How to Give the Best Gifts, According to the Experts

With Demember half over, there's still some time left if you're looking for the perfect gift this holiday season. But what kind of gift is the best to give?

Forthcoming research in the Journal of Consumer Research, co-authored by Cindy Chan, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, and Cassie Mogilner, an associate professor from UCLA, suggests that giving experiential rather than material gifts is often the best way to go.

"The reason experiential gifts are more socially connecting is that they tend to be more emotionally evocative," Chan explained in a press release. "An experiential gift elicits a strong emotional response when a recipient consumes it — like the fear and awe of a safari adventure, the excitement of a rock concert or the calmness of a spa — and is more intensely emotional than a material possession."

These emotional experiences increase the value to the recipient, the authors note, even if the giver and receiver don't engage in the activity together.

These kinds of gifts can strengthen personal bonds.

"The relationship improvements that recipients derive from experiential gifts stem from the intensity of emotion that is evoked when they consume the gifts, rather than when the gifts are received," the authors write.

This finding jibes with research recently published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, by Jeff Galak, associate professor of Carnegie Mellon University, Elanor Williams, an associate professor at Indiana University, and Tepper School, a Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon.

They found that the biggest mistake gift-givers make is focusing on the "big reveal" moment of the exchange, rather than what the recipient will actually get out of it.

"What we found was that the giver wants to ‘wow’ the recipient and give a gift that can be enjoyed immediately, in the moment, while the recipient is more interested in a gift that provides value over time,” said Galak.

Because of this, Galak and his co-authors observed that gift-givers tend to prefer material, tangible gifts that look good immediately but might not provide long-term benefits. Gifts like theater tickets or massages might make less of an immediate impression but be better enjoyed in the long run.

“We exchange gifts with the people we care about, in part, in an effort to make them happy and strengthen our relationships with them,” Galak said.

Chan and Mogilner's research supports a similar finding. Chan notes, "Often the focus is only on whether someone likes a gift rather than focusing on a fundamental objective of gift giving, and that is fostering relationships between giver and recipient."

Chan and Mogilner also point out that around 2 percent of someone's annual income can go toward gifts — a significant portion of their expendable income. If we're giving away this much we should make sure it's used well.

But unfortunately, they also note that 78 percent of the people they surveyed give mostly material gifts rather than experiential gifts. If, as Galak and his team note, most of those gifts are geared toward getting a big reaction, rather than providing long-term value, much of this spending is basically going to waste.

Chan and Mogilner's work strongly emphasizes the importance of experiential gifts compared to tangible gifts. They also point out that emotional gifts, such as a framed photo of a special time, can also strengthen relationships.

Galak argues that very useful material gifts that will be valuable over the long-term are also a smart choice.

"There may be times when the vacuum cleaner, a gift that is unlikely to wow most recipients when they open it on Christmas day, really ought to be at the top of the shopping list as it will be well used and liked for a long time,” he said.

So what's the bottom line? The authors offer simple advice for picking out the perfect gift.

"Consider someone's favourite hobby or something new they've always wanted to do," said Chan. "If you want to give them something that will make them feel closer to you, give an experience."

Galak put it simply: "By considering how valuable gifts might be over the course of the recipient’s ownership of them, rather than how much of a smile it might put on recipients’ faces when they are opened, we can meet these goals and provide useful, well-received gifts."

Photo credit: A via Flickr