Ulog #9 – Let’s talk about gifts!

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I always give gifts to the people who are special to me. Those who makes me smile just by seeing them from afar, especially young children doing good deeds. My siblings often receive small gifts and tokens out of the blue, just because I felt like buying and giving things to them. There is a unique feeling to hearing them say Thank You and smile because of the little surprise.

When choosing what gift to buy, I prioritize thinking whether that person may have necessities which he or she lacks. Have I ever seen them wearing clothes with holes? Or use rubber bands for pony tails? Or in my sister’s recent case, does she have the sim card to use with that phone? Then I try to buy them that small necessity. In children though, some of them seem to be tended to quite well. Their necessities must be provided by their parents, a role I do not dare step into. So, I think about the things which they might like. The thing is, how do we know what they like?

In a summary made by Kaela Worthen Gardner, She gave these following tips for choosing gifts for your special ones.

Make the present an event

Now, literally give an experience

Make a list of all the things the person is interested in.

Look to the past.

Ask yourself what that person needs

Do some stalking

Include a little bit of yourself

Make them laugh

Be charitable

There is this little girl who turned 8 last June 13 and I wanted to give her a belated gift because she is one of those kids who can make me smile just by showing up. She’s creative, talented, and kind. Thankfully, I have 200 pesos worth of Sodexo Premium Pass which I received as a reward for some of my outstanding exam scores, from the UPLB DOST Scholar’s Society (thanks!). I found out that the gifts certs can be used in the nearest National Bookstore and at first, I thought it would be easy to find a gift there.

I first thought about the things that I might have liked when I was eight. I thought about giving her a set of Maped Coloring pencils, and was almost ready to purchase it, then I remembered that when I was in that age, I used to hate coloring pencils. I remembered that during that time, we are usually tasked with coloring large areas of pictures and color pencils seemed too thin and too faint for me, so I hated them. I just adored them when I turned 19 because of their use in realistic colored portraits. So that was a no. Besides, there are a lot of small colorful things which can fit into a 200 pesos budget which will make her smile.

I didn’t know if she read books though, so the books in the 8-12 age section was a bit doubtful. I don’t want to buy her something very expensive, so I thought about something cute, but not something that would just sit in a shelf to gather dust like stuff toys, but something she could use. I believe in developing creativity during the younger years so I went to the art section to see if I could find anything there. I found these cute tiny highlighters for only 99 pesos per set. I found them adorable and wanted them since I saw a similar item near our campus. I thought, “Oh, yeah, how could I have not remembered these?”

I also got another set of highlighters with a double tip and stamp for my 15-year-old sister who kept using my highlighters for her letterings, for only 119 pesos.

So, all in all, I only had to pay 18 pesos thanks to the Sodexo Premium Pass. I found it difficult to pick practical gifts that kids will like, which are not too expensive, since children still don’t learn to care for their possessions at that age. It is always unnerving to think whether they will like their gifts or not. I have experienced being treated differently (negatively) after giving a gift which might not have satisfied the receiver, but nevertheless, I still strive to give gifts to the people I appreciate, even the littlest things. I have wrapped the gifts and will give them when I see the receivers. Hopefully, they will appreciate it, (unlike that past receiver who not only failed to appreciate but treated me differently afterwards).

Shout out to #unlisteemersph, #steemgigs, and #steemitpowerupph for the support and opportunites!

Stay sweet and awesome!
-joules