Gifts and honesty

When we got married, included in the invite was a phrase saying that if ever you intend to give us gifts, we would appreciate if you give us monetary gifts instead because we are going to settle abroad (of course it was nicely said, i forgot the exact wordings). For me it is more practical. You get to buy what you need. You will avoid receiving the same gift (it's quite common for a newly married couple to several rice cookers, flat irons etc. Etc. Which they won't be able to use). That's the reason why people come up with bridal registries. When it comes to birthdays, i have not experienced to be told to just give monetary gifts instead, but most of the time, i end up doing that. It is convenient and practical. I can do away from the hassle of thinking what the person might like and of going to the mall buying it. By giving money as gift, i'm quite sure that the celebrant would like what he gets out of the money i gave. I give gifts though to people who i would like to surprise and would love to be surprised. I also do get Gifts for people who are quite close to me since i somehow have an idea of what they may like. As for me, i'd like to be surprised! I like the gifts wrapped! :) i am thankful for whatever gift is given to me. If i don't like it that much i won't Be that rude to tell the person that i don't like it. It is a gift so i might as well take it. It is the thought of being remembered that counts most. I welcome monetary gifts too! :p it's nice that i could put them altogether so that i could buy things that is quite expenaive to be given by just one person. Anyway, it's nice to be remembered with or without gifts. :)

I think that was awfully rude of your mother's friend to say that..Yes she was honest, but sometimes we need to hold our tongue and at least appreciate the thought. If I received something I don't like, I would find someone who would like it, but I wouldn't tell the giver that. And if they asked, I would just tell them I knew someone who had a need and so I past it on..

Hello Porcospino I think I won’t say like that. How we can force others to give gift on our convenience. I agree the cash is the best option, but I think it is rude to ask the invitees to bring cash only. If anybody already bring any gift and retuning the same by telling like ‘didn’t like’ is also not good. This is my personal views only dear.

Hi Porcospino, I think your mother's friend is not a sincere woman. She needed money. In the name of gift she was collecting money. It's a bad practice. It is like cheating.

I prefer getting money but I don't mind gifts too. I think your mother's friend shouldn't have don what she did. It was insulting to the other person. If that happened to me, I wouldn't even know how to handle it. Anyway there have been many times I got gifts I didn't like but yeah I took them and thanked the ones who gave them to me. I have got identical gifts over and over for my birthday since I was a kid, especially statuettes. I got them from almost all of my friends from school, thank god it stopped LOL

Wow, the person who threw the party is one blunt fellow. Personally, I'd rather receive cash. Not only because of its monetary value but also because if I had the spending power, then the possibility of receiving something I own already as a gift would not happen. And sometimes, people tend to give stuff that aren't really useful. I wouldn't want to own lots of stuffed toys or keychains. I don't really comment when I get a gift I don't like. I'd rather be grateful that the person who gave me a gift actually bothered and made an effort to come up with a gift.

Wow!! Actually coming out and telling someone to keep the gift they gave because they did not like it. To me that just is not right. Even if you do not like something you should not do that when the person is there. Most of the time anymore, when I know I have to give a gift to someone, unless they are shopping with me, like my husband I usually now just buy a Gift Card instead as it is easier.

I am not a picky person when it comes, because everytime they would ask me what I want, i guess i always don't know what to answer to them. I just tell them, something cool and orange. But money would be cool too, but i would really prefer a surprise gift. Because with money, i don't find it heartily. Atleast with stuffs, you can really see that they tried to look for something that can make me happy, they invested effort for it.

How ungrateful, a gift is a gift, I find it hurtfull how people are choosing now a days. I really give what I want, although I like to hear what the person wants, but I don't think gifts are meant to be choosen... I don't care, I love gifts, people can give me whatever they want, a 1$ earings or a $600 laptop, I'll be thankful!

hi there, i don't mind if it is cash or not. what is important is the thought that the person gave you something as a gift. oh and yeah i love surprises, just surprises that are good hehe not the bad ones. my boyfriend loves to surprise me. when there is a gift that i think i can't really use, i don't throw it out nor give it away. i still keep it as a remembrance from the person and just appreciate the thought of how nice he or she is to even bother to give a gift

Hi Porcospino, Interesting story and nice question. If I am given a choice, maybe I will choose a gift that will be given. But if I was not given choice, whatever will I receive the prize with be happy. There are times when a gift that we received does not match with what we expect, or in other words we do not like the gift, we must still accept it gracefully and heartened without having to give a negative impression to the person who give it.

i like the straightforwardness of the celebrant to say that she would rather want cash than gifts. I would also like to tell that to the people, to give me just cash s i could choose my own gifts. If ever i would be given a gift that i dont like, i would still be thankful to the person who gave it to me because of his thoughtfulness and generosity.