The penultimate paragraph mentioned that "The researchers said the survey's findings pointed to a miscommunication between different family generations as well as a lack of time to devote to Christmas shopping". Perhaps the best way to reach the economic equilibrium (i.e. supply meeting demand) is to get the gifter and the receiver to go shopping together?
Oh no Grandma, not underwear again for Christmas!
SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - Thinking of giving your loved ones socks, underwear, scented bath oil or maybe a non-stick fry pan for Christmas? Think again, especially grandparents.
A survey by Galaxy Research found 72 percent of Australians regularly receive a Christmas gift they don't like even though 69 percent of 1,242 respondents rated their present buying ability as above average.
The online survey, commissioned by the bank NAB, found the most unpopular but regularly received gifts included body and bath products, books, dressing gowns, slippers, socks and underwear.
Grandparents were rated as the worst gift-givers in Australia with 37 percent of respondents complaining about their gift buying, followed by mothers at 20 percent and fathers at 14 percent.
But it worked both ways. The survey also found 68 percent of grandchildren rated photo frames to be good gifts for grandparents but 44 percent of grandparents rated frames a "nice thought" but not something they would really want.
Teenagers particularly hated receiving clothes chosen by their parents, with 53 percent of teenage girls opposed to their parents buying them clothes although 70 percent of parents thought clothing was a good gift for their daughters.
One in three parents, or 36 percent, thought books were a wise choice for teenage sons but 38 percent of boys gave books the thumbs down.
Wives and girlfriends most disliked getting kitchen appliances from their partners -- but they were also rated the most difficult to group to buy gifts for, getting 53 percent of the vote.
Fathers were left yawning at yet another pair of socks.
The researchers said the survey's findings pointed to a miscommunication between different family generations as well as a lack of time to devote to Christmas shopping.
It found 74 percent of respondents expected to be shopping the week before Christmas.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE4B10WV20081202
4 useful comments:
For a green Christmas, perhaps we can cut down on giving each other things we are not sure if they want. Instead, why not give movie passes, magazine subscriptions for titles that you know they read, or even shopping voucher? And most practically, there is nothing vulgar about giving cash in an ang pow (ok...maybe not for Christmas). Or how about volunteering to do something for your loved ones, like cleaning their cupboards, trimming the garden plants, helping to babysit while they can go out for a date - giving time is a thoughtful gift.
My family prefers the cash approach. A bit strange for Christmas but more practical. No wastage in our case.
I guess subject of the book matters...
My department had a tradition of playing a gift exchange game during Xmas. Everyone takes a number. The person with the number "1" will choose a gift from a pile and open it up before all. The next person "2" will do likewise, but has the option of exchanging with person "1". Person "3" can exchange with both persons "1" and "2", and so on. Hence the one with the largest number will always get what he/she wants. We call it "Last But Not Least".
I bought a book on horoscopes (with a bit of fengshui) last year as a gift, thinking that it would be a useful read for the new year. But I was so dumbly wrong. The person who picked it up was dissatisfied, and it never got exchanged. Only a cookbook had the honour of being passed through a few hands... of male colleagues, to be exact.
Hi Ani,
My colleagues used to play Secret Santa in the past. Each of us drew a random name from a bag and bought a gift intended for that person at $10 or less. So the level of satisfaction depended on how well your Secret Santa knows you.
I remembered getting a lightweight umbrella for a colleague because he was grumbling aloud that his old one was faulty, but he didn't like the colour or pattern....
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