Holidays
Protocol for giving gifts important in most relationships
Wondering what to get that boyfriend or girlfriend for the holidays? Or is he or she just a friend?
According to a Seventeen magazine etiquette guide published in 1963, a boy could buy a girl a box of chocolates, and a girl could buy a boy a record. The guide says that the gifts work well in all situations.
Of course, things have changed since then, and women and men are buying each
other more than just records and chocolates. Today there seems to be little in the way of formal gift-giving protocol between the two sexes at the University of Kansas.
"I think it's easier to shop for guys," said Amy Pfeifer, Owatonna, Minn., freshman.
"If a girl doesn't like something you buy her, she won't wear it. Guys will wear anything."
"I don't think it's that hard to find something for a girl," said Glen Turner, Wichita sophomore. "If you're shopping for someone, you probably have a good idea what that person is like. You should be
able to find something for them that they'll like no matter what."
Most students said they were thinking of buying clothes for their friends.
Besides clothing, compact discs and books were the most frequently named items on KU students' shopping lists.
"You can't go wrong with a book," said Jason Theel, Emporia senior. "You have to know the person who you're buying for, what their tastes are, but everyone can enjoy a book."
"Clothes are always good because then you can borrow them," said Julie McCully, Chicago, Ill. junior. "I try to buy my boyfriend stuff he'll like but that I can wear, too."
Some students said that gift selection for the opposite sex depended on whether they were trying to make the gift more personal.
A 1963 etiquette guide in Seventeen magazine states that buying girls chocolate and buying boys records were safe gifts that worked in all situations.
"If you're trying to imply something," said Heidi La Bash, Oberlin sophomore, "you might spend a little more money and get something a little nicer or actually put more effort into it. That makes a good impression."
Turner said he thought this was true, too.
"I spend a lot of time on gifts if I'm trying to imply something," he said. "I might make something for them, but it has to be personal."
La Bash agreed that personalizing a gift was a key to expressing more than just friendship.
"It's really easy to go to Wal-Mart or a mall and pick up a CD or something, but that doesn't say much," she said. "I have a friend who recorded a song she wrote for a guy. I think that says a lot."
BY ADAM KUBAN
Hill • December 6, 1995
Hawk Holidays 9