What Makes a Great Gift, Great?

Gift shopping can often be a challenging task. Fraught with uncertainties and questions as we try to pick out the best gifts for our friends and family. Many of these questions while surface level at first glance all come together to ask one big question that we try to answer year after year; “What makes a gift great?” As we answer each smaller question we will get one step closer to finding the answer to this all-encompassing question, and find the answer we shall.

How do we know if the gift we get will be a good gift for any given person?

To know if a gift will be good for any given person we must first know a person’s likes and dislikes, if you don't know the person well it becomes a matter of making observations about them. For example, Bill has a coworker named John. They work at opposite ends of the office and only cross paths once daily during their lunch breaks. After pulling John’s name for the company gift exchange, Bill starts watching him. By observing him, he may learn that John enjoys chess, history, and collecting antiques. Using this information he could find antique chess sets or table settings, or he could find history books, or antique printings of books from a time in history he is interested in. A plethora of great gifts can be found using a small amount of information.

What if the person doesn’t like the gift we give to them?

Everyone has different preferences, and you can’t know for sure that they will like what you get them. If they don’t, then you have just that much more information for the next time you're getting them a present.

Does the amount of money we spend make a gift good or bad?

Not necessarily, while expensive gifts are nice, they tend to be more surface-level, like expensive clothing, tools, etc. However, a gift being expensive does not exclude it from being great. For example, if a person loves sewing and you were to get them a two thousand dollar sewing machine as a gift, then that could be considered a great gift, but at the same time if you were to get them a thirty dollar book about different quilts and dresses and how to make them, that could also be considered a great gift. In the end, it's not the price tag on the gift that matters but rather the heart behind it.

Does the size of a gift make it better?

Again no, the size of a gift doesn’t make it better or worse. It once again comes down to knowing the person's likes and dislikes. For example, John likes chess and collectible items. If you were to get him a giant chess set it could be considered a great gift. At the same time, if you were to give him a rare collector’s edition, emerald chess set, it could also be a great gift. 

What makes a gift great?

Finally, we reach the question we’ve all been asking, and likewise, we have reached its answer: no one item can be called a great gift for everyone. A Puzzle isn’t going to be a good gift for someone who hates puzzles, however, a book could be a great gift for someone who loves to read. And a book about one of their other interests, like history in John's case, would be an even better gift. A great gift is something that resonates personally with the recipient, something that they will never forget, and something they will cherish forever.