Just last week, I saw one of my closest friend get hitched to an all American guy that she had met on one of her solo Contiki adventures where they travelled to New Zealand and do fun things with 23 other strangers. I won’t deny that I had a mix of feelings when I first received the invitation, because at the bottom of the card, it stated, “Please, no gifts. Your presence is a present to us”. I got all sceptical and wondered was she so blinded with love that she thinks that she can actually live, feed and breathe on love without anything physical or concreate with this man?
After the wedding, we met up for brunch and we talked about the line at the bottom of the page that bothered this possessive friend of hers (aka Me).
“Why no physical gifts? No gifts registry? No nothing? I used to think that the more gifts I received at every birthday or Christmas party, the happier I’ll be. But nothing could be further from the truth. When I embark on my first solo adventure, I had a huge suitcase that I thought were necessities but the fact was that I didn’t need all those additional stuff and now I feel the same way about gifts. We think we need all these physical gifts just because we are celebrating a special occasion together but instead why not share an experience together, spend time together, go on that all girls trip that we have talked about for years, (she made me feel bad right there and then) celebrate special moments together, not by piling on more physical gifts that could be replaced in a second.
Both Alex and I (Alex aka her newlywed husband), wants to travel around the world and experience life together so we implemented the no physical gifts policy. We received gifts as cash for our wedding and while some were not as comfortable about giving cash as gifts, we received tons of digital gift cards and we appreciate it just as much. The gift cards could be used online and even in store and they generally have up to 12 months’ expiry or more so we don’t have to worry about wasting the gift cards if we were still out of town next month. On the plus side, we get to share the gift cards with our family if we really didn’t have the time for it or simply not knowing what to get.
Gifting should be from the heart, remembering an occasion and spending that special moment with the ones you love. If people don’t respect you or like that you have a preference, why should you attempt to please them?”
Lesson of the day: Gift cards are the best form of gifting
