Good thing my family doesn\’t place a lot of emphasis on gifts = love.

I think services, spending time, gift cards.. these are all the best. At least I can use it for daily life.

I don't observe holidays anyway, but for other occasions like birthdays etc, I dont like receiving gifts either, I feel like people are pressured to buy me gift, because society says so. And also, for buying gifts, for example if I saw my best friend's fav. band's poster on a store, I would buy it and don't wait her birthday or any other special occasion to give her. I would buy it bec. I know if she saw it she would definitely buy it, too.

In general, I hate having things at home I don't use. At least once a month, I pick out things at home I don't use or I won't use and give them to charity, so it bothers me a lot when people give me gifts, because most probably I will give it to charity.

I think the whole idea of giving gifts originated from the idea of making the other person happy. With the passing time, people forgot that aspect. Now with all that commercialism, media and other entities "tell" us we have to buy gifts society tells us we have to buy gifts otherwise we are not a good friend or parent. We should ask ourselves, why am I buying this gift? The answer must be "to make the person happy", then another question comes into place: is this the right way to make that person happy? Then, many who wrote here already knows the answer: No. Many here mentioned spending time together is a great gift, I agree. Also your ideas like "services (like to a spa), gift cards to a grocery " are I think really nice.

Funny thing is, I agree with most of what you said–on its face. I can get behind less waste, spending more TIME with people, not wasting more money w/batteries, etc. But you fail to take into account the personal dynamics that go into gift giving. I tell my kids that a present is something YOU want, but a gift is something the other person wants you to have. Remember the four "love languages?" Gifts, service, words, and affection? Well, gifts is mine. Nothing makes me happier than giving a gift (or a present). I usually end up giving something I know they will enjoy or need, but sometimes, I just wanted to knit them a scarf in lime green and purple and I wanted THEM to have it. Or I wanted to give them a book that I believe they will enjoy or enrich their life in some way. Or a necklace that will make their eyes shine. Yes, they now have to figure out what to do with it, but your post really made me wonder if the things I do for people are really just unwelcome or unappreciated.

My mother-in-law has given me countless things over the years that I have no place for whatsoever. That are just not "me" in any way. But honestly, it would never occur to me to suggest she ought to get me something else, because that's obviously how she shows love and it was (for whatever reason) important for her to give me that. And no, it doesn't mean she's BUYING my love–often these things are from her travels–it just means gifting is how she ~expresses~ love!

Like I said, I agree with a lot of what you said in principle, and even in my own house I do my best to keep extra clutter out, but I think it's more important to honor the human relationships that gifting is meant to strengthen than to complain about receiving the gift and all the trouble it's going to cause you and the planet.

I don’t like knickknacks for the most part (though some people do), and as for jewelery or clothing, I like to try it on, test the colour on my skin and am VERY picky…..