3 Reasons for Adults to Stop Buying or Receiving Gifts this Holiday Season

Every year the holiday season descends upon us.

For adults, it brings the burden of buying and receiving gifts. Both buying and receiving presents is a cumbersome task. Yes, even receiving is fraught as you need to reciprocate in some form or the other, sooner or later.

We give gifts to our friends, colleagues, grandparents, parents, siblings, sons, daughters, acquaintances and so on. 

It appears you can’t escape the ritual as it has reached high levels of collective insanity, a chain reaction, with most of us forced to do it as because others are doing it. 

If you feel overwhelmed, it’s not your fault.  

Read on. 

Once you understand the high cost of indulging in this charade, you will decide not to be a part of this insanity any longer.

The price we pay for participating in this ritual is high, not only in terms of lightening your wallet but also in your physical and mental wellbeing.

You are part of a charade perpetuated by an elaborate marketing machine. The amount of waste generated is colossal, affecting our surroundings and environment.

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1. Gifts and holidays have lost true meaning

Decades, if not more than a century ago, people used to look forward to holidays, as it meant a break from the harsh backbreaking work and realities of life. 

Holidays were the times when you could feast instead of the usual food you had for barely surviving in a bygone era. Today, we have everything we need and can buy it all year round. Gift giving as a ritual during the holidays with its attendant social norms is more of a social compulsion in the 21st century. 

Crass commercialism has replaced any vestiges of sacredness in Christmas. For instance, sales during the holiday season in 2021 are projected to be around  $850 billion, a conservative figure as per statista.com.

No wonder we fall prey to advertising that conflates exchanging presents with the spirit of Christmas. The holiday season, especially the festival of Christmas, has become overly commercialized, devoid of any emotional meaning.

The focus is on spending rather on the spirit of yuletide. 

2. Holiday gift-giving and receiving creates stress  

The whole activity of giving and receiving gifts creates stress. Why? Because it is forced, exhausting and a chore.

It is easy for us to decide what we want for ourselves, whether or not we need a particular thing. But in deciding for others, it is well nigh impossible to predict what other people want and will they appreciate what you gift them.

Given the variety of tastes that keep on changing, multiplicity of sizes and actual needs, buying gifts on holidays, Christmas and on other occasions is challenging. 

How many times have you liked the presents you have received during the holiday season?

Our guesses more often than not go wrong, as it is difficult to reckon what the other person likes or dislikes. Only pets, toddlers and small children don’t seem to fuss over the gifts. They are happy no matter what the gift. Contrast this with teenagers who need something specific.

In fact, forget about others. If we do an honest introspection, we will accept that even buying things for ourselves is no less demanding. How many times and how many of us have bought not the exact things we need?

Even if we are not shopaholics, we overstock things or buy too much variety. You may be a good and thoughtful gift-giver, even then receiving a gift is no easy task as it creates stress of reciprocation. After all, you need to return the favour sooner or later, in some manner or the other. 

We buy items with very little information, worth less to the receiver than the money spent by us, who ends up unsatisfied. The forced smile while receiving a gift we do not need hides a lot. 

And God forbid, if you are on a tight budget and end up maxing out your credit to buy something for others which they do not want.

You can never be too sure about buying a perfect gift. But you can be sure about creating stress, financial or mental. 

3. Holiday season generates waste and affects environment

Holiday season is wonderful but wasteful too. 

A study by Stanford University reveals 25 million tons of extra garbage is generated between Thanksgiving to New Year's holiday in the U.S. alone.

The packaging material: thermocol, styrofoam, bubble wrap, wrapping paper, cards, ribbons, name tags contribute to the solid waste, ending up in the landfills. Around 80% of Christmas trees sold are artificial, made of plastic. And millions of these, along with glass, tinsel and glitter, are thrown away each year. Plastic waste pollutes our seas, rivers, and oceans.  

Even if you use recycled products, it does not solve the problem. Unwanted gifts which are re-gifted also end up in the garbage bin, if not in the garage, gathering dust. The clutter exacts a mental toll.

We harm ourselves for useless gifts that leave the giver stressed and the recipient dissatisfied. 

We buy useless gifts that go waste, create waste and end in wastebin.

What to do: 

No rationale exists for adults to buy, receive or exchange gifts mechanically just to follow a social norm.

Consumerism is not altruism.

It’s high time to put a stop to this forced activity and break out of this never ending vicious cycle of buying and receiving gifts. 

You can choose various alternatives to mindless gifting of material things: 

• Reach out to your near and dear ones and thank them for all the wonderful gifts they have given you in the past. Tell them gently that this year you have undertaken a resolve not to accept or give gifts. Also, how you are reducing clutter from this year onwards.
• Holiday spirit is about altruism and not about consumerism. True gifts are gifts of the heart, a loving smile, and making others happy. Giving your time to others can be the greatest gift.
• If you want to buy something during a special time of the year, do buy it.
• Exchange greetings and give to those who are needy, unfortunate, and not well off.
• Gifts need not be things but experiences. Shift your attention from gift giving to celebrating. Less stuff may bring more joy.