I don’t think it is, at least not in my family. Cash is no more of a faux pas than a gift card, at least. I happen to think either is a pretty lame gift. Instead of a gift card to LUSH, for example, just buy me a bath bomb or whatever. Maybe I won’t like the scent you choose, maybe I’ll love it—that’s the nature of receiving a gift. Besides, gift cards are rarely enough to cover an actual purchase with taxes and etc added, so they often end up forcing the recipient to spend some of their own money (or they gather dust until they expire).
I know some people are “hard to buy for” but this might be an indication that you shouldn’t be giving them a gift. If you don’t know them well enough to have a gift idea, or don’t feel comfortable asking for ideas, are you really obligated to get them something?
My wife did something amazing this year that I think is relevant here. She had a baby shower to go to. She didn't know what to get the mother to be.
So she bought an Amazon gift card. And then she created a wishlist of items she thought the mother might need, doing the research to find reputable brands, unique solutions to problems, "best mom gadgets", etc (such as the pacifier that you can put liquids into; it lets you get liquid medicines into the baby, like cough syrup, without stress). She sent the gift card, and the link to the wishlist with an explanation.
It was both a pragmatic and thoughtful approach, without the risk of buying something she already had, or didn't need or want.
Your wife has just re-invented gift registries! Maybe this is cultural, but in the US for baby showers and weddings, usually specific wants/needs will be compiled into a list and registered either at a specific retailer, or with a web service; so you don't get double-buys or things you don't need.
It is a great idea, but it makes more sense when the recipient does the registering IMO.
> the pacifier that you can put liquids into; it lets you get liquid medicines into the baby
If you are unlucky enough to have to get medicine into a baby, something has happened and you are hopefully under the supervision of a doctor or a nurse who can aid with the practicalities.
Small babies are delicate machines and gifting any sort of medical aid "just in case" might give the recipient ideas. Feeding a baby cough syrup may have been just an example but sounds downright dangerous. Please be careful.
> it lets you get liquid medicines into the baby, like cough syrup
I realize this was just a casual example, but kids under two generally shouldn't be given any cough or cold meds (there are no over-the-counter cough meds for kids <2 sold in the US).
The next thing is Gift Affiliate Shower Funnel Marketing Cards - the server running on the java card itself in Rust of course
I didn't m to sound facetious but now I'm thinking about the ways of making a SaaS out of this : the incentive for the giver is easy enough ; the card maker gets a cut ; AWS should give you a great deal on hosting..
I'm not great at gifts but the thing I've learned is, consumables. Chocolate, wine, your bath bomb, fancy cookies, etc. They're fairly universal, won't run into the "already have it" problem, and don't leave the recipient feeling like they now need to hold onto something forever or risk offending you. You may not score a direct hit but generally if you know people at all you can't go too far wrong.
I used to make people cookies and sometimes candy. I'd try to have at least 4-5 varieties, individually wrapped at home, with rules: No nuts, no candy outside of chocolate chips, and most of the doughs would freeze well. I'd often include one new-to-me cookie, chocolate chips, snickerdoodles, brownies, and a colorful-but-plain sugar cookie.
They aren't fancy or anything, but they scale up well and folks will look forward to it.
I've made a bunch of fancy chocolate truffles more than once. The basic truffle can be rolled in all kinds of nuts and shit, so you get an assortment; the greatest expense is the packaging (pretty boxes, nice little paper shells to put them in).
Even if the recipient doesn't care for truffles (vegan, weight-loss dieter) they like the packaging, and they have something to share. And truffles are easy to make.
For a few years now we've bought a bunch of peaches sometime in the summer and made a bunch of peach jam, put it in pretty little jars, and brought them to holiday gatherings with my family around Philadelphia. It's always a hit.
The thing is, they actually have good peaches up there too! I know this because I ate so many of them when I lived near a good farmer's market there!
Ah, Gram Parsons, the "Georgia Peach". And Duane Allman.
Philly peaches: I believe that Robert E. Lee's troops got through a lot of "foraged" (stolen) peaches on the march to Gettysburg. Presumably squits was a big problem in the confederate army.
