This post is part of our “All About Gifts Series”.

We’ve looked at gifts throughout the years and seen how they’ve moved from simple and heartfelt homemade gifts, that weren’t concerned with brand names, to now more impersonal gift cards or obsessive brand name items. The movement from a few gifts under the tree, usually handmade and heartfelt, in the 1940s and 1950s to having more gifts under the tree in the 1960s and onward, was because of America’s increase in wealth. The more we had the more we spent, which is evident by today’s economic situation, where consumer spending makes up most of the economy.

The Industrial Revolution ushered in a new kind of consumption especially in terms of gift giving. New and cheaper goods were being produced and with the rise of the middle class this allowed for consumerism to really thrive. The home and the work place were seen as two different and separate entities and there were few children born into every family. Unlike in previous time periods, where children were seen as economic assets, they could now be enjoyed and pampered.

With a middle class making more and growing along with the industrial factories producing goods and services more efficiently, retailers realized the power consumption. Shopping malls and retail outlets were also on the rise at the end of the nineteenth century and holidays were glamourized. Entire industries began to sponsor holidays and encourage spending. They create many of the holidays that we enjoy today including Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day.  They also created many of the standards we view for holidays including flowers for Mother’s Day and fireworks for Independence Day.

Consumerism has played a major factor in the evolution of gift giving as the more we have the more we buy, an American truth, but there was also a cultural shift. In the 1970s when corporations began to institutionalize helping the needy and less fortunate, it signaled that this aspect of our culture had changed. In the decades preceding the 1970s, namely the 1950s, the responsibility of taking care of those less fortunate around us, was a community responsibility and not something corporations or organizations were founded specifically to handle. The community took care itself, but as we crossed into a new millennium we saw a dramatic shift in our social networks and even some of our values.

With the rapid technological changes that have revolutionized our society, particularly in the late nineteenth century, each generation since has undergone major social changes. We are now living longer and live more liberal lifestyles. Arguably the generation that has seen the most change has been Generation X (those born between 1965-1982, roughly).  They are a huge segment of the population and are also changing the way our culture exists. They are defined by what they aren’t doing unlike previous generations, which were defined by what they did. They are not getting married and creating a whole new kind of life network: one that is based on friends. This means that our view on gift giving has also shifted.

This shift is bolstered by the rise of online social networks, which are all about friends and have no geographic boundaries. Unlike familial relationships where any gifts could be given and accepted or is given out of obligation, these new networks are a little more fickle and less predictable unlike our kin. These new networks require higher emotionally important gifts that reinforce and showcase the importance of these social connections.  This means that gift giving now has two networks with different sets of rules and also has changed our gift giving culture.

Gift giving has evolved along with our society. From simple gifts that were often handmade to gifts that are mass-produced and commercialized, the reason we give gifts has not changed: to reinforce bonds and establish new connections. What we give has changed over the years and become more commercial, but as our networks expand from family to include friends there is a movement to returning back to meaningful gifts that show how important a particular relationship is to us. Our mission at Expressionary is to assist you in this process and help you give more meaningful gifts. Give it a try and put the meaning back into your gift giving.

Thank you for reading our All About Gifts series.

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This post is part of our “All About Gifts Series”.

Today we’re going to be exploring the types of gift givers. Let’s get started.

• The Thoughtful Gift Giver: This person buys unique and thoughtful gifts for each person on their list to show that they truly understand that person. They will often plan ahead and also wrap their gifts as well as include a hand written note.

• The Practical Gift Giver: This person often gives gift cards or cash and wants the recipient to make their own decisions on what to buy themselves.

• The Convenience Gift Giver: This person is all about efficiency and tries to buy all their gifts at one place. They feel that shopping for gifts is more like a task and not a joyful and exciting experience.

• The Do-Gooder: This person generally will donate a monetary sum to a charity or cause in the recipient’s name, but that charity or cause is something they usually support and not the recipient.

• The Procrastinator: This person always knows that an occasion is coming up, but puts it off because they don’t feel comfortable with the task or don’t want to make a mistake.

• The Last Minute Gift Giver: This person waits to the last minute and does no planning. This means they hurry through their gift giving decisions, which may not be the best.

• The Planner: This person will shop for the holidays all year long and has dedicated spaces for gifts they buy.

• The Perfect Gift Giver: This person strives to give the recipient the perfect gift even if it’s not something they’d get themselves. They are people-pleasers and want to make that person happy.

• The Creative Gift Giver: This person gives either really nice handmade gifts like paintings or extremely creative, yet nice gifts.

• The Intellectual Gift Giver: This person tries to find and match the exact gift based on a lot of factors including age. They may give books to teenagers or young adults.

• The Experiential Gift Giver: This person is all about giving gifts that are about an experience, like tickets to concerts or baseball games.

