Symbolic gift: interesting ideas and recommendations

Of course, these are our family and friends. That is why now it is worth remembering each of them and sincerely thanking them. It's time to give them a little attention and care, give them warmth, a festive mood, and charge them with positivity for the whole next year.

A truly good gift does not have to be expensive. If you remember what a person is interested in and dream up a little, we guarantee that your surprise will delight its recipient and cause him a lot of positive emotions. In our article you will find a hundred of the best options for expensive and budget gifts for relatives of any age, gender, hobbies and lifestyle.

Wallet

Girls really like this symbolic gift. Representatives of the fair sex change their wallets like gloves or, as they say today, like phone cases. Such a gift will be useful, functional, and most importantly – necessary. But remember that a wallet is not given without money. Therefore, you will have to put at least 50 rubles inside. But you can show originality and put inside not a bill, but a souvenir. Today, souvenirs that “live” in a wallet are popular. It could be a raking spoon or a money mouse.

Gifts for men and women

The following gifts may be common:

Stationery
,
book
or

desktop organizer The variety of products allows you to choose an item at any price.
Nice socks
. You can choose a playful and funny option.
Cosmetic product
. In this area, the choice of options is unlimited, and such gifts will always come in handy.
Cups
,
thermal mugs
,
glasses
.
Souvenir figurines
.
Key rings
,

refrigerator magnets
backlight lamp
.

Goodies

You can present sweets or cookies as a symbolic gift. You can make such sweets either with your own hands or buy them in a store. The main thing in such a gift is the packaging. Make it out of cardboard or make a small bag out of paper. You can put a large lollipop or curly gingerbread cookies in it. Or you can buy cookies with wishes. A small sweet gift can be given for any occasion. It is much more pleasant to receive than a trivial chocolate bar.

Soap

Today, symbolic gifts made by hand are popular. If you know how to make soap, then do not hesitate to present the result of your activity to your friends. Close people will appreciate not only your skill, but also your care. After all, no chemicals are added to homemade soap. It consists exclusively of oils and natural additives such as coffee, orange zest or rose petals. If you don't know how to make your own soap, you can always buy it at the store. Such a gift will not only be pleasant, but also utilitarian.

Pot with a live flower

What should a symbolic gift to a colleague look like? Present flowers, but not in the form of a bouquet. A living plant can decorate a colleague’s table or windowsill. These can be small roses, even colored cacti. Choose a flower that matches your friend's personality.

Such a gift can please a person for a long time, especially if it takes root and grows. And to make the gift unique, when you give a flower, give it a name. And then you can from time to time wonder how “Grisha” or “Misha” is doing there.

How to give money as a gift

At weddings, guests most often line up and hand the couple money in envelopes. To make your congratulations unusual and memorable, you should find a more interesting way to present a gift:

Banknotes in balloons inflated with helium . Each bill must be rolled into a tight scroll, tied with a ribbon and placed inside a ball with a transparent wall. You can also put confetti or glitter inside. During the presentation process, you need to burst the balloon itself, and the result will be an unforgettable fireworks display.

During the award process, you can hold funny and fun competitions

Basket with kinder surprises . The finished chocolate eggs should be carefully separated into two parts, put money inside, and carefully glued together. For this purpose, a flat, hot surface is used. The egg halves are slightly warmed and placed together. Each surprise is wrapped in foil and placed in a basket.
Frozen deposit . The bills must be tied with a ribbon or tied with an elastic band. Then they are wrapped in cling film, placed in a silicone mold and filled with water. After a few hours in the freezer, the whole thing turns into a block of ice with money inside. It is appropriate to add a hammer to such a present.
Mini safe or souvenir box with a lock . Inside the gift will be the first contribution to the family life of the newlyweds. To make it more interesting, you can come up with various funny tasks or competitions for spouses that they will have to complete in order to get a code or key.

There are many options for decorating a cash gift, just choose the one you like or use your imagination

The day before ! A wedding is a wedding, but it’s worth preparing a gift for the bride’s bachelorette party.

Money box

What can you give as a symbolic birthday gift? If a person tells you that he always doesn’t have enough money for something, present him with a piggy bank. You can choose the standard version in the form of a pig or in the form of another animal. For example, cats or dogs. Some may find this type of gift old-fashioned. Today, young people keep their savings on a card. Well, what can you say about this? The money from the card is spent, but if you “feed” the pig with 100-ruble notes, you can save it, for example, for a future vacation.

