SO, I bought a gift!

SO, I bought a gift for the host people of a dinner I was invited to.

Now, I did not want to startle these folks with a non-traditional-non-insipid way of presenting it; So, I let the "gift shop" guy take the lead, who with astounding speed and dexterity scratched out the price-tag and wrapped it in a colorful celebratory paper!

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Doesn’t make sense does it?

Why do we “gift wrap” gifts? What are we really hiding? And why do we have to hide it so beautifully?

Why don’t we want the people whom we are giving it to, know what we are giving them?

Sometimes I wonder if the real gift is the 5 seconds of wild anticipation from the point they receive it to the point they actually get it; tearing off the layers of wrapping; delving through the levels of packaging; thinking,
“OMG! I’m so excited! What could be in there? A ferrari? A diamond necklace? I can’t take this anymore, TRRRR there you go useless fancy paper … TTTSHHH-TRRR ….”


Those 5 seconds are extremely stressful for me. I put in all the thinking, the trauma, the effort into getting the gift; and then their ambitious imagination kicks in, only to find a CD or a Mug at the end of their open-the-gift ride!

I always say, “I got something for you, I think you will like it.”
I feel safe that way.
I’m sure it puts the recipient in a tight position.
I bet they go, “Gee! you haven’t given me too much of an option now have you? You first don’t stick to the list. Then you fool me with all this cosmetic surreptitiousness. You refer to it as ’some’-'thing’, like you don’t know yourself what it is. And then you just want me to like it! What am I to say? …. Thanks!”

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The scratching out the price I don’t understand!

Why can’t these folks know how much you spent on them?

What is the fear really? That they might think you are being too cheap, or too extravagant?

And will the scratching really help?

I mean, who’s looking at the 10-dollar-mug picked up at the airport and thinking “Hummm, this mug must be worth 50 bajillion bucks! Wow, this S person is a real rich & nice guy. Say, let’s invite him to dinner again!”

I want to live in a world, where I can give unwrapped meaningful gifts that have a tacit message, and a not-tacit-at-all price tag hanging around, saying, “There ya go mate! Here is your gift. I spent 20 quid on it. Too cheap for you? I’m sorry but it’s about the message, beside I’m poor. Too fancy for you? Well, it’s about the message, besides it’s my problem.”