Gift giving, for some, is but a money exchange

Gifts make most of us smile, right? Used to, anyway. You listened to hints dropped or just gave it the old college try and bought something you thought the recipient would love. Sometimes, many times, you guessed right. In the ‘old days’ (I’m old enough to say it now!) the gift, if not really wanted, would be kept or stored away, and maybe, just maybe, years later it would be disposed of. Occasionally someone would have a good excuse to take it back.

But now people are encouraged to ‘regift’ or exchange gifts on a regular basis. OK, in the scheme of not having things you really don’t want or need, that is not such a bad thing, but for some of us it has taken the magic and the joy out of gift giving. People find themselves specifying the exact gift they want you to buy. You can’t find it or can’t afford it and end up giving a gift card or cash (not that that does not have its place occasionally, but every time?). For many it has merely become the exchange of gift cards which tells the receiver exactly how much the giver has spent — and some people try to equalize it — and you are basically exchanging cash. What is the point?