A New Take On Giving - Making Up Your Own Special Occasions

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Never a week goes by these days without feeling like I have to buy a gift for someone, for some kind of occasion or for some kind of reason. Is it my imagination or are we turning towards a culture of incessant gift giving and are these occasions and reasons even worth the investment? Do we care?

It’s a bit like that poster that was popular a while back that said- ‘Buy More Sh*t or We Are All Fu**ked’.  By buying stuff we are investing in the economy, giving people jobs so they can make/provide more stuff. However it’s the same old chicken and egg scenario. We don’t have the jobs and we don’t have the money. What we are left with are these occasions we feel socially pressured to buy stuff for. Let me reel off the names for some. Somehow it feels cathartic, so indulge me please.

Rather than celebrate birthdays, just pick a random day in the year (when you really feel like it) and buy someone you care about a present and give it to them. It doesn’t have to be big or expensive. So what is the occasion if it isn’t a birthday? Well, it’s just a ‘You Rock’ day. A day to tell someone that you think they are awesome and you are glad to have them in your life.

Basically, I reckon you can still show people you care and relish in the pleasure of giving gifts (whilst not breaking the bank) if you just bend the rules a little. By making up your own occasions you don’t have to conform to societies expectations and can give when and how you want to and for any reason. Surprise people, make them laugh with your new take on giving, and remember that true friends and family will not love you any less for it.

Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day (this one really gets my goat) Birthdays, Christmas (groan),Weddings, Engagements, Christening, Baby showers, Easter, New Baby, Thank You, Graduation, Retirement, Exam success, Anniversary, Teachers gifts, Leaving gifts…

I’m sure there’s more but I am exhausted already and it wasn’t vaguely cathartic. I don’t want to sound like a Victor Mildrew as I love receiving and giving presents as much as the next person, It’s just that I don’t want to do it every flaming week and just because society tell me to. It’s unnecessary, time consuming, stressful, exhausting and often piggy bank breaking.

I have to admit that until recently I was blissfully aware of some of these occasions because to be honest, I’m not that long out of short trousers. Until recently my parents have been forking out for many of these, but as I get older it seems I can no longer stick my head in the sand. Instead, I aim to take a stand and rebel against societies gifting occasions by ignoring them and randomly making up my own cheap versions that require little thought.

Instead of stressing out about engagement gift ideas or what you can buy the happy couple for their wedding day, why not buy them a ‘congratulations, I know you have both stopped arguing for at least 6 days present’. Even better, if they end up divorcing, why not buy them each a pressie then? They will probably need one to cheer them up. On a similar note, why not throw a surprise party for a friend when they split up from their partner and get everyone to go round with presents and get drunk? You could call it a ‘singledom shower’. This is kind of similar to a baby shower and it does indeed symbolise a new beginning (of sorts).

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