Gift for the Occassion!

It was my colleague's farewell day. She leaves abroad and expected back to India only after a year or two. So we, some of her close friends decided to send her in a happy note. We thought of giving her something small as a token of our friendship. Three of us visited the cottage industry (run by the government of India) that was in a stone's throw away from our office. The cottage industry had brilliant stuffs. But all three of us had different ideas as to what we should gift our friend. We had the same dilemma when we had to gift another friend on her birthday a week ago. These incidents prompted me to write this post.

Why do we gift someone? Of course, to show our love and affection. Some of my friends are of opinion that we should not only gift for the sake of it but the person should really use it. It should not just be ornamental but should be functional as well. But in my opinion, it should be appropriate to the occasion. During occasions such as farewell, your gift should be memorable. It should carry your memories. In such occasions, you should avoid a functional gift that could become defunct with the passage of time. On the other hand, for occasions such as marriage, you can gift stuffs that the couple can put to use. The burden on the couple to set up a new home is more. So, you can share the burden and give them gadgets that they don't have to buy.Moreover, if you want to add value to your gift, go a mile ahead.

Here are a few hints that you can follow while gifting:

• Take effort to know what the person likes. The joy of gifting is in seeing the person enjoying it.
• Blindly don't pass on a gift that you received and decided not to keep .Even if you plan for re-gifting,be sure that the person likes the gift.If it is possible, inform the person that you are re-gifting because you know that the gifted would enjoy it more than you would.
  
• Decide on the gift based on your budget, the age of the person to whom you gift and the relationship that you share with the person.
  
• If you are not sure whether the person-to-be-gifted would enjoy your gift, go for a gift voucher.