Gift giving. Why?

As a child you live in a cashless society.  Cashless for you that is.  Christmas, along with one’s birthday are pretty much the only two events in the year where you have a decent chance of getting a substantial something that you want.  It is no surprise then that for a child, presents are the focus of Christmas.

As an adult you live in a different place.  Once you are beyond a subsistence level of income you get to buy things when you want.  Oh sure, there are a huge number of things you would like to buy but can’t (or shouldn’t) but as an adult we *do* get to buy things for ourselves throughout the year.

Good isn’t it.

Where then do presents fit into our lives?  Specifically given that I’m writing this in December where do Christmas presents fit in?  We have left behind the gift as a means of redistributing wealth as children.  As adults gift giving to each other is shamefully wasteful as a mechanism, with £billions wasted each year in unwanted gifts.

Yes as a society we persist in guessing what somebody else would want rather than in simply giving money to them.  Why?  Because we are human and not simply cogs in a machine.  We know that many gifts may be wasted but we dream of the perfect gift that lights up the recipients face with a look of surprised wonderment.  We dream of making the recipient a better happier person.  We create a common bond by a shared good taste in literature, fashion, music, food.

We give gifts, not money, to cement a friendship in a way that money never can.

...and that is why Arthur & Henry shirts make the perfect gift.  A shared good taste not only in fashion, but in the statement of shared ethics.