Disclaimer:
The views expressed here are strictly personal and any resemblance to people living is seriously incidental. :D
I believe marriages are great but then so is the nightmare that precedes it. Gifts!!! I decided to do something different for my friend. Now shopping the traditional way for gifts for a wedding is good, but somewhere along the long list that you have painstaking made you realize that your friend is going to end up with more than three quarters of the things on the list, sometimes in doubles and triples.
I seriously was against the idea of another pressure cooker or a new shirt or for that matter a figurine of God! That is when another friend and I decided to brainstorm over what we could buy our friend who was happily putting us through this nightmare!! We decided on a number of things ranging from Champagne to a party at a beach resort to a sexy top. All in vain, we couldn’t see my friend and her fiancé enjoying with any of those things.
Now when we come to weddings it can get extremely tricky as to what could be termed as unusual and sentimental and that which fall under the heading usual and practical. After all a wedding is a special occasion when a person you have shared wonderful memories is embarking on a new journey and marks the start of a different equation in your friendship.
Sipping chilled beer and hogging on fries we came upon this idea of thinking from another perspective. We went back to college days and came up with a list of all those classmates of ours who would have been creative in their own way leaving a trademark on their gifts...
Ideally we decided to divide people in to The Usuals and Unusuals. Half of them in the Usuals and the rest, well they could be the Unusuals. The Usuals were those who fell in the category of gifting which promoted groups such as ‘I like gifting appliances and figurines to people on their wedding!’
One of our first discussed groups was those who could be extremely interesting gift-ers. They would think a lot and give something which could be practical and at the same time be a reminder of old carefree days. They normally customize gifts to suit their relationship with the couple and would like to leave a little of the past, present and future along with their best wishes. This group consists of friends whom you could call at 3 am in the morning and say, ‘my wife threw me out please can I sleep on your sofa’!!!
Then there are those who would call up others and ask, BTW what are you gifting and can I make a contribution! Why break your head when someone can do that job for you? They are a funny lot, lazy enough to do the hard work but highly opiniated. Why don’t you get that gift, this isn’t my style, why this colour, that isn’t my favourite design, and the list goes on. Expecting them to be silent partners in the gifting process is the biggest mistake once could make, next only to agreeing to put their name on the gift!
Then there are those who would think of something so elaborate that the receiving couple would be overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of it!!!Guess when it comes to returning the gift the receivers would rather not attend the function itself!
Of course we can’t miss out those who were so popular for their ever ready advice and gyan that it might just manifest in to a self help book like – How to bore people in 10 different ways in order to counter boredom!!! At this point I would like to mention that people change and their ideas of self help also changes so one shouldn’t be overly looking forward to advice on countering boredom but instead expect the person to deliver a speech at your reception. Just imagine, you are at the height of boredom smiling and posing for photos with random people you haven’t met for ages and in most cases won’t be meeting again and here comes someone on a long speech on self help!!!
Another set of people are those who attend weddings with the single motto of having a good time laughing and eating the lavish spread at the dining hall. Well these kinds of people are the ones who are extremely different. Their entire idea of gifting is let’s give something that the couple or their families would never forget. And lo behold they become amateur Vir Sanghvis and go around tasting and criticising the food, which was the actual reason they were in the wedding!
But with so many wedding invites this season, I am the last person who should be writing this. I enjoy weddings and make sure each one is different experience. For me gifting is an art and conveys your innermost feelings. A simple card with best wishes is also a good option if your friend is someone who shares similar thoughts. But I have to wholeheartedly confess, gifting exclusive and personalized gifts is a task, nevertheless one I enjoy investing time and energy into. After all I won’t be very wrong in assuming to receive at least 10% payback on my special day!!!
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