A gift or a present is an item given to someone without the expectation of payment or anything in

return. An item is not a gift if that item is already owned by the one to whom it is given. Although gift-
giving might involve an expectation of reciprocity, a gift is meant to be free. In many countries, the act
of mutually exchanging money, goods, etc. may sustain social relations and contribute to social
cohesion. Economists have elaborated the economics of gift-giving into the notion of a gift economy. By
extension the term gift can refer to any item or act of service that makes the other happier or less sad,
especially as a favor, including forgiveness and kindness. Gifts are also first and foremost presented on
occasions such as birthdays and holidays

Presentation
In many cultures gifts are traditionally packaged in some way. For example, in Western cultures,
gifts are often wrapped in wrapping paper and accompanied by a gift note which may note the
occasion, the recipient's name and the giver's name. In Chinese culture, red wrapping connotes
luck. Although inexpensive gifts are common among colleagues, associates and acquaintances,
expensive or amorous gifts are considered more appropriate among close friends, romantic
interests or relatives.[1]

Gift-giving occasions
Gift-giving occasions may be:

 An expression of coronation event recognition personal coronation gift presented by the

newly crowned monarch to the official coronation guest by the court protocol for level
 An expression of coronation acknowledgement for national event Official coronation gift,
Royal or Imperial commissioned by the coronation commission presented to the newly
crowned monarch, as personal memento.
 An expression of love or friendship
 An expression of gratitude for a gift received.
 An expression of piety, in the form of charity.
 An expression of solidarity, in the form of mutual aid.
 To share wealth.
 To offset misfortune.
 Offering travel souvenirs.
 Custom, on occasions (often celebrations) such as
o A birthday (the person who has his or her birthday gives cake, etc. and/or receives
gifts).
o A potlatch, in societies where status is associated with gift-giving rather than
acquisition.
o Christmas (throughout the history of Christmas gift giving, people have given one
another gifts, often pretending they are left by Santa Claus, the Christ child or
Saint Nicholas).
o Feast of Saint Nicholas (people give each other gifts, often supposedly receiving
them from Saint Nicholas).
 o Easter baskets with chocolate eggs, jelly beans, and chocolate rabbits are gifts
given on Easter.
o Greek Orthodox Christians in Greece, will give gifts to family and friends on the
Feast of Saint Basil.
o Muslims give gifts to family and friends, known as Eidi, on Eid al-Fitr (the end of
Ramadan) and on Eid al-Adha.
o American Jews give Hanukkah gifts to family and friends.
o Hindus give Diwali and Pongal gifts to family and friends.
o Buddhists give Vesak gifts to family and friends.
o Gifts are given to among African American families and friends on Kwanzaa.
o A wedding (the couple receives gifts and gives food and/or drinks at the wedding
reception).
o A wedding anniversary (each spouse receives gifts).
o A funeral (visitors bring flowers, the relatives of the deceased give food and/or
drinks after the ceremonial part).
o A birth (the baby receives gifts, or the mother receives a gift from the father
known as a push present).
o Passing an examination (the student receives gifts).
o Father's Day (the father receives gifts).
o Mother's Day (the mother receives gifts).
o Siblings Day (the sibling receives gifts)
o Exchange of gifts between a guest and a host, often a traditional practice.
o Lagniappe
o Retirement Gifts
o Congratulations Gifts
o Engagement Gifts
o Housewarming party Gifts

Promotional Gifts
Promotional gifts vary from the normal gifts. The recipients of the gifts may be either employee
of a company or the clients. Promotional gifts are mainly used for advertising purposes. They are
used to promote the brand name and increase its awareness among the people. In promotional
gifting procedures, the quality and presentation of the gifts hold more value than the gifts itself
since it will act as a gateway to acquire new clients or associates.

As reinforcement and manipulation

Giving a gift to someone is not necessarily just an altruistic act. It may be given in the hope that
the receiver reciprocates in a particular way. It may take the form of positive reinforcement as a
reward for compliance, possibly for an underhand manipulative and abusive purpose.[2]

Unwanted gifts
A significant fraction of gifts are unwanted, or the giver pays more for the item than the recipient
values it, resulting in a misallocation of economic resources known as a deadweight loss.
Unwanted gifts are often regifted, donated to charity, or thrown away.[3] A gift that actually
imposes a burden on the recipient, either due to maintenance or storage or disposal costs, is
known as a white elephant.

