Types of Gifts

Gifts are a voluntary transfer of personal property or property interest to someone made gratuitously to the recipient. A gift is meant to be free without any expectation of reciprocity. In many cultures, gifts are exchanged for sustenance and the building of social relations. An idea of gift economy has been built due to the gift-giving traditions by economists. If the gift is effective at some future date. A gift doesn’t necessarily have to be a materialistic object, it can be an act of service or expressing your feelings that just make the other person less sad or happy or excited. Gifts are often given as a gesture for an apology and to seek forgiveness. Gifts are mainly given on occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries or holidays. 

In many cultures, there are specific ways of packing the gift such as in China, gifts covered in red toppings are believed to denote luck and in Western cultures, gifts are often wrapped in wrapping paper with a gift note expressing the occasion or the purpose of the gift. Now expensive gifts are generally exchanged between close friends, romantic interests, spouses or blood relatives whereas inexpensive ones are more common among acquaintances, associates and colleagues.

Different occasions for exchanging or giving gifts are:

  • First and foremost are the special occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries and religious holidays. Now as we have different religions like Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism. So in all these regions, we have some festivities which requires gift exchanging.
  • An expression of friendship and love.
  • People often give gifts to share their wealth.
  • Gifts are also given to offset misfortune.
  • Gifts are also given to express gratitude for a precious gift received.
  • For charity purpose
  • Travel souvenirs are also shared for reminiscing the memories.
  • Some special days such as valentine’s day, mother’s day, father’s day, women’s day e.t.c.

Now that we discussed occasions of offering gifts, we are going to discuss what are the different types of gifts:

  • Designated gifts: These gifts are given by charities or organisations working for a specific section of society or a specific cause.
  • Surprise Gifts: These are mostly gestures such as flying out early to surprise your friends and family in another country, or planning a birthday party.
  • Memorial gifts: also called the tribute gifts mainly given to pay respects to a co-worker, a loved one, or a friend,  
  • Giftcards: Giftcards have become a popular choice of gift nowadays. They come in handy when one is contemplating between different options for the gift. Gift cards can be exchanged for a specified value of any service or goods from a particular business.
  • Money: People often give money when cannot decide what to gift them. This may work sometimes or you may come across as less empathetic and thoughtful to some, it totally depends on person to person. Thus, it is better to ask the other person about their gift of choice before offering money as your save.
  • Thoughtful gifts; Gifts are generally given to make the other person happy or excited thus the price or quality of the gift doesn’t matter as much as the thoughts put behind it. If the gift represents some past memory or is a souvenir or is emotionally related to the person they would find it more appealing than some giftcards.

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