8 surprising facts about gifts and the tradition of giving
For most of us, at least one present — large or small — will be exchanged this holiday season. But do you know how that tradition began?
1. Giving gifts goes waaaay back — in prehistoric times, kings and emperors demanded that lesser nobility give them gifts to demonstrate their loyalty.
2. Same as last year? —According to the American Research Group, Americans are planning to spend just about the same amount on gifts this year (about $650) as last year.
3. A gift… or a trade? —when gifts were given to someone of the same rank or stature, a reciprocal gift was expected.
4. Santa may be a myth, but St. Nick is not — there was a real Nicholas, who lived in what is now Turkey in the 4th century. An orphan who grew up in a monastery to become a priest, he was renowned for his generosity, especially to children.
5. “Mrrrow” means “thank you” —more than half of pet owners in the U.S.A. will give their pets a gift this season, spending an average of $46.
6. If money is no object — every year, Neiman Marcus puts together a “Fantasy Christmas Book” of the most luxurious (and expensive gifts) for the holidays. For the man who has everything, how about a bespoke Ferrari FF for the bargain price of $395,000? Only 10 will be produced.
7. Giving back? —According to Charity Navigator, the Black Friday four day weekend last year saw over $45 billion in sales. Arts charities took in $13.28 billion in contributions for the entire year of 2010.
8. Electronics rule the world — in Yahoo.com’s list of the most popular gifts going back to 1984, ten were electronic, robotic or otherwise plugged in: Nintendo (Gameboy – 1989, Pokemon – 1999), Tamagotchi (1997), Furbies (1998), RoboSapiens (2004), Xbox 360 (2005), Playstation 3 (2006), iTouch (2007), Nook eReader (2009) and the Apple iPad (2010).
Pategan's Blog 