THE ACT OF GIFTING

    A gift is anything given voluntarily without payment in return, to show favour, honour, and kindness or as a gesture of assistance to another, sometimes used to ask for forgiveness. It can also be called a present.

  To some people gifting are a way of life, birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, christening and any other special occasion worth celebrating, or even giving randomly, the giving of gifts from one person to another shows signs of affection and care.

Gift-giving can be used to express ones love or affection to a significant other or a good friend, it is a good way of strengthening bonds, friendships and relationships should be about showing each other how much you care and gift-giving is a very thoughtful way of showing you care, you don’t even need a special occasion to give them gifts.

  Gifts are given to people to appreciate them, to some people ‘actions speaks louder than voice’ you can tell a person you appreciate them and it just ends there, but when there is a gift to back up the appreciation they never forget, they will sing literal praises of you due to that simple act, the gift doesn’t even necessarily have to be luxurious. Gifts like this can be given to family or an acquaintance. Even corporate bodies give their employees gifts in appreciation for their hard work and even their customers to show appreciation for their patronage.

  People see gift-giving as an important part of our life, especially here in Nigeria we believe that only those who give should expect in return or a person should not receive alone they should also gift as it promotes kindness towards one another. Gift giving is a chain reaction, when people see others giving and receiving, it automatically prompts them to do the same, this reaction also prompts you to go out of your way for others, I had a situation where I was running late for class but still stopped to get my friend a pen after she told me prior she left hers at home, her smile was so satisfying and I would gladly do that for her over and over.

  Giving a gift should be done wilfully and not with the expectation of getting something in return but to see the happiness on the person you have given the present to, and despite the unending happiness the receiver feels, there is more satisfaction from giving the gift, you feel so good about yourself knowing you’ve made someone or some people happy.   

People give out gifts for so many reasons; gifting itself on a surface level without giving too much meaning into, it is a selfless act, but giving it a second look, people give out in return for emotional benefits, giving out makes certain people feel good about themselves making it a win-win situation for both the giver and the receiver.

 Giving gifts is one of the best ways to build relationships, which is one of the reasons why people do it, either the person is a new acquaintance, old friend, family, co-workers, or even your neighbour, the act of giving shows you value the relationship you have with the recipient enough to send them a gift which helps to build a strong and better bond. It helps us to feel closer and show appreciation to one another. It also helps to get to know each other better, at least before buying a person a gift you’d yearn to know what they like and don’t so as not to get them a gift they would hate.

 There are few instances when you need to give back to someone who has helped you before or done some sort of favour for you, giving a gift can show that you are thankful for the help/ favour done. The receiver would truly feel your gratitude when you give out gifts  

     Often, people give out gifts to apologize, there are times when you do wrong and you feel like words of mouth might not be sufficient or you’re too embarrassed or shy to apologize in person, a gift can do the trick to show how genuinely sorry you are and to even make it more sentimental you can still include an apology letter with the gift.

Regardless of the type of gift or the reason for the gift, the best gifts are the ones that come from the heart; nothing beats when you show the receiver that you genuinely and truly care about them.