El Gato Presents...."Your Gift Sucks. Now What?"
We can’t all have awesome gifts for everyone, so properly managing a sub-par gift can do wonders for the overall reaction to the gift.
There are 5 strict rules for managing a sucky gift:
1. Gift Placement in the Receiving Line.
This works best if you’re in a situation where the receiver is opening lots of gifts from different people (think Christmas day at the parent’s house). Here’s what to do: Ensure that your gift is opened directly after another person’s gift that is sure to be more sucky than yours. This way, in comparison, the receiver will at least be improving from the last gift they opened. (Good candidates of people to go after include grandparents and weird extended relatives).
This does have the potential to backfire if the person you scouted as the "dud gift giver" turns out to have read this blog and heeded the advice I gave earlier, but at this point you’re simply running damage control, so even the best scenario may not be great.
If this method does end up working in your favor, you should realize that the result, while better for you, also leaves the receiver with two sucky gifts in a row… so it's just common courtesy to offer to refill their Christmas day beverage and add a little “feel good medicine” to it.
2. Don’t Acknowledge that your Gift is Sucky.
They know it, you know it. Don’t advertise it to the world.
Also, never ever say “it’s the thought that counts." If your gift is sucky, you clearly didn’t think enough.
(Some things are best left unspoken).
3. Diffuse with Humor.
While the sucky gift is being opened, tell a joke, or better yet get someone else to tell a joke (that way the attention isn’t on you or the person opening the gift). By the time everyone re-focuses on the gift exchanges, the receiver will have already opened and tucked your gift aside under all the better ones.
4. Add a Bottle or Two of Liquor or Wine to your Gift.
No matter what the gift is, these additions will most certainly raise the stock of the gift and may possibly propel your gift out of the “awful” range.
5. Make Sure to Read the Advice I Gave Previously and Do a Better Job Next Year.
Nothing is worse than being known as a habitually bad gift giver.
There are 5 strict rules for managing a sucky gift:
1. Gift Placement in the Receiving Line.
This works best if you’re in a situation where the receiver is opening lots of gifts from different people (think Christmas day at the parent’s house). Here’s what to do: Ensure that your gift is opened directly after another person’s gift that is sure to be more sucky than yours. This way, in comparison, the receiver will at least be improving from the last gift they opened. (Good candidates of people to go after include grandparents and weird extended relatives).
This does have the potential to backfire if the person you scouted as the "dud gift giver" turns out to have read this blog and heeded the advice I gave earlier, but at this point you’re simply running damage control, so even the best scenario may not be great.
If this method does end up working in your favor, you should realize that the result, while better for you, also leaves the receiver with two sucky gifts in a row… so it's just common courtesy to offer to refill their Christmas day beverage and add a little “feel good medicine” to it.
2. Don’t Acknowledge that your Gift is Sucky.
They know it, you know it. Don’t advertise it to the world.
Also, never ever say “it’s the thought that counts." If your gift is sucky, you clearly didn’t think enough.
(Some things are best left unspoken).
3. Diffuse with Humor.
While the sucky gift is being opened, tell a joke, or better yet get someone else to tell a joke (that way the attention isn’t on you or the person opening the gift). By the time everyone re-focuses on the gift exchanges, the receiver will have already opened and tucked your gift aside under all the better ones.
4. Add a Bottle or Two of Liquor or Wine to your Gift.
No matter what the gift is, these additions will most certainly raise the stock of the gift and may possibly propel your gift out of the “awful” range.
5. Make Sure to Read the Advice I Gave Previously and Do a Better Job Next Year.
Nothing is worse than being known as a habitually bad gift giver.
I'm now so paranoid that I will refrain from attending this year's gift-giving session altogether. If my gift sucks, feel free to make fun of me and throw it away....just maybe not in front of Grandma.
ReplyDeletePaul
Ha! I'm not attending this years session either. Don't worry Paul, I'm sure I will....uhhh....love it.
ReplyDelete:-)