4 Tips for Mastering the Art of Meaningful Gift-Giving

Meaningful Gift-Giving. If you’re like a lot of people, then you’ve probably received gifts that made you smile and feel warm inside – and gifts that made you wince. In all likelihood, gifts that put a smile on your face tend to be personally meaningful – that is, they strike a chord with you because they make you feel understood on a level that’s beyond the superficial. On the other hand, gifts in the wince-causing category miss the mark because they’re cliche and impersonal and – in a certain sense – fairly meaningless to you.

With all this in mind, we think it’s safe to assume that most people would like to master the art of meaningful gift-giving. So how, exactly, can you perfect that art for yourself? While there’s a lot of advice out there on meaningful gift-giving, here are a few of the best tips and approaches we’ve encountered.

• Explore their hobbies and interests. An age-old gift-giving approach is to first discover and learn more about the gift-recipient’s hobbies or interests. That doesn’t mean you have to go all out and learn everything there is to know about that hobby or interest, but becoming familiar with the overall hobby is a good start if you want to pick out a gift that’s personally meaningful.

• Watch for hints of what they like. One clever-and-endearing way you can choose a meaningful gift? Go out shopping at least occasionally with the person you want to give a gift to – and observe what sort of things they seem to like. For example, where do their eyes linger when scanning through a store shelf? To what do they seem to give extra attention to – even if they don’t verbally signal interest in something?

• Gift them something they lost. Has the recipient of your gift lost something recently? If so, simply gifting them an item similar (or even better) than the one they lost can make the recipient feel special and cared about.

• Creatively combine their desires and values in a single gift. A very reliable – and effective – way to find a gift-with-meaning for someone is this 2-step approach: first, figure out several things that the recipient values or desires, then pick a gift that creatively combines some of those values or desires. Suppose, for instance, that the gift recipient enjoys fashionable wrist jewelry and accessories. They also tend to donate to charities and organisations that help people struggling with incurable diseases. You could combine this desire and value in a single gift – like a JWLS watch, for example (stylish timepieces that help support those with cystic fibrosis).