Gift-giving At
Christmas
The real meaning of Christmas is often expressed as
being about giving to others during the season.
Giving can take many forms, but during the Christmas
season the most obvious way in which giving is done
is by preparing beautifully wrapped Christmas
presents for family, friends, acquaintances, work
colleagues, teachers and others such as business
clients.
The tradition of giving gifts at Christmas is
believed to have started
with the Three Wise Men who brought gifts of gold,
frankincense and myrrh. But the practice of giving
gifts as is common today, evolved from a retail
strategy that involved Santa Claus and attracting
children into stores. For that reason, giving gifts
at Christmas and during the holidays has been
centered on children.
Giving gifts during Christmas started in the early
19th century when the celebration of Christmas was
restored after a period when the Protestants in
England banned Christmas celebrations. In 1820 to
1840 when Christmas celebrations regained
popularity, stores started to advertise special
Christmas shopping promotions. At the same time,
newspapers also created advertising sections solely
for holiday shopping advertisements. These special
advertising sections had prominent displays of Santa
Claus.
In 1841 when a store in Philadelphia had a life-size
model of Santa Claus, hundreds of children turned up
to get a look at Santa Claus, which had become a new
and popular element of revitalized Christmas
celebrations. The interest in seeing Santa Claus
provided a marketing idea to retailers that they
could attract children and parents to stores through
offers to have a look at a 'real' or 'live' Santa
Claus. Because of that marketing strategy to attract
children during Christmas, the focus was therefore
to give Christmas presents to children.
Today, gift-giving is still focused on children, but
adults are as much popular recipients as children.
Within families, the focus on children is evident in
the fact that an individual child will get more
gifts than any other individual adult member of the
family. For young children, who are particularly
delighted and enchanted by the holidays and
Christmas festivities, toys are usually the gift
given. Among older children, clothes and electronic
gadgets are popular items to give as Christmas
gifts.
Adults are the ones however, for whom there is the
widest range of items that can be given as Christmas
presents. An item that will make a good Christmas or
holiday present to just about any adult is a
decadent box of chocolate or holiday cookies. This
is enjoyed even by those who are diet-conscious
because, they can be sugar- and, or, fat-free or
also low in carbohydrates. At Christmas time also,
many people tend to temporarily disregard any strict
diet rules that they are following and so they
welcome and enjoy any type of Christmas treats
heartily.
According to a survey done in 2004 by the National
Confectioners Association, 90 percent of 1,000
adults who were surveyed responded that giving or
receiving a box of chocolates and creating or
receiving a stocking filled with goodies were among
the top three ways they enjoyed candy during the
winter holidays. A third way was having candy that
was placed in a dish, which indicates that having
sweet treats at Christmas time is generally enjoyed
by a broad cross-section of people.
Aside from family members and friends, it may also
be a nice gesture to give a holiday or Christmas
present to colleagues at work, teachers of your
children and based on your profession, to business
clients. The primary reason to give any of those
categories of people holiday or Christmas gifts is
likely to express appreciation. For that reason, a
holiday present of goodies or treats would indeed be
a sweet gift to give.