The Power of A Good Gift

“The best gifts are those that are a memory and how well the person knows you, keeping also the personality of the person in mind. Experiences like a vacation, a memorable meal, an exciting challenge, a spiritual journey are things you will never forget.

A joint gift is good idea too. Especially for landmark birthdays. Friends decide a budget, pool in the money and gift a nice piece of jewellery or a designer bag or a gift card from their favourite store.

A ‘small’ keepsake with the wedding card. “A lot of effort is made by family members in choosing the right gift as it’s the first look of the forthcoming wedding,” according to Minjal Jhaveri, founder and director of Bespoke Home Jewels. She did the gifts for Shloka and Akash Ambani’s wedding. “Currently, the trend is all about understated elegance. No one is wasting money on big boxes or paper. Things are smaller and more compact. Ostentatious cards are also out. People are now concentrating on things which one will use,” says Minjal. Nobody wants to waste money on something which won’t be appreciated. Another thing that is a big waste is mithai. However expensive it is, it goes straight to the staff as people are health conscious. Also by the time mithai, brownies, macrons reach the invitee, they tend to get stale too.

So what’s a safe bet these days? “Most of my clients order silver plated boxes in various sizes with semi-precious stones. I do a lot of photo frames with the invite inside the frame. My Brazilian Agate coasters are also popular. We do a set of four or six and they come in many colours. Cheese platters, tea-cup platters all silver plated with a few precious stones are also a hit. For a recent wedding, we did a rose quartz elephant with a silver carriage that was filled with

elaichi,” says Minjal.

PRESENT CAREFULLY

People can spend anything from `2,000 per gift to `25,000 — the more expensive the gift, the lesser the quantity.

Sometimes however lovely a gift you still have no need for it. You may realise that five friends have got you the same thing. Unless it’s crockery or cutlery that you can make a larger set of, you might as well recycle. This is definitely the case with children’s birthday parties and even if there is not much repetition there is no space for so much stuff !

Deepti, who has two young kids says, “When you have a birthday party for 50 or more kids, you receive 50 or more gifts. Regardless, kids don’t need or play with all of them. I personally let them open them as they are excited but probably only let them use three things. If something is personalised with their names then I would keep it for them. But kids don’t need so many gifts, so it’s better to recycle.”

Also it’s expensive to keep buying gifts the whole year round, there is really no harm in passing on nice things that others will use or appreciate. Now come the landmark celebrations, what do you get someone for their 18th, 21st, 30th, 40th? Sometimes you are invited for a destination celebration then how you do you show your appreciation without breaking the bank?

Many people decide to buy a joint gift. This way you don’t have to break the bank and still get the person a lovely present, which they will love, and use. Nowadays, 10-15 friends decide a budget, pool in the money and gift their friend a nice piece of jewellery, a designer bag, kurta buttons or a gift card from their favourite store. When it comes to brides and grooms, since the concept of a gift registry has not caught on in India, where the couple list out what they need and send their guests the list, a cheque or cash is not a bad idea. The couple can use the money to invest for their future, splurge a bit on the honeymoon or buy things they actually need. The next time you step out to buy a gift, you know what to keep in mind while choosing it.