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Miss Manners Weighs In: Giving Money
Today we’re talking about the proper etiquette of gifting. Of course, we couldn’t do that without consulting the expert in the field: Miss Manners herself. Miss Manners (aka Judith Martin) has written a few books about acting properly, including her thick tome: Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior. It’s whip smart, a bit sassy, and surprisingly with the times. And in it, Miss Manners has a lot to say about gifts.
So for today, let’s talk about giving money as gifts. Long story short: it makes Miss Manners’ skin crawl. She stands firmly against “eliminating the elements of thought, symbolism and surprise from presents.” She adds that instead of everyone giving each other money, “we could each just do our own shopping.”
So if we can’t give money, what should we give if we’re unsure what’s best? She has two suggestions:
1) Give something that is easily exchangeable. The condition here is that you can’t be offended if they do. We bet Miss Manners would appreciate how every Karma gift is easily exchangeable, either for a different gift on Karma or a donation to charity.
2) Give something you can never have too much of. She suggests “bottles of wine, diamonds, and homemade cookies.” Those are all great options, but we’ve got a few more ideas that fall in this category. Consider:Chocolate (like the Vosges bacon chocolate bar)
Candles (like the Paddywax Eco Collection)
Tea (like the Kusmi tea collections)
Or how about a private driver from Uber?
What do you think about giving money as a gift? Is Miss Manners right?
