, the important thing is that it's the thought that counts most.
When Christmas rolls around each year, the malls are busy, and the rush to purchased gifts for loved ones is at an all time high. Christmas is a traditional holiday to which people annually perform rituals of gift exchanging and giving.
Gift giving has many meanings, the gifts that you give say a lot about your relationship to the people that you are giving them to, if you give the wrong gift to someone, it can really hurt your relationship.
One of the most difficult gifts to choose is that of which to give to your significant other. If you are going to give a gift, it must be thoughtful and show that you know the persons interests and care about them. If you give an impersonal gift or disappoint them, it could really hurt your relationship. So then less is more, don't just buy something for the sake of buying it, buy something special that you know they wouldn't buy themselves and would really like.
So many presents, so many possibilities
Presents have a magical power, the wonder and mystery that is attached to them is so powerful. A christmas tree in itself is so beautiful, but all the presents underneath is enough to revert anybody back to their childhood memories and feel the magic once again. This holiday is both a sad and happy time, happy as we get so spend time with family, but sad as we also remember those who are gone. The act of gift-giving promotes happiness and cheer among all.
Everybody who buys a gift for a friend or loved one will undergo the gift-giving ritual (Chapter 14 of Consumer Behaviour). We all know the feeling of wandering the malls with a special someone in mind, looking for just the right gift. we spend hours and days searching and we are very proud once we finally find the right gift. Once we have a gift we have to wrap them up and make them a surprise for when we will give the gift. So all tags come off, because really who wants to know the value of a gift, that ruins the fun as for both too little or too much money can have a bad effect on the reaction to a gift. We are a very materialistic culture, and sometime we can't help but be disappointed for receiving average or below average gifts and brands. The best part about the gift-giving ritual is putting it under the christmas tree for the friend or loved one to find and open on christmas day.
The most difficult thing about gift giving is trying to match up the value of your gifts, to those that you will be receiving. It is alright to have given an expensive gift and received one back of lesser value. But giving a gift of lesser value and receiving an expensive gift in return, I believe makes me feel guilty and I regret not having given more. The guilt and pit in your stomach that you get from that is one to which we all try really hard to avoid. We won't know until we open the gifts, so until then, the magic and wonder of the gifts are upon us.
Enjoy the magic holiday season full of gift anticipation!
This add by Booster Juice for their gift cards gave a me a good chuckle, good luck with the gift-giving ritual and Happy Christmas Eve to all!!!
I recently came across this product on the internet, and it caught my attention. These past few months have been tough due to the tragic loss of my cousin, and this product really spoke to me. The bracelet is not overly beautiful, but the fact that it has such deep meaning is what made me buy one.
The company says that in the white bead there is water from Mount Everest, and in that there is mud from the Dead Sea in the black bead. These two locations are the highest and lowest points in the world.
The idea behind this is that in life we have good days and bad days, highs and low. This bracelet is something that can serve as a reminder, that yes there are the good and bad days, but life goes on and life is what you make of it. If we were to sit around and dwell on the bad days, we wouldn't get to see the good days again.
The company has a saying that goes along with their bracelet, it is:
Source: mylokai.com"Sometimes you're on top of the world, stay humble. Sometimes you've hit a low, stay hopeful. Find your balance"
I found this to be truly inspirational, and it has really been helping me. Wearing a small bracelet on my wrist allows for subtle reminders of how lucky I am and to appreciate all the good things that happen, but also helps me through the bad times, when seeing the good in the world is blocked.
The Lokai bracelet is actually quite popular right now, as people are curious to if the product is true to what they say. In the white bead is there really water from Mount Everest, and in the black bead mud from the Dead Sea? Many youtube users have cut the bracelets open and discovered this to all be true! Plus the company is creating authenticity videos for the water and mud components, as the water one is up above and the mud collection video is currently being filmed.
I decided to write a blog entry about this experience as I believe it links quite well with Consumer Behaviour (Chapter 1: An introduction to Consumer Behaviour, p.10). They state that consumers are not only driven to buy products for what they do, but can also be swayed to invest in a product for what it means. The fact that this bracelet has a deeper meaning than other rubber bracelets sets it apart in the market. Although the bracelet won't physically do anything to help a person manage their emotions, it makes them believe in themselves.
The meaning that we put behind a product has very powerful effects on our opinion towards it, and will ultimately determine the length of the products life and usefulness.
For more information regarding the Lokai bracelets, visit: http://mylokai.com/
