Is practicality the enemy of great gift giving? Research says no.
There seems to be no end to catalogues and articles and advertisements about buying the ‘perfect gift’ for friends and family Christmas. But one article I read recently took a different slant.
It discussed research showing that gift givers are often too wrapped up in trying to be considerate and caring, and thinking about how both they and the receiver will feel when the jewellery/perfume/expensive wine is opened, to think about practicality.
Yet when the researchers asked gift recipients to rate their gifts for desirability (i.e. the quality of a restaurant; the cost of a coffee maker) and for feasibility (i.e. the proximity of the restaurant; the ease of operating the coffee maker), it was feasibility over desirability almost every time.
For example, given the choice between buying somebody a gift card at an expensive Italian restaurant that’s far away and buying a gift card to a well-rated restaurant that is nearby, givers consistently went for the luxury restaurant, while receivers in the study said they preferred the place closer to home. The same was true for coffee makers: Givers said they wanted to buy the most expensive; recipients said they just wanted the easiest to use.
It comes down to the ‘life’ over ‘luxury’ concept. What is going to make someone’s life easier and what will they appreciate more? Wouldn’t it be great to give someone the gift of time by organising someone to cook a meal, clean the house, wash the car, or do the laundry?
The next best thing is cutting down on time spent doing any of these things which is just what our gift pack of world-renowned eco-friendly Laundress detergents will do.
Developed in New York, the Laundress Signature Detergent is unlike many other brands because it has four ingredients that remove protein stains, starches, oils and particles like lint and fuzz. It cuts time by solving just about every laundry challenge in one wash … and a little bit of the highly concentrated formula goes a long way, so a new bottle is only needed once per quarter. And if you do have a particularly sweaty, smelly stain, or a dense food or alcohol stain, the specialist sport detergent and stain remover will make short work of them.
Whatever gift you give, Ainslie Laundrette wishes you a practical and stress-free Christmas.