Does choosing presents for your family, friends or even acquaintance give you a headache? Giving or exchanging presents is sometimes part of the celebration. If you know the receiver well and you know what they want or need it’s always good fun to see the surprise on their face.

For certain festivals, there is kind of a “formula” for getting presents for family and friends. Of course it’s possible to be creative, but you can also follow the traditions such as mooncakes for Mid-Autumn Festival, chocolate eggs and bunnies for Easter, candy for Halloween, some men in Poland even line up at the florists to get some flowers for women they know on Women’s day and so on. Receivers might find the presents tedious but they at least somehow meet their expectations.

However, have you ever encountered or been tempted to moan about having a present that you’re not very happy about?
“I’d rather have your hand cream, definitely not a pack of Ovaltine as a Christmas gift-exchange present. Can we swap?”
Or something like, “Dad, don’t you like the new wallet I got for you? Why don’t you use it?”
“Ya I do but mine is still fine. It’s also a present from you. Father’s Day? Christmas? Or a birthday present? I forgot. I still have a couple of brand new wallets from you in the drawer.” A dad who has a plenty of new wallets replied to his daughter.

When giving a present becomes a routine, it might not be easy to think out of the box. It’s sometimes a burden to both sender and receiver. In this case, something non materialistic could be a better choice, such as spending time together. After all, time is one of your most precious assets.