Holiday trends let shoppers look gift horse in the mouth
By Beth Teitell
Thursday, December 1, 2005
Remember the good old days when people gave holiday presents, and the recipients actually kept them? It seems rather quaint now, doesn’t it?
Not only has gift-receipt mania reached such a pitch that it’s considered thoughtless to give a present that’s not effortless to return (for full retail), but for the second season in a row, gift cards are expected to be the top gift purchase.
Heaven forbid you actually pick out an item yourself, even for a very young child. In fact, a survey by the Marketing Workshop found that kids as young as 5 want gift cards in their stockings. I wouldn’t be surprised if these certificates were soon marked: Happy Holidays! Buy it your damn self!
As if all that’s not depressing enough, now comes news of a new trend: the self-gift.
Retailers from Saks Fifth Avenue to Fortunoff to Kenneth Cole are encouraging women to pick up a little something for themselves while they’re out working on their lists. Why not cut out the other people altogether? The ho ho ho is now me me me.
As one Saks ad puts it: ”Because I’ve been an exceptionally good girl, I deserve sweet nothings from Dolce & Gabbana Intimates to make my husband forget he’s an accountant.”
I’m sure your husband’s clients will be happy to hear that.
Do you really want to take the chance that your secret, or not-so-secret, Santa will get you the wrong thing? Luckily, Fortunoff has a gift registry, so shoppers can put out an APB as to what they want.
Gift cards, gift registries, self-gifting - what’s the point of wrapping paper, really?
Which brings us to the future - will everyone shop for him or herself at the holidays? The complaints will be interesting: ”A new iron? That’s what I think of me? Gee, thanks a lot!”
Mark my words: We will long for the days when we had someone else to blame for our lousy gifts.