Inexpensive wedding gifts

If you have a limited budget, you can choose an inexpensive, but at the same time popular, gift option:

Food dehydrator . If spouses prefer to lead a healthy lifestyle, then the device will become an indispensable assistant in the household. Using a dehydrator, you can dry berries, mushrooms, herbs, fruits and vegetables. Products retain not only smell and taste, but also all useful vitamins and minerals.
Cooling stones for drinks . They are made from materials of natural origin. The stone does not enter into a chemical reaction with drinks, but at the same time it is able to cool the liquid without diluting it with water. Stones in a wooden gift case are a universal symbolic wedding gift. It can be equipped with a bottle of good alcoholic drink.
Wooden family wall calendar . A beautiful and practical accessory consisting of a wooden base (engraving is possible) and decorative tokens. The tokens are marked with family ceremonial dates, names of relatives and dates of birth. There are different models of calendars, you can choose the option with a clock.

And it will decorate the interior, and will not let you forget about memorable dates

An aquarium with a goldfish , which, according to ancient beliefs, is considered a symbol of a happy union of people who love each other. The fish does not require special care and is quite picky.
A bean bag chair with anti-stress balls inside . It fits perfectly into most interior design styles. If a couple has their own home or dacha, then this is an excellent option for what can be given inexpensively for a wedding.

Another interesting reason ! Find out what to give a young family for a paper wedding.

Diary

The ideal symbolic gift for a man is a glider. A diary is one thing that almost no person can do without. Even people who stay at home all day have to plan their activities. And if a person is a businessman and is forced to make important decisions every day, then he will not be able to do without such a thing. The secretary plans only work matters for men. But she won’t remind you that you need to pick up your shoes from repair, or that you should go to the hairdresser next week.

Western tradition - to get away with little blood

Of course, not all cultures are equally symbolic. Each country has its own etiquette for giving gifts, but the deep life meaning in them is laid mainly in the East. In the West, things are much simpler. Are you about to give a terribly expensive gift, but you're afraid the recipient doesn't appreciate your generosity? There is a wonderful American tradition for this case: enclosing a receipt! True, they do this not to brag, but to give a person the opportunity to exchange their gift (if they don’t like it) for real money. By the way, it is Americans who give the most gifts in the world. But the Irish don't send checks. Because there's no point. It is customary to give gifts here only to children. Adults do without such conventions. When going on a visit, you are supposed to take with you some food (preferably homemade) and wine. So if your loved one is into the currently fashionable Celtic motifs, don’t be surprised that you show up with a bottle of vodka and homemade sandwiches. The main thing is that traditions are respected! Scandinavians and Finns don’t rack their brains too much either. The best gift is a candle! In these northern countries, living fire is a symbol of warmth, comfort, and light. Denmark generally ranks first in the world in per capita consumption of candles. But the Swedes prefer to give homemade candles. The art is simple: cover a rope well soaked in alcohol with soft wax or paraffin. Then everything depends on your sculpting talent. At least the gift budget is minimal, unless, of course, you don’t mind a little alcohol for a good person. In France, with its cult of reason and education, a good art album, a highly intelligent book or a film are considered excellent gifts. In this way, you emphasize your respect for the cultural level of your interlocutor. Therefore, it is unlikely that a Frenchman will give such a gift to a Belgian - there are too many jokes in France about the stupidity of its northeastern neighbors. And indeed, the problem of gift symbols in Belgium is being solved in the most radical way. The gift is often accompanied by a card on which it is written in detail what exactly the item means. So that the recipient, God forbid, does not perceive the gift in some way incorrectly. And finally, about caution. If you celebrate Valentine's Day cheerfully among the Germans, you will be misunderstood. For Germans, Saint Valentine is the patron saint of crazy people. And his day is celebrated primarily in psychiatric hospitals. However, what is love if not temporary insanity?

Slippers

A symbolic gift for a man for the New Year is cozy slippers. Representatives of the stronger sex rarely buy such new things for themselves. No, men don’t mind such little money. Rather, it is their natural dislike of shopping, especially clothing stores. Therefore, if you know the size of a man’s feet, you can buy him soft slippers. For example, a model made of sheep wool. Slippers should have a classic shape. In this case, the man will definitely like your gift.

It's a delicate matter

In classical Eastern culture, every object is a symbol of something intangible. Without a detailed reference book it is impossible to understand these intricacies. Let's try, however, to find some key points of Eastern gift-giving. It is a commonplace that a Chinese person should not be given a watch. It is believed that keeping track of time reminds the Chinese of death. May be so. Moreover, the expression “giving a watch” sounds in Chinese exactly like “attending a funeral.” In China, people are generally very sensitive to the sound of words. Thus, “four” is considered an unlucky number only because it is consonant with “death.” But we can turn our neighbors' prejudice to our advantage. Is it decent to give a girl a mobile phone that she has long dreamed of? After all, it certainly contains the ill-fated clock! Give me a fan instead! After all, its shape is similar to the lucky “eight” (two divergent features that, according to Chinese thought, lure and prolong happiness). Or something else of a similar shape: for example, an umbrella. A great way to offend a Chinese person is to give him something, no matter how valuable, but in a rectangular elongated box. The trained gaze of slanted eyes will immediately see a coffin in this, and, consequently, a wish for death. It seems that our southeastern friends are tired of their own total symbolism. At least they consider money to be the best gift. True, etiquette has been developed for this case too: the bills must be crisp, fresh from the bank, and certainly in a special red envelope with best wishes written on it. And the second most desirable gift in China now, alas, is... binoculars. Moreover, they do not respect their own, Chinese optics, but are completely delighted with ours, especially the army ones. And no symbolism! It’s just that here it’s not considered indecent to peek at each other, and the general lack of curtains contributes to this. It is probably believed that if you are hiding from your neighbors, then you have something to hide from the party and the government. But in general, the value of a gift for the Chinese is in its value. Getting away with an incredibly cute but cheap trinket is extremely indecent. The Japanese, while in no way inferior to continental Asia in the complexity of traditions, still treat them more calmly. So, on February 14, they give each other expensive chocolate and eat it to the point of diathesis. This is their convenient symbol of love.

