On the eve of festivities, we all expect a little miracle: a cheerful mood, bright emotions and, of course, the fulfilment of our desires. At least on holidays, we want to forget about grey everyday life and feel the maximum attention from others. Do our expectations always come true? Unfortunately, no. Instead of beautiful original gifts, we often receive things that disappoint us, bore us, or even annoy us. As a result, they are kept in our closets for years or passed on to acquaintances.
It’s time to approach the choice of gifts more consciously. Let’s go over our own experience, as well as the reaction of our acquaintances to various gifts and identify things that should not be gifted.
Boring Gifts to Avoid
Bathroom Accessories
Bathroom accessories and makeup bags are the most common and some would scream the worst option. They are awfully annoying to everyone and are perceived as an excuse, not a sign of attention. The typical reaction is:
“I’d be happier without a gift rather than yet-another shaving foam!”
It’s worth to emphasize that many people are quite meticulous and carefully select things for personal use. For example, some are deeply convinced that the design of a cosmetic bag must necessarily match the style of the bag, and shampoo must match the type of hair. Some buy only those soap accessories that are in harmony with the colour of the bathroom interior.
Mugs and Towels
Mugs and kitchen towels also do not cause joyful emotions. Almost all of us have a massive arsenal of these items, which will last for several generations. Therefore, this option is also worth forgetting about. It is the most common item that is bought in a whim and never gets to be used. Season change, patterns get out of fashion, and we keep buying and keeping those. So why add to that beautiful but useless pile?
Mugs with prints is also something that is being gifted a lot, even though years ago that could have been a unique gift, nowadays it’s just yet-another mug standing in the kitchen cabinet and piling up dust.
Souvenirs
We get it, you went to Paris and were overwhelmed by the choice and just bought a bunch of souvenirs from one of the shop. It doesn’t mean we want to keep receving those as gifts for the rest of the year.
Souvenirs are, in most cases, saved inside of cabinets, as they do not match the interior. However, the people who gift them expect us to put them out and even resent us for not putting their gifts in a prominent place. In order not to feel negative feelings, it is better not to give such presents.
Animal-shaped Candles
Candles in the form of animals and flowers are gifts with an unpleasant surprise hidden. They look wonderful, smell very pleasant, but once you decide to use them for their intended purpose without thinking about the consequences…The sight of the beautiful figures that melt in front of your eyes really ruins the mood. Headless hares and deformed sunflowers are clearly not something I would like to see during a romantic dinner. I guess these gifts are only good for Halloween.
Final Words
All these options represent gifts that say “I didn’t have time to choose anything specific for you, so I went with common options”. Any person expects at least a bit of personality put into the gift. That said, if you really know what you are doing - you know the specific preferences of the person when it comes to bathing, you have some reference to the fragrance they like, or you know they wanted to have that specific kitchen towel for ages - by all means, go for it! The animal-shaped candles still look creepy tough…