My family pact this year is we have agreed to buy each other stationery. Paper, pencils, stickies, and fountain pen ink — all consumable and easy to find something for everyone (especially if they like sushi, cats, or owls.)
Someone being "hard to buy for" isn't a reflection of how well you know them (or if you don't know them). It is simply a reflection of not quite being able to buy them some of the things they'd really enjoy. It is hard to buy art supplies for the artist if you don't make art yourself, and it is similarly difficult to buy an avid reader books since you don't know what books they've read. On top of it all, they might not need or want much - or simply not express the wants well.
My family has always created wishlists to address this, but now that we're all adults, we've got the issue that we can buy what we want for ourselves. I've had to make a policy of delaying non-urgent purchases and putting them on my wishlist instead, because otherwise the answer to "What do you want for Christmas?" is "I don't know—I already bought all the [reasonably priced] things I want!"
If Christmas weren't a thing, I'd've bought some new cycling gloves a month or two ago, but as it is, I'll keep riding with my very-torn-up pair until Christmas so my family can continue to partake in the gift giving ritual we enjoy without having to resort to finding random stuff the recipient probably doesn't actually want.
The curse of having enough money and not wanting a lot of things. :-)
Maybe my extended family is weird, but most gift giving is extremely impersonal these days and only done as a matter of tradition. People are making up wish lists and sending them to others specifically to avoid forcing the other party to invest a lot of effort into a gift that might not be received well.
Gift cards are the worst of both worlds - just as impersonal as cash, but even more limiting.
Pro Tip: Cracker Barrel Country stores are great... They have tons of low-cost and quite universally likeable throw-away nick-nacks that you can pick up and keep in a closet of your house until an awkward "I don't know what to get this person" situation comes up. :P
I don’t like getting Knickknacks, but my favorite kitchen accessories make good gifts for many people. Instant read thermometers, silicone oven mits, etc
I have rather a small kitchen, and I like cooking. In the same way that a carpenter prefers to choose his own tools, I prefer to choose my own kitchen implements. I'd prefer to receive consumable ingredients that can last a year or two on the shelf (no, not stem ginger in brandy, thanks all the same).
I hate buying birthday and christmas gifts, and I don't expect to receive them either. I don't have space in my small flat for stuff that doesn't earn the space it occupies, and I assume my relatives don't either.
My policy is to buy presents for people when I find something that I think they'd want. I usually check with them first, so that I'm getting the correct style or model. This process isn't synchronised with any anniversaries, except that if it's near an anniversary, a date-adjustment might occur. For an occasion for which some kind of gift would be expected (e.g. 21st, birth, retirement), if I don't find the right thing, they get cash.
I prefer not to give cash ("it's the thought that counts", and giving cash doesn't involve a lot of thought), and in practice I only give cash to my grown-up kids, who understand how I operate. The hardest target is small kids, who enjoy unwrapping things and enjoying them immediately. I've given cash to my toddler granddaughters too, though (via the investment fund their parents operate); but not on their birthdays.
My late father didn't want people to give him "hard" gifts - stuff that he had to keep somewhere, or worse: put on display to prove he appreciated it. He preferred gifts of food, or other stuff that could be consumed fairly quickly. I'm the same, and I treat others as I would like to be treated myself. I have enough stuff (but I'm running low on caviar).
I think a random, well-targeted, gift on a non-anniversary, coming out of blue sky, is much more exciting than yet another plastic birthday present, arriving on the same day as all the other anniversary presents, that will last a couple of weeks before going to landfill.
I often forget my own birthday. I'm fine with a Happy Birthday phone-call - or none. If someone needs an anniversary gift, for whatever reason, I visit a few card shops, and choose a really snazzy, expensive one. Some of my rels are still displaying fancy commercial cards I sent them ten years ago; I'm still displaying a hand-made card drawn by my 2-year-old granddaughter.
I know some people are “hard to buy for” but this might be an indication that you shouldn’t be giving them a gift. If you don’t know them well enough to have a gift idea, or don’t feel comfortable asking for ideas, are you really obligated to get them something?