It’s the same dilemma every holiday season: what to buy as a present for mum and dad.
It’s easier to pick something for girlfriends, boyfriends, brothers and sisters. But often nothing comes to mind for your parents. The big day approaches, and in a panic you buy dad a tie and mum some perfumed soap.
That need not be. Lifestyle consultants say the solution is to observe parents closely before shopping for presents. A small investment of time works wonders. The activities that they enjoy often offer a clue.
Elisabeth Bonneau, a lifestyle adviser in Freiburg, Germany, says German teenagers have in recent years abandoned the practice of making their own presents such as crocheted pot-holders, hand-painted flowerpots or wooden pencil-holders.
”It’s considered very uncool to give presents that are not perfectly manufactured,” she explained. Both parents and children expect to be surrounded by items of exquisite design, and few teens are natural-born craftsmen and women. So instead, they shop.
”They often have large sums of money at their disposal, and don’t mind spending it on other people on special occasions,” she said. The danger is that they think something bought in haste at a department store will delight dad and mesmerise mum.
”Finding the right present requires patience,” said Bonneau, who advises teens to discover parents’ hobbies or at least pleasures.
This does not necessarily mean entering into their hopelessly middle-aged world. It’s often possible to find a common denominator with one’s own interests.
If you like checking out music stores, it only takes a few more minutes to find the section with dad’s favourite pop group.
Followers of fashion will often find the perfect scarf for mum while at the boutique, and those who shop on online auctions sometimes find nifty presents that are bargains as well.
Peter Wippermann, a trends researcher in Hamburg, confirms that people are more flattered by unusual presents than safe ones.
”The days when parents always got ties and soap are definitely over,” he said. Many parents are almost as cool as their kids, and in some ways there is no longer any such thing as the ”generation gap”, especially with all the 1970s styles that are coming back.
”Find out what they enjoy,” advises Wippermann. ”It’s a commonplace, but it’s the best guide to present-buying.
”A lot of mothers, for example, are obsessed with wellness. Buy them a yoga course and you might well score a bulls-eye.”
A typical modern-day present for a father is a cooking utensil.
Unlike traditional men, today’s dads often fancy themselves as chefs. A pepper mill or a garlic press fits in very well with that interest.
The price of the present often matters less than teens think. In fact, it’s possible to get a delighted response with presents that cost nothing at all, such as a voucher promising to take out the trash or clean the car.
High-priced presents, such as a holiday, can often be financed in partnership with grandparents, uncles and aunts or brothers and sisters. Sometimes the parents are planning a vacation in another city anyway, and it’s possible to just buy them a museum ticket.
Many cities, for example, offer discount cards for their attractions, and these can be bought via the internet.
Michael Scheibe, a spokesperson for Germany’s Karstadt department store chain, says regular gift vouchers remain a popular present for teens who just cannot make their mind up about gifts. The recipient chooses something they like and thanks you for ”your” present.
Another trend that has been gaining ground in Germany is to radically simplify family gift-giving by making it anonymous.
It works like this. Each family member picks a name out of a hat, and is responsible for buying the named person’s presents only.
When the holiday season arrives, the presents are unpacked and thanks are expressed to the family as a whole.
In a family of four, for example, no one will be able to guess initially which of the other three bought the gifts. Part of the fun is then using clues and sly questions to get to the bottom of the mystery. – Sapa-DPA