Listen: are gift lists demanding?

Gift lists have long been a topic of controversy. What was once thought rude, selfish, or materialistic is now welcomed by senders for convenience and stress-free gifting. In fact, almost three quarters (72%) of people who use gift lists wish people would tell them what they want, and nowadays only 3% said they thought sending out a gift list was rude.

Many actually seem to find them useful! Without a gift list, 40% of people admitted to over thinking their gifts. This may be for good reason, as research from Things To Get Me found that giving a bad gift can hurt your relationships and psychologists warn choosing the wrong gift can damage connections because it suggests you don’t have anything in common.

Not only could gift lists be a savior for relationships, but almost half of those surveyed (48%) found that having a gift list reduced their waste and 56% said it prevented them from receiving duplicate presents. From the research, people found the most difficult occasion to shop for was birthdays as more than a third of us (36%) said they dreaded buying gifts for the celebration.

Aston spoke to Raimonda & Robert Brown, co-founders of Things To Get Me to discuss the research in further detail.

Photo by Jess Bailey on Unsplash