Many people choose gifts for relatives and friends that they like themselves – without thinking if the recipient shares the same taste and this can often lead to gifts ending up back at the store or hidden in the loft only to be brought down when their relative is visiting.
It has happened to all of us, you go shopping for a present and something unusual catches your eye such as an ornament or prints or a snazzy lamp. You adore it yourself and snap it up without thinking if the person it is intended for shares your taste – and often they do not.
Yet most people are too polite to say that it is not really their cup of tea and it ends up being a total waste of money. But would people rather the recipient politely thanks them and asks if they can change it? I think not...
We should all think twice before buying gifts for people that follow our own taste, rather than theirs. A good guide is to try to imagine it in the home of the person and much of the time you will realise that it is not the sort of thing that they would probably choose for themselves.
But this method is not foolproof and everybody gets it wrong sometimes which is partly why the freecycle system does so well.
