I recently got into a discussion with a friend. She saw my pile of Christmas gifts to be wrapped, and noticed that more than a couple of things had clearance price tags on them. She remarked, half jokingly, that I must not like those people very much.
I didn’t get into it at the time, but what she said stuck with me.
Does the price tag matter if the gift is truly what someone wants?
You see I didn’t go to the clearance section to find gifts for these people. In fact, I went to the clearance section to find some things for myself. While I was there I noticed some things that made me think of my friends, people on my gift list. I picked them because I truly believed that they would enjoy those gifts, not because they were cheap.
Still, the question remains; does the price tag dictate the value of the gift, or does the gift have its own value based on the person receiving it?
Personally, and maybe this is naive, but I don’t believe that how much a person pays for a gift is a reflection of how much they value me in their lives. I would rather a friend or family member spend little to nothing on something that they think I will really love and get a lot of use out of rather than spend an exorbitant amount of money on something that will probably just sit there.
Am I alone in this? If you knew that your gift had come from the clearance section would you value it less?
I’m really interested in your opinions on this… What do you think? Share in the comments.
