YOU can feel it in the air, you can feel its spirit. Christmas season is just around the corner and you know for a fact that it’s real because you’re starting to see your neighbors put up their colorful parols on their gates.
In the Philippines, Christmas season gets to be celebrated as early as the month of September.
Christmas comes with the season of gift-giving and with gift-giving comes with a price that needs to be paid and to learn more on how Gen-Z’s prepare themselves for the gift-giving season, republicasia has reached out to 2 zoomers to share their ways.
When trying to prepare his finances, 21-year-old Dante doesn’t really have set a specific amount allotted to the price of gifts that he’ll be giving his loved ones. However, an exception is made if he has a certain attraction to the person.
“To be honest, I rarely ever set a specific amount allotted for my friends and family as I know they’re not the kind of people to expect expensive stuff. The only exception to that is if I have a certain attraction to a person.” He said.
Meanwhile for 19-year-old Myeisha, she keeps a fraction of her weekly allowance in order to have a budget for the time of holidays.
Through gift giving, Dante has his own way of making a homemade gift in order to conserve money. “Usually my own stuff consists of food. I remember I used to bake banana bread for my teachers back when I was a senior high student in FEU Diliman.” He said.
While baking edible goods became a primary way of Dante’s gift-giving style, he also shared a time on where he went out to buy things for his graduation gifts.
“The only time I went out of my way to buy stuff was for our graduation. I gave some small gifts for my classmates while giving a “special” gift for my crush. (Earrings and a Starbucks card).” He added.
For Myeisha, she loves leaning on the practical side by buying a gift instead of making one. “I’d rather buy something that’s practical and will be necessary for their everyday life. A letter that comes with it would be nice though,” she said.
The essence of gift-giving
While it became a tradition to give gifts to your loved ones during the holidays, understanding the essence of gift-giving is also something that we should look for and these Gen-Z’s have their say when it comes to the essence of gift-giving.
For Myeisha, it is the thought that counts when giving a gift to the person she cares about. “The thought of buying it and thinking about the person you’ll give it to, then for the sole purpose of making them happy.”
For Dante, the essence of gift giving boils down to the acknowledgement of another person’s importance to oneself. “In other words, a thank you gift for the person who’s been with you for so long.” He said.
“The holidays are precisely the perfect time to give gifts since it’s basically a “conclusion” to a year end with a special item from another person. Like a sort of achievement for going through the year.” He added.
