After a number of readers asked me if I was going to put together a gift guide this year, I started to think long and hard about my feelings about gifting. These feelings are rapidly evolving.
I’ve always enjoyed the process of gift giving — thinking of what a friend or loved one might like and find useful, without needing to be told. A truly thoughtful and surprising gift can be inexpensive but meaningful in invaluable ways. For years, I’ve focused on offering useful and sustainable gifts, and experiences or outings that I know will be enjoyed and consumed fully. In other words, nothing that could be wasted. That’s also meant I’ve only supported businesses with values that match my own and are as minimally damaging to the environment as possible. It takes work and time to come up with the right giftable gesture but I find the giving more fulfilling the receiving.
I’m the only one who feels this way in my family. They are stuck in the hamster wheel of giving out of obligation and want a “list” of what I might like or want. There’s no real thought involved nor is it about spending the time to think…
