We’ve all received great gifts — and some not so great ones. There’s an art to giving, but even when we get something that picks up on the subtlety of our style, our likes and dislikes, our quirks; if left to our own devices, we probably would have picked something else, something slightly different – the other pattern, the other size, the other fragrance, the other color. Even the most thoughtful gifts from the people closest to us aren’t usually what we would have chosen for ourselves.
That’s because when we’re gifting it’s hard for us to see things entirely through someone else’s lens. Whether we know the recipient well or don’t know them at all, our own personal biases creep in without us realizing it. So that perfect gift we’re buying for someone else always has a little bit of what we would choose for ourselves in it.
By logic or gut feeling, we choose the thing we think is right, and then we hope they love it. And here’s the thing, nobody will tell you they want to exchange it. They always tell you they love it, so you think you’ve got it dialed in and you keep solving the gift equation with the same little imperfections over and over again. This is why, as adults, some of us have a collection of frog-themed everything in the back of our closet. Because once, when we were 16, we told our favorite aunt we loved frogs and we could never bring ourselves to tell her otherwise. But we digress.
You want to give them something you know they’re going to love. You also want to give them something better than the newest tech gadget (because you have no idea which waterproof, noise cancelling swim earpods are going to fit him). Better than chocolate (because everyone harbors a secret love of M&M’s and snickers and not the $12 dollar bar made by hand with cocoa grown in a secret organic garden, where each tree has its own personal caretaker who sleeps with it and never leaves its side). Better even than the fabulous sweater hand knit in Sweden they’ve been drooling over for weeks (because ten times out of ten they’ve already bought it for themselves and it’s not returnable).
This problem isn’t limited to clothes or food or the newest gadget. We’ve also all been given wine we don’t like. Sometimes a lot of it. And we’ve poured it out after the first sip, or left it unopened and regifted it. It’s okay, we all have that secret stash of bottles to grab on the way out the door to dinner at someone else’s house.
So how do you make sure it’s going to be the exact thing they want and so personal they could have picked it themselves? Wel, you make sure that in the end, they get to pick it themselves.
Here at BOXT we’ve got our own philosophy on the art of gifting: it’s not personal. It’s not personal that you don’t like what I like, and vice versa. It’s not personal that you prefer modern art and I love the renaissance period. It’s not personal that you love BOXT Profile One and I love Profile Six – as we like to say, it’s your house wine not mine. At BOXT, we believe in intentional gift giving and making it not personal, to you the giver, so it can be hyper-personal to them.
You can give someone a hundred gifts, but if you only give them one, and it’s intentional, it’s powerful. It’s hard to be intentional when you’ve got to buy your new father-in-law a gift; find a housewarming present for new friends you met last month; get not one, but three baby shower gifts; pick out the perfect wedding present for your new boyfriend’s mom’s fourth wedding; and get the perfect something for your coworker/frenemy who always one-ups you on gifting (you’re going to win this time, we promise.) All this in the span of a month, and you’re determined they’re not all going to be tiny succulents in adorable pots (although we could buy those for days too). Gift buyer, meet personalization overwhelm.
But we’ve got the solution. We believe that the best gifts are full of intention, with a touch of inclusion and this is why we created the experience of gifting BOXT. When you gift BOXT, you’re giving something intentional and unique that keeps on giving — and the difference from every other gift out there, is that they ultimately got to pick the juice they want. And when it arrives on their doorstep? Now you’ve just given them the most personal gift you can, and you know they’re going to love it. Not like that mermaid sculpture you got them last year.
Welcome to being the perfect intentional gift giver. Welcome to the art of it’s not personal.
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