Giving is an art and is often misunderstood. The best form of giving is when you do not feel obligated to give but do so straight from the heart and do not expect anything in return. This is often viewed as an act of kindness. As when you give of your time and/or your money to a charity or a cause that you strongly believe in. This is often the most fulfilling.  Research has shown though that such acts of kindness actually are good for us because it stimulates the endorphins. A number of scientific studies show that acts of kindness result in significant health benefits, both physical and mental, for those who perform them.. So whenever you can, give from your heart and the end benefit will be yours.

But often times we must give someone a gift if they gave one to us. This happens a lot in Christmas. We receive a lot of gifts we don’t even want or need, but common courtesy dictates that we must reciprocate.  So here are a few steadfast rules or pointers when giving someone a gift:

• Think of the other person’s likes, hobbies and pastimes
• If it is someone from work you really don’t know, give the person something generic but useful such as a day planner, a desk calendar, or a card holder
• Another test to see if you are giving something adequate is to ask yourself, would I get it for myself if I had the same taste? If not even you would like it, chances are the person won’t either!
• Even if you have an unlimited budget, do not give someone a very expensive gift as they will feel obligated to give you an expensive one as well- even if they cannot afford it. And that can create hard feelings
• Do not recycle last year’s Christmas presents-get everyone a personalized gift with them in mind. People can tell if this is a gift you got and recycled it because chances are, if you didn’t like it, it probably isn’t nice or useful and they won’t like it either. So like the old saying goes, do onto others as you would like them to do onto you
• There are presents that almost everyone likes such as gift certificates because it allows the person to get exactly what they like from a source they trust and like. Some examples are: Barnes & Noble’s gift cards for the readers, Apple gift cards for the technology buffs, iTunes for music lovers, Movie passes for movie fans, Williams and Sonoma for the cooks, etc

The main idea with personalized gifts is you make the person feel like they are important and that you thought especially of them when choosing a gift. Gift giving can be a lot of fun if you get into it and make it fun. But if it starts to become a drag, go for the generic type presents and/or gift cards. They will never disappoint and will make your life so much easier.  Now with the popularity of the Internet, shopping has gotten so much easier so, given a budget, you can make all your purchases in one weekend and take this year’s gift giving off your list early!