Suggestion for Presents, Anyone?

Christmas is just slightly over a month away! These couple of weekends I’ve been hanging around the 2 towns trying to find suitable gifts for a gift exchange with my flatmates as well as for my supervisor(s).

With commercialization these days, it should be easy to find a present. Shops are filled to the brim with chocolates, lovely toiletries, and home ware packaged with silver/gold/red/green ribbons that scream “CHRISTMAS!!!”. Catalogues help you to be more organized by categorizing gifts into “₤5 and below”, “₤10 and below”, “₤20 and below”, “₤25 and below”…

So yes, it should be easy to buy gifts.

But it’s not.

I think it’s because I’m such a practical person and this trait carries over to my “gift-buying”. As much as possible, I try to give something that the person will have a use for and possibly appreciate more, rather than buying decorative gifts. Finding gifts that are practical and suit the person is what makes buying gifts so hard.

There are also certain gifts that lots of people have a tendency to give so I try not to buy them. The top 3 in the list are:

Toiletries
Bodyshop or Marks & Spencers are popular. Although I try not to buy them for others, I love getting toiletries (isn’t that strange?). They smell great. They make me smell great and they are just so pretty. But, there’s only so much a person needs and can use…

Chocolates
I’m guilty of buying chocolates as gifts sometimes… It’s a more or less “universally” acceptable gift and is always the “safe” option.

A lot of people end up buying chocolates.

The chocolate companies know this! And they exploit it to their advantage!

When I was out shopping today, I saw…

Nestle packages the same chocolate in 2 different boxes: Barbie or Winnie the Pooh.

There’s this other company that also packages their chocolate in 7 different boxes. You get a choice of: Madagascar, Winnie the Pooh, Barbie, Star Wars, Noddy (incidentally, I love Noddy!), Bratz, or Batman.

Surely you will find a box that your child will love? Never mind that the boxes essentially hold the same contents.

Adults, unfortunately, don’t all fall for it. Hence, the chocolate companies change strategy. They package their chocolates into tins instead. The buyer thinks, “When the chocolate’s finished, they will still have this lovely tin that's useful and can be used to store other things.” Right?

While we’re on the topic of chocolates, let me show you 2 of the chocolates I came across today.

This "phone" could possibly pass off as cute or funny, yes?

This first caught my attention because it was colourful. But it really got my attention when I saw the fine print of the label. Do you see it? It's a bit small in the photo. Anyway, it says:

“Hand Decorated Milk Chocolate Bar”.

Way cool!!! I wonder how much time and effort it takes to scatter a few Smarties on top of the bar of chocolate? I really wouldn’t know… this is a skill that is completely beyond me. Such a fine work of art, this hand decorated chocolate. Well worth the retail price of ₤10, I say…

Moving on... the last is

Candles

I don’t tend to give candles unless I know the person loves and uses candles often. In terms of practicality, they don’t rank very high up. They are useful, yes, they may serve a decorative function, they may possibly give off a very pleasant smell when burnt or provide a nice relaxing and romantic ambience, and they are certainly useful when there is a “blackout”. But that’s about it…

I could be biased. You know candles always (or should always, anyway) come with a warning that says “Do not leave burning candle unattended”? I actually religiously obey that warning. I have a great fear of the flame burning up my house. Hence, when I use candles, I feel “tied” to the room and suddenly my freedom is “restricted”. That’s why I don’t use candles very often, apart from the occasional burning of essential oils. In fact, I think I use more charcoal than candles.

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Despite my difficulty in finding gifts, the day was not wasted! Apart from the interesting chocolates I came across, I also chanced upon something else…

I think a lot of girls struggle when they have to buy a gift for guys. Guys are a tough bunch. They don’t fall for things that are cute or furry or smell nice or simply look nice. Instead, they have a soft spot for gadgets and technology but those are usually freaking expensive…

But now, let me introduce the PERFECT gifts for husbands and boyfriends. Ah sorry, let me add that this applies uniquely to Singaporean husbands/boyfriends.

NICE?

I guarantee if you buy this for your husband/boyfriend, he will be pleased speechless and won’t say redundant things like, “Aiyah, why you waste money bothering to buy me a gift?” or “Whose card did you pay with?”

To further convince you that it's a great gift, I'll give you 5 reasons why this is perfect for your husband/boyfriend:

1. Portable
2. Battery operated – Outfield got no electricity right?
3. Has FM radio and plays CDs – this means he can listen to the radio during his breaks and tell you when Robinsons is having their “sale worth waiting for”. You can also record a message for him on CD so he can listen to it even when he’s staying in or outfield! He will never miss your voice again!
4. VERY RELEVANT – Even after they finish NS, they still gotta do reservist right? So it’s a gift that can be used year after year…
5. Nobody needs to know he has this radio/CD player – it’s camouflaged! That’s the whole idea right? If the soldiers wear camou paint so they can’t be spotted, it applies to the radio/CD player also ya? But if he’s not discreet with the volume and his officer finds out, it may not be a bad thing also. He may get brownie points for being so enthusiastic about being in the army!

So don’t hesitate anymore!

Only ₤22.90!