Bad Gift Giving Etiquette

Bad gifts themselves are often excusable but bad etiquette, not so much. Not everyone's a maestro when it comes to the art of gift giving but the gesture surely counts. 

Imagine spending days searching for the best gift for somebody only to have your heartbroken by the sheer grimace on their faces when they see it. You don't want to do that to someone, do you? Sure, you may as well wear your grandmother's old nightgown instead of trying on the sweater your aunt knit you in the middle of summer, but you have to admit, she did put some effort behind it and a smile and a thank you in return wouldn't hurt.

According to a study in the Journal of Consumer Research, a lot of times, gifts turn out to be bad because the giver often tends to focus more on the sentiment behind the gift than its practical use. The giver might have actually gone out of his/her way to find the right gift for you and just fallen short of the mark. 

However, there are, of course, those instances where the gift clearly has no sentiment attached and the reason it ever made it to you is because it's your birthday or some other occasion where one is bound to give you something. 

One of the worst examples of these instances can be observed in joint birthday parties. As if you hadn't cursed your luck enough already to have been born on the same day as your cousin and took an involuntary oath to never have a birthday party just for yourself, now you have to share your gifts too! They could be a decade older than you, have completely different tastes and you may as well hate them too much to even think of sharing, but there are always going to be people who will walk into the party with one fancily wrapped gift box. Most of the times, there's cutlery inside.

I've had the misfortune of knowing people who believed in my luck more than I did and handed me a bunch of lottery bonds on my birthday. Yes, I know my luck rarely ever favours me (that's also why these people are still in my life) but pointing it out like that? That's cruel! The point is, while it's okay to be experimental with your gifts sometimes and choose something unique, there's no point giving something that does not convey any emotion and will also probably never come to any use to the recipient either. It only expresses your indifference and honestly, that's worse than no gift at all.

Finally, if it's your friend's birthday and it completely skipped your mind until the last minute, don't just take an unwanted gift you received previously, wrap it up and give it to them. Especially if the person who gave you that gift in the first place is around (Just. No). As I previously said, gifting someone a possession of yours is alright as long as it means something to the both of you and not as a last resort.

A major part of what makes gifts special is the thought that goes behind choosing it. Even if it's not exactly what the receiver wanted, a well thought out gift could bring a smile to anyone's face. Unless it's lottery bonds. Lottery bonds are terrible.