There are two sides to almost all gift receiver’s reactions: the ones who scoff at the thought of receiving socks or T-shirts and the ones who are as excited as unwrapping a pair of Mona Lisa patterned knee-highs as they are finding a new pet under the tree. 

As the holiday season ended, many students across FISD have received gifts for their respective holidays, whether it be Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, or Christmas. However, not everyone loves every gift that they receive. But what distinguishes a bad gift from a good gift? 

Opinions can differ in some areas, but students all over the district seem to agree on their definition of a good gift. 

“A good gift in my opinion is something that is thoughtful and valued,” Ayushi Tripathy, an 8th grader at Nelson Middle School, said. “It should be something that will help you experience the joy of giving and receiving gifts.” 

Tanvi Rose Dominic, a freshman at LTHS, also agrees with the importance of thoughts and abstract values when it comes to gifts.

“I think a good gift is something which brings memories!,” Dominic said. “Personally, I prefer gifts which will make me laugh or reminisce on a fun memory rather than something that’ll be used up quickly, like a gift card.”

On the other hand, some people disagree with Dominic’s stance on the ever-controversial present – gift cards.

According to Cecilia Tran, a sophomore at LTHS, gift cards are “OP (overpowered)”. 

 “[A good gift is] something that I can actually use in my life and day to day procedures,” Tran said. “ [or they can be] something that can be useful or become useful [in the future].” 

But what makes a seemingly “bad” gift “bad” to the recipient? Students also have different opinions. 

According to Dominic, the answer was simply socks, and  Amazon gift cards since she doesn’t really use Amazon that much, nor does she believe in the value of gift cards and weird gifts such as underwear. 

However, some remain impartial on whether or not a gift was good or bad. 

“I don’t think anything is counted as a bad gift, I think that a gift itself is something that should be very treasured,” Tripathy said. “Of course, maybe at times a gift may not have lived up to your expectations, but that doesn’t make it a bad gift!” 

Another area where people hold some diverse beliefs over gifts is the price scale of the item. Some people believe that price matters when it comes to receiving gifts while others believe that it is the thought that counts. 

“Gifts are purely content based,” Tran said. “[One time] my mom got a 1000-something necklace for a gift and it was the ugliest stuff ever – Plain. I would’ve easily preferred some random ring from Hot Topic.”

On the other hand, Dominic had slightly different views on the topic. 

“The price of a gift doesn’t matter too much to me, as long as it’s obvious that they didn’t just pick something totally random out of Walmart or something,” Dominic said. “I prefer thoughtful gifts that show the person actually cares about me! It means a whole lot more than something crazy expensive.”

The view of gift-receiving on gift-giving varies from person to person, and everyone considers different aspects when committing in the action gift-giving every year. However, in the end, gift-giving is only a small representation of the true meaning of the holiday season, since it is solely an objectified symbol of something bigger that sums up the year filled with memories and happiness ultimately making the holiday gift special.