Love the idea of a cooking class!
Chocchipcookie – I like 10,000 Villages and have bought stuff from them before. However, it is one of those stores/sites where it is such a matter of personal taste. I like to entertain and like having interesting platters, trays and bowls but I know what I have and know what will blend with my rustic, ethnic style. I just looked at the site; there are only a handful of items that I would like or buy for myself AND it is a site that generally meshes with my personal style so I am MORE likely to like the stuff than most. My point is that it is so risky to try and buy decorative items for someone else, even practical decorative items.
Googled and got nothing. Usually if someone is registered they let the guests know and I really doubt they are registered anywhere.
I like the idea of cooking class too. I can do a nice bottle of champagne to go with gift certificate. I’ll go to store tomorrow and see how I can get gift cert.
A cooking class could be a good idea if you know they like to cook and think they would enjoy a class. Since you are going to the store, be sure to clarify how hands on any classes are. My son’s girlfriend got him a gift certificate for a class in DC a couple of years ago. They were disappointed in the class because it really was more the instructor just demonstrating stuff. I like your idea of putting something with the gift card (like the bottle of champagne).
At Sur la Table, they have cooking classes. Lots of them. You just get a gift certificate to that store…couple can choose the class, day and time they want to attend. They pay with your gift card. Love that idea…if they like to cook.
I think even if someone doesn’t love to cook doing a class together as a couple would be fun. I think I am going to get a gift cert for one.
Don’t have a Sur la Table where we live.
Thanks for the info, nottelling. I agree about an experience, rather than an item would be good, in my case. I love the idea of a cooking class too. My H & I did one together in New Orleans many years ago and he enjoyed it, even though his knowledge of cooking was like zero. I’ve noticed over the years my H has become much more in tuned to what I do to prepare meals and is more helpful. I’ll look into cooking classes. My cousin ( it’s actually my H’s cousin) is a vegetarian and has been for his whole life. The woman he’s marrying is a Texan where everything center’s around steaks :)…but if we get them a gift card, then can choose their own class! Sounds like a win in my book, thanks!
I also vote for cooking class. Its a fun experience they can share, that can pay dividends in the future in their kitchen at home.
Mind is made up. Cooking class is it then!
“I lost someone important to me to cancer in January. My birthday was in February, and one of the nicest gifts I received was a card with a note that he donated to the American Cancer Society in honor of my friend. So, I can speak from experience saying people really do appreciate things like that.”
Something like that is very meaningful, because it was in the name of a person very dear to you, and obviously the gift giver was thinking about what was important to you when he or she donated.
However, I find the donation in lieu of a gift thing inappropriate sometimes. It’s one thing if this is a charity that is near and dear to the gift recipients heart, or if they request it. Or as in your case, an action that is very meaningful. But sometimes people just donate to some random charity, or their own favorite charity, and call it a gift to you. Hey, I’m taking a tax writeoff to my favorite charity in your name! It just seems tacky. While the charity, of course, benefits, it really seems like a benefit to the gift giver, not to the recipient.
^^^ Wow–I’ve never heard someone call a gift to a worthy cause tacky. If I give a gift to charity in honor of someone, I make it a point to find out what charity or cause a person cares about. A $50 or $100 donation isn’t going to make a big dent in my tax bill and it’s not the reason I give, but that’s another topic.
Guess I’m not so cynical that I’d think a gift to charity in my honor was really a way for the gift giver to take care of himself or herself. I’d accept the gift at face value.
" I’d accept the gift at face value."
So would I.
I have no idea what causes are important to them at all and unless I did would not give a gift in their name.
I can see @busdriver11’s point. I don’t like to donate to a blanket charity either. I avoid the middle man. I check out how much percentage of my donation goes to the middleman.
I donate mostly to the arts.
"Wow–I’ve never heard someone call a gift to a worthy cause tacky. If I give a gift to charity in honor of someone, I make it a point to find out what charity or cause a person cares about. A $50 or $100 donation isn’t going to make a big dent in my tax bill and it’s not the reason I give, but that’s another topic.
Guess I’m not so cynical that I’d think a gift to charity in my honor was really a way for the gift giver to take care of himself or herself. I’d accept the gift at face value."
I guess you didn’t read my full post, where I said, " It’s one thing if this is a charity that is near and dear to the gift recipients heart, or if they request it. Or as in your case, an action that is very meaningful." So you aren’t doing that, you said you are making a point to find out what charity or cause a person cares about.
In my opinion, if you give to the charity that YOU are interested in, it should be from you, not in the name of someone else in lieu of a gift. Plus, one persons worthy cause is another person’s nemesis. If your favorite cause is Emily’s list, or Planned Parenthood, and the receiver is anti-choice, that would be downright insulting. I’ve heard people say that their gift giving is easy, they just give the person a notification that they are giving to the specific charity that they like (not something that the receiver likes), and forego with the gift. It just sounds tacky to me, even if I would consider it a worthy charity.
I’m a big proponent of “no gifts” messages, and most if the time would really PREFER not to receive gifts. Getting stuff I don’t want stresses me out.
And I know it sounds terrible, but I don’t really care for the donation-to-charity approach either for anything other than an “in memoriam” gift. I’m all for people donating to charities, and I have causes and organizations I support, but I psychologically don’t connect someone else’s gift to a charity with its being a gift to me. I just don’t. Thanking someone for the gift feels weirdly false to me.
And some of the organizations I support I support out of a feeling of obligation to others. If a friend is fundraising and I buy a table to the event, it would be weird to say, “Happy birthday. My coming to your event is your birthday present.” My brain just doesn’t work that way. In that case, I’m likely only supporting the cause because of my friend’s involvement in the charity, but there is a fiction that I’m buying the ticket because the friend has persuaded me to support her cause.
The exception would be a membership in a museum or botanical garden or something. That would feel like a gift to me.
Don’t mean to insult anyone, but I think it is useful to share these kinds of views. For myself, I would rather have the person just skip the gift than to make a charitable donation in my name, even for causes I support.
My g/f had serious surgery. I sent over food, but also made a contribution to one of her favorite Israeli charities. She said she was overwhelmed with food, but really liked the charity contribution. I hope she wasn’t just saying that.
Busdriver–all I’m saying is if someone gave to a charity in my honor (don’t think it’s ever happened), I wouldn’t doubt his/her motives. It wouldn’t cross my mind that someone was making the contribution to get a tax deduction and really didn’t care what I thought. If someone donated to a social/political cause with which I totally disagreed, I’d think it was weird and wonder where he/she got the idea I supported that cause. I would still thank the person.
But are you suppose to thank people who give you gift regardless of whether you like it or not. At least that’s what were taught when I was growing up.
What kind of question is that? Do you think the answer is “no, you shouldn’t thank them if you don’t like the gift”?
My post is in response to post #136. She writes she would still thank the person for the gift she disagree with, so my response is that but you are suppose to thank people anyway regardless of the gift. Common protocol in USA. So nothing new. Nobody’s going to tell people, they really hate the gift are they?