Burden of Presentation During the Holidays

By: Atina Yang

Edited by: Angelina Gaol

Decorations. Clothing. Food. Toys. Gift exchange. Secret Santa. As the list goes on, they form a pattern—presentations.

Christmas, the annual year-end festival, is one of the most revered and celebrated of all holidays. Instead of actually celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, we go shop to shop, searching for the gift that best suits our family, friends, and lover, and throw a great deal of money at cash counters just to make them happy.

Even though gift-giving culture did not start with Christianity, it can be dated back to a religious origin. One account is the respected figure, Saint Nicholas, or Santa Claus, who is fond of giving gifts. Another one is that Christmas presents today represent gifts that are given by the Three Magi, or Three Wise Men, Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar, to Jesus when he was born. The act of giving presents then becomes strongly associated with the two stories. 

Since the twenty-first century, gift-giving has become a cultural phenomenon. However, it has its drawbacks. 

On average, households all around the world are willing to spend half of their monthly income on Christmas. Countries see an annual three percent rise of spending on the holiday, with the United Kingdom of around 6 percent, being the most among all. Individually, half of gift givers overspend budgets, and over 20 percent experience debt, with some of over one thousand dollars. Moreover, more than 10 billion are wasted on Christmas presents, which is sufficient to buy two thousand cheapest Lamborghinis. Surprisingly, over half of gift receivers report that they did not want the gifts. 20 percent report they never used them, resulting in presents immediately ending up in bins.

Besides, every year, seven million purchased trees are thrown away after the holiday, in addition to more than twenty four million trees cut down for the use of wrappings. In fact, one tree can provide oxygen for four people. An approximate 9,500,000 trees can help 380,000—an equivalent to the state of Kentucky’s population. In regards to holiday foods, 170 thousand tons are thrown away while one ton is sufficient to feed 2000 people, which is about two average public schools. And these are just the surface issues. 


Remarkably, people have misinterpretations towards gift giving. According to science, givers usually overestimate receivers by associating higher gift prices with higher appreciation. Yet, recipients note that they do not feel any connection between the two factors. Gift receivers, as a matter of fact, expect less of the givers.

Presentation of gifts, undoubtedly, represents more than expressing gratitude towards another and is never wrong. However, we should evaluate ourselves and consider a more meaningful approach to exhibit the recipient’s importance to us. Overspending can add more burden on the recipient, our environment, and even the buyers. As the Master Card advertisement goes, “There are some things money can’t buy”, it is true.