THE FINE ART OF GIFT GIVING

There’s no simple formula to guide you to the perfect gift. The best choices depend on knowing the recipient well: the person’s tastes, needs and dreams. Stuart Jacobson, the author of The An of Giving, who researched the subject extensively, found that the most treasured gifts don’t have to cost the earth.An inspired idea? Yes. But the best gifts are often the obvious choices. Here are some tips, on familiar categories that may be helpful to you:Flowers. Flowers are among the most frequently given gifts. There’s a traditional floral language, and a carefully selected bouquet or plant can convey a wide, range of emotions and sentiments. Red roseé symbolize love as well as the hopeful beginning of a new enterprise; violets beseech the recipient not to forget the donor: orchids and other exquisite blooms indicate that the recipient regards you as exotic, preciqus and rare.A floral gift that evokes warm recollections will be prized more than one that is simply showy and extravagant. A customer asked florist Brad Currie to deliver a bouqut of a certain variety of rose - yellow tinged with red - to a hospital where her mother lay seriously ill. “They’ve been my mother’s favorite flowers since she carried them at her wedding many years ago,” she said.A more ambitious floral gift was received by Br. Vivian Rakoff, a psychiatrist. He returned home on his 57th birthday to a dazzling display: the middle of his front lawn had been turned into a rose garden containing 57 bushes. Says Rakoff, “It was a wonderful, self-renewing gift from my wife - a constant reminder of her.”Money. In appropriate circumstances money can be a suitFlble gift. From the donor’s point of view, it’s a convenient item to give since, as the saying goes, you don’t have to shop around because it’s always the right color. A money gift is particularly welcome to people who are chronically short of funds, such as university students working their way through school.But money has drawbacks. The recipient may feel slighted. Instead of putting effort into finding the right gift, you took the easy way out and simply wrote a check. Money can also be an ephetheral gift; often there’s no trace left, once it’s spent, of your generosity.Ronbons and Bottles. Candy or liquor makes an elegant and respectable gift, provided you have some knowledge of the intended recipient’s preferences.Travel. An increasingly popular choice for a gift is a trip. It can suit any purse, ranging from a $25 gift voucher for a railway ticket to a $10,000 luxury cruise5 for Mom and Dad on their golden wedding anniversary.Travel is a special gift because it leaves the recipient with so many indelible6 memories. Canadian Sam Blyth, who heads a travel firm, vividly recalls the spectacular gift he received when he was 15. At the time, he had been living in Germany for over a year because his father was serving in the diplomatic corps. With Christmas approaching, Blyth became desperately homesick for his friends back in Canada. One unforgettable morning early in December, he awoke to find an airline ticket to Canada on the table beside his bed. The role of Santa Claus had been played by his favorite uncle.Several years later Blyth gave the same kind of gift to his ten-year-old nephew, Max, an ardent baseball fan. When the Milwaukee Brewers played in the World Series, Blyth invited Max to accompany him to some of their home games. “The kid was absolutely ecstatic,” says Blyth.Gifts for Children. A challenging and provocative gift can influence the course of a child’s life. Five-year-old Albert Einstein was one sick in bed, bored and restless. To distract him, his father gave him a small compass. The amazing insttument intrigued young Albert; no mattet which way you turned it, the dial always pointed north. This early experience with the mysterious forces of nature helped stimulate his interest in physics.There can be many occasions for gift giving. Lewis Carroll, the author of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, pointed out that we can give a person a birthday gift only once a year, but there’s nothing to prevent us from presenting “unbirthday” gifts on any of the remaining 364 days. And knowing that someone has a special interest or hobby makes spur-of-the-moment gift giving all the more fun.

Source: "Huong dan doc va dich bao chi Tieng Anh"