What Will You Do With Such Pressies?...

Do you find that when you grow older, somehow, your friends, husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, relatives, family, etc... either dun give you a present anymore for your birthday (they usually get away with a good dinner/lunch/high tea) or even if they do, very often, the present is not wrapped up and given to you in a paper bag? Or, another way is to give you shopping vouchers so that you can buy whatever you want and save them the headache of fretting what to get for you. How thoughtful, eh?

The common reasons are "You will still tear the wrapper and throw it away, so why bother buying and wrapping, only to throw it (the wrapper) away? I am trying to be environmental-friendly", or "Aiyah.. Not sure what you want or like. Why not have a good dinner? I'll let you decide on the venue. No worries on the price." or "Hey! Wisma/Taka/Metro vouchers leh... Now you can buy what you like mah..."

Although I admit that it can be a headache shopping for presents, I like doing it, and enjoy wrapping pressies. However, being a practical person, I try to avoid buying "useless" pressies for him/her, only to find out he/she places it in a drawer/cupboard and then throw/recyle it when they do the once-a-year spring cleaning... That was what happened to some of the pressies that were given to me... Before you think I am being unappreciative, let me explain.

Admit it. You wouldn't really like ALL the presents that you have had received so far. There must be some pressies that turn out to be an utter disappointment, but because we are brought up to be NICE people and I believe we truly appreciate your friends/BF/GF/etc for remembering the special date, you just brush off and try hard to replace that disappointed feeling with "It's the thoughts that count". And yes, I totally agree. It's the thoughts that count and it should be definitely be appreciated.

But let's face it. You certainly do not like the item you have just received, and cannot find a use for it. So, what do you do with it? You place it somewhere in your room, your cupboard, your drawer... and then what? The item clearly has become a white elephant.

When I was younger, I would just keep them in a box... but year after year, other than occupying space in my already-over-crowded cupboard, they are just nothing but white elephants... Now that I am slightly older, if i still don't like the present or can't find a way I can use it a year after, I will throw them away.

So, to prevent such things from happening again, even though my birthday is still quite a few months away... I think I would like to be frank, lay my cards on the table and tell my friends what I would like to receive. Let me go construct a birthday list and I'll keep you informed... Or perhaps, you can share your views on what you do with such pressies...