"Birthdays won't be birthdays without presents!"
A little paraphrasing there but Amy March certainly wouldn't be pleased to find out how much birthday parties have changed since her time. At least the way the Millennials celebrate it!
Perhaps a bit of blanket generalization going on here but after attending a handful of Millennial birthday parties this month, I've found that to be grievously true. Though their brimming enthusiasm for parties hasn't abated in the slightest, the Millennials seem to have conveniently misplaced the seemingly outmoded practice of gift-giving.
Something I started to wonder after the third party I attended - only to find that apparently presents were strictly prohibited at birthdays.
Paul : So where do the presents go? Is there a table?
Mabel : Oh wow, you brought me a gift!
Paul : It is a birthday party, isn't it?
Mabel : Think yours is the only one.
Paul : What?
Mabel : And the gift is wrapped with a matching bow!
Paul : You seriously expected me to toss it in a plastic bag?
Evidently that would still be better than what everyone else brought.
Which is precisely nothing.
And there I was agonizing over getting the perfect trinket for Marvellous Mabel to celebrate her birthday. Worrying whether the wrapping paper and ribbon would match the theme of the party. Tearing my hair out over the proper wording on the birthday card.
Turns out I needn't have bothered.
Apparently no one else bothers about such social niceties anymore; not a single shame-faced guest at the party miserably hiding the fact that he/she came pathetically empty-handed. Really, has it become passé to purchase presents for birthday parties? Perhaps I missed a mind-boggling memo that got tweeted by the Millennials barring gift-giving as an outdated social custom?
Right around this time, many would start tossing out lame excuses for not getting gifts. Believe me when I say the guests can't use abject poverty as a valid reason since most of them have starting wages far higher than I did when I first started out. Lest we forget, a gift doesn't necessarily have to be purchased at a store either.
Did the Millennials never learn that it's so déclassé to come to a birthday party without a gift in hand?
A little paraphrasing there but Amy March certainly wouldn't be pleased to find out how much birthday parties have changed since her time. At least the way the Millennials celebrate it!
Perhaps a bit of blanket generalization going on here but after attending a handful of Millennial birthday parties this month, I've found that to be grievously true. Though their brimming enthusiasm for parties hasn't abated in the slightest, the Millennials seem to have conveniently misplaced the seemingly outmoded practice of gift-giving.
Something I started to wonder after the third party I attended - only to find that apparently presents were strictly prohibited at birthdays.
Paul : So where do the presents go? Is there a table?
Mabel : Oh wow, you brought me a gift!
Paul : It is a birthday party, isn't it?
Mabel : Think yours is the only one.
Paul : What?
Mabel : And the gift is wrapped with a matching bow!
Paul : You seriously expected me to toss it in a plastic bag?
Evidently that would still be better than what everyone else brought.
Which is precisely nothing.
And there I was agonizing over getting the perfect trinket for Marvellous Mabel to celebrate her birthday. Worrying whether the wrapping paper and ribbon would match the theme of the party. Tearing my hair out over the proper wording on the birthday card.
Turns out I needn't have bothered.
 |
| It doesn't have to be big. |
Apparently no one else bothers about such social niceties anymore; not a single shame-faced guest at the party miserably hiding the fact that he/she came pathetically empty-handed. Really, has it become passé to purchase presents for birthday parties? Perhaps I missed a mind-boggling memo that got tweeted by the Millennials barring gift-giving as an outdated social custom?
Right around this time, many would start tossing out lame excuses for not getting gifts. Believe me when I say the guests can't use abject poverty as a valid reason since most of them have starting wages far higher than I did when I first started out. Lest we forget, a gift doesn't necessarily have to be purchased at a store either.
Did the Millennials never learn that it's so déclassé to come to a birthday party without a gift in hand?
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