ART OF GIFTING

‘GIFTS’ bring a smile to the lips and joy to the heart. One feels overjoyed on receiving a gift at every age. Gifts are not just lifeless objects but a lot of love and sentiments of the giver is woven into them. Gifts help to strengthen bonds between friends and relatives or newly acquired acquaintances. Gifts are given as a token of respect. Gifts can bridge the gap between two people and heal wounded hearts too. They create a feeling of belongingness. Gifting the right kind of gifts to the right age group is certainly an art. Selection of gifts should be based upon the age group of the person to whom you plan to gift.

Gifts can be classified into three types:
Cherishable, Perishable and Usable.

CHERISHABLE GIFTS:
Greeting cards and small mementos top the list. Our work gets done on visiting the Archie’s galleries and the Hallmarks as they house incredible number of sprucely arranged cards containing flattering verses apt for every occasion. But if you have a strong desire to make people feel special, nothing could beat a greeting card designed all by yourself. Golden papers, satin ribbons, silver and golden laces can take care of the aesthetic area of the card creation. If you claim to be good with paint and brush, even a small bouquet painted on the inside of the card can speak volumes about your affection for the person. As for the contents, one need not necessarily be a poet. Your true feelings jotted neatly in bright ink may have a greater impact than the rhyming verses of a borrowed poem.
Mementos can be gifted to a person to remind him in future of some success that he may have achieved or simply as a remembrance of the bond that you may be sharing with him or her. Mementos often create nostalgia.
Presenting gift vouchers too is a nice way of enabling a person to buy something of his own choice.

PERISHABLE GIFTS:
Bouquet though perishable, can be a very charming gift. Flowers have always dominated the arena of gifts as they bestow happiness with their beauty and fragrance. While gifting a bouquet one can cluster different varieties of flowers and of different colors or a single variety of the same color.
If you think yourself to be on par with a florist, than weaving a bouquet yourself could lend immense satisfaction to you and also delight the receiver. The size of the bouquet should also depend upon the kind of occasion. A bouquet presented for a birthday could be smaller than the one presented on someone’s fiftieth wedding anniversary. However, it is best to avoid gifting bouquets to people who you know are asthmatic or allergy prone.
Sweetmeats and other delicacies too can be included in the perishable gifts. Sweetmeats are often gifted to children and many a time to older people. Special care should be taken especially when you plan to gift sweets made from milk products. You should confirm that they have been freshly prepared and should be bought only from branded shops. If a few members in a family have been restricted to consume sweets, you should be thoughtful and generous to gift them something that they too can relish. A chocolate box is an all time favorite gift of many people. You could add more delight to this irresistible gift by preparing chocolates at home. You could shape them in a variety of moulds and thus add a bit of your creativity to them. Moreover you would find this a far more reasonable affair than buying the expensive packs from the market.

USABLE GIFTS:
Quite often we need to wear on our thinking caps when we have to buy gift articles for others. When wrong type of gifts is exchanged, they remain unused and eventually get wasted away. Instead of buying articles, which you admire, opt out to buy something that the receiver may like. Instead of selecting the colors and shades of your choice, choose those colors that may suit the receiver’s taste and also his or her complexion. You have an added advantage if you are well versed with likes and dislikes of your friends and relatives. While gifting an article to someone you also ought to bear in mind the person’s age and sometimes his position too. When one wishes to gift something to a newborn, soft toys are often the automatic choice. Small silver bowls or silver glasses too are often presented as a memorable gift. It is wise to avoid expensive clothes or footwear for the tiny babies as they outgrow the size in no time. One should also avoid presenting toys having sharp edges. Do not forget that almost all little children have the tendency of putting every object in their mouth. Therefore, toys having small keys or plastic screws should be strictly avoided as gifts. Presenting safe, colorful and musical gifts can be a joy for the little babies. For children studying in the primary school, building blocks, puzzles, mechanic sets etc. can be fruitful gifts, which exercise their brains as well as their creativity. This also being the right age for inculcating reading habits, general knowledge books for children like the ‘Do You Know?’ would be an ideal gift. A cricket bat, a badminton racket or a carom board could assist in instilling team-building spirit in children.

These days gifts and toys are suitably designed for children. Many a time, advice from the psychologists is sought by manufacturers to design the right kind of gift for the right age group.

Young college girls get thrilled at receiving fancy purses, bracelets, junk jewelry, cosmetics or even dress materials. Office going ladies too would welcome the gifts of purses or perfumes. Such articles can be used regularly and therefore they are certainly preferred to those that can be placed in a showcase. Young men are happy receiving wallets, tie-pins, perfumes, leather belts or watches. For elderly women and men sober colored gifts should be preferred to flashy ones. For this age group, fabrics with delicate soft design are appropriate than the bright bold prints. Small studs or decent ear tops form a better gift than the dangling, dazzling earrings for a woman above sixty. For the older folks above eighty, a soft lightweight shawl could reveal your warmth for them.

People who have moved in to new homes would happily welcome gifts like decorative table cloths, wall pieces, flower vases, dinner sets, crockery, colorful bedspreads, carpets etc. If you plan to gift someone something really very expensive, it would be wiser to consult the person or even better, to take him or her along for the purchase. By doing so, you may avoid the blunder of buying an object that he/ she may already have. One must be very careful while gifting idols of god. If a family has faith in the Feng-shui articles, only then consider presenting them those. Remember that gifts are given to impart pleasure and therefore should not become a burden for the receiver.

However affluent a person may be, and may possess all the materialistic possessions, yet receiving a small packet of gift thrills him. The sight of a gift wrapper pleases a person at every age. Gifts truly are a medium of conveying our feelings for people.