• The Environmental Gift Giver: This person may give plants or animals based on the interests of the recipient.

• The Stockpiler: This person will often buy gifts for others during after season sales or holidays and gives them out later. These gifts may be generic however.

• The Forgetful One: This person actually remembers to buy a gift or may know about the date, but either leaves the gift they bought at home or just plain forgets. They may give something from a convenience store that is very generic and looks last minute.

• The Crafter: This person doesn’t believe a gift is a gift without making something with their hands. These gifts can be great or make you scratch your head.

• The Delegator: This person knows when holidays or birthdays are they just don’t care what they give. They pass it on to their siblings, significant other, etc. If they do have to get a gift then they’ll give prepaid gift cards and greeting cards from those great convenience stores.

• Leave your comments and questions below and join us next week when we talk about our final topic: The Evolution of Gift Giving
  

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This post is part of our “All About Gifts Series”.

Do you struggle to find the perfect gift? Do you dread the holiday season? Well we can help. Here are our three simple steps to better gift giving:

1. Think about the person. Most of the time we buy things for ourselves and so it’s often hard to give gift to someone else. But you can overcome this if you think about the person. Think about their hobbies, interests, personality, etc. and you’ll have a great place to start.
2. Make a budget. You’ve already though about what they like now it’s time to figure out how much you want to spend. This isn’t a bad thing. You still want to be able to live and you don’t want to give them something that’s going to make them feel uncomfortable either especially if it’s expensive. We’re conditioned that we must reciprocate at the same level, so don’t go breaking the bank or showing off.
3. Select a Gift. This will probably still be difficult, but if you followed the first two steps then you’ll be on the right track.

Click here for the complete gift guide.

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This post is part of our “All About Gifts Series”.

So today we’ll look at gifts throughout the years in America and more specifically Christmas time, which is the biggest gift-giving season of all. We’ll start with the Great Depression and work our way up until today. Let’s begin shall we.

During the Great Depression there was no money for gifts and people struggled to make it through another day. A Christmas Gift wasn’t in the picture and so family and health were highly valued.

During 1944 World War II was still being fought and there was a sugar ration going on in order to conserve resources for the war effort. A gift during this time might be Christmas cookies, which would a treat due to sugar rationing.

Jump to 1950 a simpler time. A Christmas gift here would be a winter jacket for kids and one maybe specific toy like a doll. During this time doll’s weren’t mass produced, branded, or anything else and was probably handmade. During this time it was acceptable to ask for a gift as part of loving someone, was knowing what they liked and would love to get as a gift. Sounds a little weird now.

In 1955 it was still handmade gifts that ruled and were seen and considered as meaningful. The needy person in the community was also provided for. There was a strong sense of community as kids from school might gather goods and take them to the person’s house and then spend time with them. This was just normal behavior.

In 1960 there was more money and thus more gifts under the tree, but there weren’t big brand names yet and they weren’t important. You could be asked to make a list for Santa, but many handmade gifts were still given. It was also seen as questionable to give someone a check as a gift.

Moving into 1970 the lists really began to rise. You would give someone a list, but this list still required the gift giver to put time and effort into gift giving. Helping the needy and less fortunate also became institutionalized, which meant publicity for corporations and took the sense of community of the process.

The 1980s and 1990s continued to move us into our current era of gift giving we now have today and really saw the rise of brands and moved away from putting thought and time into gift giving.

Today we don’t even bother to really exchange lists. Gift cards and cash are seen as great gifts that allow for people to choose their own gifts and make everyone “happier.” Handmade gifts have also declined and it seems that charity is now more institutionalized than ever. Wouldn’t it be nice to bring back the meaning to gift giving? You decide.

Leave your comments and questions below and join us next week when we talk about: Giving Better Gifts

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This post is part of our “All About Gifts Series”.

When you think about gift giving you probably stress out and agonize over what to get, because you don’t want to get something that’s bad or you don’t want to get a bad gift in return. This brings into question whether or not gifts can really ever just be given for the sake of giving them. In Marcel Mauss’ famous 1924 paper, Essay on the Gift, he introduced the reason and motivation for gift giving, which we have used in this series. Gifts serve as a primary source of social exchange and are necessary for the creation of bonds and maintenance of relationships within our social circles. Mauss primarily studied remote tribes in Polynesia, which formed a strong foundation for the social reasons and study of why we give gifts. From his studies he inferred and emphasized that we give gifts out of obligation, which creates a system of reciprocity that is fundamental in societal status and order. This means that nothing is ever given without expecting something in return, but some experts argue that is doesn’t have to be the case.

There are other theories that suggest that gift giving can be pure and obligation free. Pure gifts are characterized by their lack of obligation, where the giver expects nothing in return. In a 1996 essay by Clive Dilnot he argued that “proper gifts” and “double joy,” which is where both parties receive joy due to giving and acceptance of the gift, can only happen if the obligation of reciprocity is removed from the equation. Let’s take a look at philanthropic efforts to see how both schools of thought fair.