Islanders generally love to eat. For example, a food set of expensive products is considered an excellent gift. This is not accepted among us, but perhaps it’s in vain? A good basket from Globus Gourmet will please a normal girl much more than a thirty-four teddy bear the size of a live baby elephant. Or it’s considered chic to bring back food from a trip that is produced only in the city where you were. Reminds me a bit of my former father-in-law - from every business trip he brings back a bunch of labels from local beers.

And the Japanese prefer to give flowers to their girls through delivery services. You won’t see a man with flowers on public transport – that’s not the samurai way. In addition, some Japanese are so strict that they are still convinced that giving flowers is the prerogative of members of the imperial family. This is exactly how it was accepted in the Middle Ages. So you can tell your offended friend: “Let Medvedev give you flowers!” In contrast to the Western taboo on piercing gifts, in the East a good saber is an excellent gift for a man. Such things are especially valued in Muslim countries. True, there may not be a weapon accepted from a woman’s hands. War is a man's business. And do not give anything in Saudi Arabia on February 14th. For celebrating this ungodly day there is a heavy fine. In general, Muslims probably have the largest list of things that cannot be given. Of course, alcohol is excluded. Pigskin too. Works of art are extremely undesirable: they often contain images of people who are not approved by orthodox Islam. In poor countries like Pakistan, it is better to give utilitarian things; in spoiled countries like Arabia, a carpet is considered a classic gift, but dishes or trinkets made of porcelain or silver will also do.

Creativity kit

This gift will be appreciated by any girl who does needlework in her free time. Which set should you prefer? You can purchase a kit for weaving with beads or for modeling with polymer clay. If your friend embroiders, then give her a complex pattern, if she knits, give her a knitting magazine, and if you don’t know what exactly the girl is into, buy diamond embroidery. Any needlewoman will love gluing rhinestones to canvas. Today, paintings that need to be painted by numbers are popular. If your friend has always dreamed of feeling like an artist, give her this opportunity.

Casket

Cute things always attract women's attention. Therefore, a win-win gift is a box. Girls will especially love a musical item that has some element of interactivity. Such a box will be used not only for its intended purpose, but will also take its rightful place on the cosmetic table. You will be pleased to see that the girl appreciated the gift.

Spices

This is a universal gift. If you know your friend loves to cook, give him some spices. After all, the taste and piquancy of the dish depends on the dried herbs. Good spices in beautiful packages are expensive, and not everyone can buy a set right away. Therefore, you can present the person with something special that is difficult to find on the shelf of the nearest supermarket. It could be saffron, star anise or cilantro. If you know that your friend doesn’t have beautiful spice jars, give them just that. You don't have to buy a big set. You can lay the beginning of a collection, and if a person appreciates the gift, he will buy the missing parts himself.

Edible surprise ideas

Christmas cupcake

Simple, inexpensive and effective.

Gingerbread house

You can bake the parts yourself or purchase a ready-made kit.

Photo: Instagram ikea_rus

Cheese set

Collect your gourmet kit and please your loved one.

Photo: Instagram hmhome

Herbs and spices

A set of herbs and spices for mulled wine is a current gift. You can arrange everything in the form of a gift box or put it in a fashionable glass flask, close it with a cork lid and attach a hand-made label with the composition.

Photo: Instagram ikea_rus

Ginger cookie

Bake gingerbread cookies: Many people say they taste like Christmas.

Photo: Instagram ikea_rus

Tea and coffee

Sets of tea and coffee are an almost win-win option for a New Year's gift.

Photo: Instagram ikea_rus

Funny cupcakes

Bake cupcakes, decorate them in an unusual way and gift them to your loved ones.

Alcohol

The recipient's favorite alcohol or good champagne can be a wonderful gift. You can stylishly decorate the bottle, for example, using scrapbooking techniques, or wrap it in gift paper.

Photo: Instagram yutta__art