We often joke about those terrible sweaters you used to get when you were a kid.  It might have come from a grandparent or some distant relative that really didn’t know your tastes that well or what you were interested in.  ”Getting a sweater” is our codeword for getting a gift that probably was given with the best of intentions, but completely missed the mark.

At The Registree, Ashley and I have been doing some serious brainstorming about the issues surrounding gift giving in western culture.  Some see gift registries as nothing more than a formal way of declaring your greed.  Others see it as consumerism at its worst, where toys get bought for children over the holidays, they play with them for a week, and then get thrown out three months later.  Or even worse, the child likes playing with the box the toy came in more than the toy itself.  It can get absurd at its extreme.

So Ashley and I will be blogging a bit more about what it means to be a thoughtful gift giver, as well as a thoughtful gift receiver.  When I say thoughtful, I mean thoughtful in the sense that you put thought and care into how the gift will be used, as well as how the gift will be received.  Not as in “aww, that was so thoughtful of you Grandma”.  It’s our goal with The Registree to create a simple app that allows you to be more thoughtful in both what you give and what you receive.  And there are some really creative ways to keep the consumerism and greed to a minium that normally stigmatizes gift giving.

In some upcoming posts we’ll talk about the love language of gift giving, non-monetary gifts, handmade/homemade/diy gifts, and suggestions for how to be a responsible (and quite frankly, fun) gift receiver.  We look forward to your comments as well, so be sure to let us know what you think!