One means of reducing the mismatch between the buyer and receivers' tastes is advance
coordination, often undertaken in the form of a wedding registry or Christmas list. Wedding
registries in particular are often kept at a single store, which can designate the exact items to be
purchased (resulting in matching housewares), and to coordinate purchases so the same gift is
not purchased by different guests. One study found that wedding guests who departed from the
registry typically did so because they wished to signal a closer relationship to the couple by
personalizing a gift, and also found that as a result of not abiding by the recipients' preferences,
their gifts were appreciated less often.[4]

An estimated $3.4 billion was spent on unwanted Christmas gifts in the United States in 2017.[5]
The day after Christmas is typically the busiest day for returns in countries with large Christmas
gift giving traditions.[5][6] The total unredeemed value of gift cards purchased in the U.S. each
year is estimated to be about a billion dollars.[3]

Legal aspects
Main articles: Gift (law) and Gift tax

At common law, for a gift to have legal effect, it was required that there be (1) intent by the
donor to give a gift, and (2) delivery to the recipient of the item to be given as a gift.

In some countries, certain types of gifts above a certain monetary amount are subject to taxation.
For the United States, see Gift tax in the United States.

In some contexts, gift giving can be construed as bribery. This tends to occur in situations where
the gift is given with an implicit or explicit agreement between the giver of the gift and its
receiver that some type of service will be rendered (often outside of normal legitimate methods)
because of the gift. Some groups, such as government workers, may have strict rules concerning
gift giving and receiving so as to avoid the appearance of impropriety.[7]

Religious views
Lewis Hyde claims in The Gift that Christianity considers the Incarnation and subsequent death
of Jesus to be the greatest gift to humankind, and that the Jataka contains a tale of the Buddha in
his incarnation as the Wise Hare giving the ultimate alms by offering himself up as a meal for
Sakka. (Hyde, 1983, 58-60)

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the bread and wine that are consecrated during the Divine
Liturgy are referred to as "the Gifts." They are first of all the gifts of the community (both
individually and corporately) to God, and then, after the epiklesis, the Gifts of the Body and
Blood of Christ to the Church.

Ritual sacrifices can be seen as return gifts to a deity.

See also
 Alms
 Altruism
 Atonement
 Charity (practice)
 Christmas gift
 Debt relief
 Diplomatic gift
 Gift economy
 Gift (law)
 Gift tax
 Gift wrapping
 Giving circles
 Green gifting
 Negative punishment
 Omiyage
 Pasalubong
 Random act of kindness
 Red packet
 Regiving
 Xenia (Greek)

References
1.

 Brigham, John Carl (1986). Social Psychology. p. 322.

  Braiker, Harriet B. (2004). Who's Pulling Your Strings ? How to Break The Cycle of
Manipulation. ISBN 978-0-07-144672-3.
  Lee, Timothy B. (December 21, 2016). "The economic case against Christmas presents".
Vox. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
  Mendoza, Nohely (December 26, 2017). "New Study Explores Psychology Of Giving
Wedding Gifts". Nexstar Broadcasting. Waco, Texas.
  Mendoza, Nohely. "Biggest return day of the year". Nexstar Broadcasting. Waco, Texas.
Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  Musaddique, Shafi (January 2, 2018). "Unwanted Christmas presents set to rise on busiest
day of the year for returns". The Independent. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
 7.  "Gifts and Payments". Washington, D.C.: United States Office of Government Ethics.
Retrieved September 19, 2018.

Further reading
Media related to Gifts at Wikimedia Commons

The dictionary definition of gift at Wiktionary

 Marcel Mauss and W.D. Halls, Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic
Societies, W. W. Norton, 2000, trade paperback, ISBN 0-393-32043-X
 Lewis Hyde: The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property, 1983 (ISBN 0-394-
71519-5), especially part I, "A Theory of Gifts", part of which was originally published
as "The Gift Must Always Move" in Co-Evolution Quarterly No. 35, Fall 1982.
 Jean-Luc Marion translated by Jeffrey L. Kosky, "Being Given: Toward a
Phenomenology of Giveness", Stanford University Press, 2002 by the Board of Trustees
of the Leland Stanford Junior University, (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 0-8047-3410-0.
 Suzie Gibson: "Give and take: the anxiety of gift giving at Christmas," The Conversation,
16 December 2014.
 (in French) Alain Testart, Critique du don : Études sur la circulation non marchande,
Paris, Collection Matériologique, éd. Syllepse, 268 p., 2007
 Review of the "World of the Gift"
 Antón, C., Camarero, C. and Gil, F. (2014) , The culture of gift giving: What do
consumers expect from commercial and personal contexts? Journal of Consumer
Behaviour, 13: 31–41. doi: 10.1002/cb.1452

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 This page was last edited on 20 May 2019, at 17:08 (UTC).