Of course everyone will thank rhem, but that’s not really the point, as DrGoogle alluded to. I think that could be a good thread topic, actually. What do you think when people make a gift to THEIR favorite charity, in lieu of a present, when it has not been suggested? I believe most people won’t be too thrilled, but will be polite.
@busdriver11, totally agree with the concept that it needs to be something meaningful to the receiver, Not just any random charity.
@emilybee, cooking class sounds like a great idea.
I love the cooking class idea. You could just give the gift card or you could make it a physical gift with and assortment of cooking tools, some spices, and stuff in a little basket. I think it would be very cute. I’ve taken a variety of cooking classes with friends, and my friend takes them now with her husband (soup, some seafood dishes).
If you’re not SURE they would like a cooking class, you could give them a gift certificate to a cooking store that offers cooking classes with a schedule of classes and information and let them decide if they want to go to a cooking class or get other merchandise from the store.
Here’s my view on the hypothetical Busdriver poses: what would I think if person gave me a gift, which was a donation to his/her favorite charity
and one in which I didn’t show any interest.
I would accept it as any other gift and not assume anything about the giver’s motives and I would thank the giver. I don’t question the motives of people who give me gifts. OK–maybe if the person gave me rat poison, I’d question his motives, but a charity?? Why get worked up.
“I would accept it as any other gift and not assume anything about the giver’s motives and I would thank the giver. I don’t question the motives of people who give me gifts. OK–maybe if the person gave me rat poison, I’d question his motives, but a charity?? Why get worked up.”
I can’t imagine getting worked up about any sort of gift. In fact, we don’t receive any gifts, and just give them to others for events, and to our children. However, it doesn’t mean that I can’t have an opinion that donating to your favorite charity in lieu of a gift for someone else, or to the charity that they cherish is kind of meh in my book. I just made a donation to the YMCA lately. I could have sent a card to one of the many events we’ve sent gifts to people for lately (who had registries, or were told that they preferred cash), and told that in lieu of a gift, we were making a donation to the YMCA in their name. Gee, thanks! Great organization, but really? I wouldn’t expect anyone to get angry, but it’s really not very thoughtful.
I don’t think I’d get “worked up” about it but I might scratch my head, wondering why someone would consider it a personal gift to me if I had expressed no interest in the particular charity (but was instead a charity that the giver was interested in).
The tradition about not giving knives as gifts is that the knife would sever the friendship. So to get around that, my mother taught me to tape a penny to the knife box. In keeping with the tradition, the recipient would send the penny back to the giver as ‘payment’ and thus, the friendship would be safe.
We received a knife set as a wedding gift–complete with a bright shiny new penny taped across the blades. I got a kick out of explaining to my new hubby what the penny was for and what we were to do with it. Lol
We were sent a gift of locally grown organic fruits/vegetables delivered to our door weekly for several months. Got to select/change what we wanted. Loved it!!
That is a gift I would love! Pretty expensive, though. In our case, since we travel so much, it could be an issue, but I’m sure my parents or the neighbors would enjoy them.
jym, I love that gift to. I like food. 
When it says “no gifts” but we want to give something, we have made donations in honor of the honoree to a charity that the honoree is on the board of. We figure that is a safe place to donate, since the honoree is donating his time (and likely significant other resources) to that charity and must hold it near and dear to his heart. He’s smiled when we give him a card and tell him we’re making another donation in his name to the XXX charity.
Gifts of produce via gift certificate are nice, if it’s a local place. My friend bought one but am not sure she ever redeemed it (I guess it becomes a donation at some point if it isn’t redeemed).
That’s really thoughtful, HImom! I’ve gotten a number of invitations that say no gifts, but mention a charity that people could donate too, if they chose. I’ve also gotten invitations that request you donate to your favorite charity in lieu of a gift.
One of the recent ones we just donated to was the WTA (Washington Trails Association). A great guy at our work in his early fifties died, and in his obituary it talked about what an avid hiker he was. It said that he wanted everyone to just go out on a hike for him, and consider donating to the WTA. It was really classy. He and his family were trying to be upbeat, not sad, but how difficult—we didn’t even know what happened.
I just saw this: http://www.uncommongoods.com/product/anniversary-wine-box?utm_medium=banners&utm_source=criteo&utm_campaign=21505
Darn, I pasted this too fast. I thought it came with wine.
@emilybee, what did you decide to do for the wedding gift? I hope it all worked out well.
I got then the gift cert. for cooking class and a bottle of champagne. Wedding was lovely and I’m sure they’ll like the gift.
Nice.
How fun. The experience sounds like a great gift. Maybe they will invite you over to see what they learned at some point.