Philanthropy by definition is the voluntary promotion of human welfare. In this sense of the word any charitable effort to help improve the lives of others, by definition, is a pure gift. This can be seen in practice by the anonymous donations of large sums of cash or resources to charities and institutions that improve the lives of others. Dilnot might say that this is a prime example of a pure gift that brings the giver and the receiver their “double joy,” in its purest form. But philanthropy can also have reciprocity attached to it. Let’s take buildings or charitable events for example. If a philanthropist donates money for a building chances are their name will appear on it somewhere. There is obligation involved here. Companies will sponsor charitable events and their name will be on everything. This is advertising and again obligation is involved. For the philanthropist they may not say it, but their motive may be to let their name live on and for corporations their motive is to advertise and get a nice write off before tax season. In these cases Mauss’ theory is correct. So who’s right?

Both of these theories are just that, theories and fail to take into account the human element. Gift giving actually resides somewhere in between these two mediums. There are pure gifts, like anonymous donations and there are gifts that demand reciprocity. It all depends on how highly a giver values social connection, bond, or relationship. If you feel like giving someone your kidney or bone marrow, then that’s pure and we could argue that it wasn’t, because you felt obligated to, but we won’t. And there are gifts that require us to reciprocate, but in reality all gifts have elements of both. It’s all about how much we value that relationship and what it will allow us to gain. So to answer the question posed by the title, yes they do exist, but they are far and few between.

Leave your comments and questions below and join us next week when we talk about: Gifts in America Throughout the Years.

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This post is part of our “All About Gifts Series”.

Gift giving as we’ve discussed is a social process and also can be a daunting and difficult task. So then why do we really give gifts? It’s not an easy question to answer, but gifts are a powerful way to reinforce bonds and establish connections. That’s at a very basic level and the underlying motivation for why we still give gifts, but it’s not the whole story. Let’s take a look at three different reasons why we give gifts and more about their underlying reasons.

Gift giving was originally started as a means of survival. What does that mean? Well gifts were given to females by males to show their interest or to prove they could support offspring and further their bloodlines. This is evident in the animal kingdom today as male chimpanzees offer animal meat to females and long-tailed macaques groom females to increase their probability to reproduce. While this may sound like one of the crude reasons we give gifts let’s look at human courtship rituals today.

In cultures more steeped in tradition and practices, like arranged marriages, gift giving is expected and exclusively demanded of men for the bride-to-be. An example of this is the gift of cloth to make a sarong for the bride-to-be among the Rungus Dunsun of Sabah, Malaysia. These rituals are a symbol of resource exchange by men in order to have a better chance at reproduction. But let’s also look at less tradition heavy cultures like our own, where females have more of a choice of who they marry and gift giving is still important in courting. Why is this?

In our culture gift giving in courtship can be viewed as a way to signal that you are a good fit as a potential mate. You have resources you are willing to share and qualities that make you a stable and safe candidate to produce offspring with. An example of this is the diamond engagement ring that usually accompanies a marriage proposal. The quality of the diamond and the ring is a display of stability or wealth and is willing to make an exclusive commitment to their potential future mate. So at a very basic level we give gifts to display our affection and reinforce bonds.

The second reason we give gifts is often a debated one and seems to be very prevalent today. This reason is obligation also called social occasion. When you go to a birthday party or a gathering it is generally frowned upon to show up empty-handed unless otherwise stated by the host. Because we seek to reinforce bonds and make new connections social occasions or obligations dictate when and how often we buy gifts. This reason is part of the reason, our first reason, human fitness and survival, exists. Social obligation or occasion requires that we give because we need to or have to return the favor in exchange for some good, service, or connection. This social obligation can also extend into our relationships. Our relationships define who we are and what we do. They are crucial to our lives and gifts are a vehicle by which we can express ourselves and show how much a particular relationship means to us. An example of this is the reason you give your friend a birthday gift or why you bring back a souvenir for your parents from your vacation.

Yet there is one final reason we give gifts, which is to express ourselves. As we said gifts at their core are about reinforcing bonds and establishing connections, but gift giving is also about the giver. Gifts can convey our expectations, such as toys given to children by their parents. If a boy is given little toy soldiers consistently then their parents may very well want them to be a solider. So within that gift is the need for the boy to be a solider as displayed by his parents. This is easier to see in how parents raise their children and the course they want their kids to follow.

So at its core gift giving is still about reinforcing bonds and establishing connections and are given for three primary reasons:

One: For survival or reproductive fitness.
Two: Out of obligation or social occasion.
And three: As an expression of ourselves.

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This post is part of our “All About Gifts Series”.

