Gift giving can be a painstaking task. Besides birthdays and holidays such as Christmas, there are so many other small and niche occasions like housewarming parties, dinner hosting events, and baptisms that there is no one-size-fits-all protocol to follow. The last thing I personally want to engage in is buying gifts that either end up as clutter in someone’s home, or get tossed into the re-gifting pile (though this is so handy at times if I am to be completely honest).
Gift giving is a delicate act of balancing cost, occasion relevance and to some extent the closeness of relationship between the giver and receiver. Growing up, I had always loved the concept of party bags at parties. It was my favourite thing about going to them. A little token of appreciation for the person making the effort to attend; and it is something I have clung to. Last weekend, I indulged some of my friends at home for a ‘Galentine’ party, the unofficial Valentine celebration for girls and friendship. Naturally I couldn’t let my guests leave without goodie bags, but what I was most delighted by was the fact that almost everyone came with a little token, not just for me but for all the girls. Like I said, there is no rule book.
I packed my treat bag based on practicality. Given the occasion, here are a few things that I reflected on:
Cost/emotional value
It does not have to be big, just thoughtful or useful. If you were wondering, one of my friends brought us personalized bookmarks. One doesn’t need to flex one’s ego through price tags. I find it more meaningful when someone remembers a small thing about you in the form of a gift. It shows more effort than price or some generic gift. It humanizes everything this trending-now culture has taught us.
Occasion
On any other occasion I wouldn’t be gifting my friends bath gloves and scented soaps. Being mindful of the occasion is so important as some occasions carry more weight than others. Not only can you offend, but it also leaves room for the receiver to question how exactly you valued the relationship. Where gift registries aren’t provided, consider hobbies, personal interests and preferences. These factors will help narrow your options to select something for the occasion and price appropriate.
Packaging matters
I’m a sucker for small details, so I personally appreciate handwritten cards – a practice that seems to be slowly dying as communication patterns become more digital and diversified – wrapped presents and basically anything that signals that this wasn’t an overnight job.
Whatever the occasion and whether you are the host or attendee side tokens are always appreciated.
My Galentine’s treat bags this year had face masks, scented soaps, socks, bath gloves, lip balm, hand lotion, lint rollers and a hair tie. All practical and all relevant to an occasion that celebrates women.