What is a gift? According to the Expressionary it’s: something acquired without compensation, but is that really all there is to it? The literal definition of a gift can be a bit misleading, when you consider what a gift actually means. Many social factors contribute to its meaning and gifts and gift giving can even take on different meanings within small groups. So then what is a gift? A gift in its simplest and general form is an object, usually, that is conferred from one person to another.  The object itself that is given can assume many forms, which complicates the meaning and makes it even harder to define.

The next question you may ask is: if defining a gift is so hard, what actually makes a gift? Well this question is a bit easier to answer, but still is a little hard to understand. A gift can be anything, but there isn’t anything that intrinsically makes any one specific thing a gift. It’s all about the meaning behind the object that really makes a gift a gift. For example a table is nothing more than a piece of furniture, but if that table belonged to your grandmother with whom you were close, that table takes on a whole new meaning. But if the thing that is being given has no special value or meaning, then we have to look deeper to see what makes it a gift. We have to look at the relationship between the giver and the receiver.

An object or resource can be changed into a gift by two vehicles: social relationships and occasions. What does this mean? This means that social relationships and occasions, which are not mutually exclusive, define what makes a gift on many levels. The goal of gift is to be motivated more by the social relationship than the occasion, like a birthday, gathering, etc. which leads to the motivation for gift giving and the argument for pure gifts, but we’ll get to that later.

So to wrap up this interesting and loaded topic a gift is something, usually an object that is given by one person to another based on either a social relationship or occasion. Anything can be a gift as long as it has intrinsic value or plays into a social behavior such as an occasion. So the next time you’re thinking about gift giving or what to get a person thing about the relationship and you’ll be able to give better and more meaningful gifts.

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This post is part of our “All About Gifts Series”.

Since the beginning of time people have given gifts to one another for many reasons. These gifts have been used as a form of tribute, to attract a mate, and to bond people together. Gift giving in itself requires an exchange of some sort once a gift is given, but there are also gifts given “just because” without requiring anything in return. There are many societal and other factors that play into our gift giving rituals and culture today. While many things have changed in the world gift giving and the reasons we give have remained relatively the same.

Early gift giving was born of necessity and a need for survival. Men who could provide and share their resources for women and their off spring were more sought after. Consequently it seems this still plays an important factor in why we give today. Research shows that men are more likely than women to give gifts in romantic relationships for this very reason. It also helps that gift giving is a way men communicate their connection to a romantic partner. Thus this reason for gift giving is still alive today.

Gift giving has also been a cultural tool throughout the ages. They have been used to forge bonds or pay tribute to a societal standard, custom, or tradition. In some primitive and native cultures gift giving is used in the form called potlatch, where a family gives away most of its food, possessions, and other resources in exchange for cultural social status. The more the family gives away the higher their status. Sounds extreme, but it has been going on for centuries and does not look to be slowing down.

From the potlatch ceremony researchers have learned many things about the psychology and societal ramifications of gift giving. It has been studied and noted that our social circles have moved out side of our family and towards our friends, which means gift play an important part in our relationships. Our culture has also become more commercialized and raised our expectations of gift giving. This can make gift giving a daunting and frustrating task that can drive you crazy every holiday season, but the process and act of gift giving is a representation of our relationships and how valuable they are to us.

There are also two schools of thought when it comes to gift giving: obligation and pure philanthropy. One of the famous papers on gift giving that mentions the potlatch ceremony and other gift customs and traditions argues that we really only give gifts out of obligation, while another group believes that while that is true at the core of it, gifts come from relationships and really out of a personal need to have, maintain, and strengthen those relationships. This adds a whole other layer to the gift giving conundrum making things even more complicated, but don’t worry we’ll try to sort through all of this for you in the rest of this series.

So the next time you freak out about that Christmas gift for your friend or grandma, remember gift giving is a way you show your appreciation and affection for that person. Our advice: don’t wait to the last minute. Buy an Expressionary now.

Leave your comments and questions below and join us next week when we talk about: The Definition Of A Gift.

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Welcome Expressionary blog readers to our “All About Gifts Series” where we are going to explore:

•    The History of Gift Giving
•    The Definition of a Gift
•    Why We Give Gifts
•    Whether or Not Pure Gifts Exists (Also Called Philanthropy)
•    The Types of Gift Givers
•    Gifts Throughout the Years In America
•    We’ll Show You How to Give Better Gifts
•    The Evolution of Gift Giving

We love your feedback, questions, comments, and concerns and encourage you to freely give them as we go throughout this series. We want to help you understand and learn more about gifts, make you a better gift giver, and remove some of the frustration associated with gift giving. So join in and come along with us as we journey throughout this series. Today’s post is all about getting your feedback on what you want to see and any questions you have about gift giving. Leave them below and we’ll do our best to answer them. Thanks for reading and we hope to see you tomorrow when we start our series.