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This article will look at what gifts were originally for, why there was a move to personalize them and why, even today, there is still so much confusion about what to give to someone we know or who we care for.

Shortly after human beings finally had enough to eat and drink, enough crops stored, the idea of gifts arose. These gifts were, at first, offered to the Gods who those folk believed had helped to make the land fertile and who brought back the sun and the spring after the winter. These offerings were either grains, meats and drink or they were symbolic offerings of some kind. Genesis in the Hebrew Tanakh and Christian Bible gives evidence of an offering "...Gen 4:3 And after a time, Cain gave to the Lord an offering of the fruits of the earth. 4 And Abel gave an offering of the young lambs of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord was pleased with Abel's offering; 5 But in Cain and his offering he had no pleasure. And Cain was angry and his face became sad. . ." This rejection of his offering led Cain to slay Abel out of jealousy. In some societies (Egypt for example) folk were buried with symbolic gifts made of clay to offer to the Gods on their journey through the afterlife.

In all nations through-out the world offerings were made to the Gods and to their representatives. It was as the monarchies developed and the kings and (rarely) queens ruling those nations began to be seen as the Gods' viceroys that offerings of status were made to another human-being. (Note I did not say 'first' here, people have been giving other people things since the beginning of humanity but these gifts to kings / queens people were judged as to the nature of the thing given.) The better the gift, the higher the status the giver received. In a sense then our giving of gifts to others, our desire to find the 'right gift', the desire to personalize the thing given for the person receiving it developed out of these offerings to the Gods and to the priests and rulers who became their faces on earth.

So how do we do it? How do we find the 'perfect' gift for someone? How do we make our gift-giving personal? There are a number of questions we should ask ourselves as we go about looking for the gift.

1. What is our relationship with the person?
2. What interests does the person have?
3. Why are we considering a personalized gift for them?
4. How much time do we have to get the gift?
5. How much do we want to spend on a gift for them?

Only after we have answered these questions can we begin the process of looking for that perfect gift for another. Let me give you a example of how this process might work.

1. My spouse. (Of course it could be anyone, father, mother, sibling, lover, boss, etc)
2. Dolls, photography, pets, creating patterns for doll-clothes, Boats, planes, sports, etc.
3. An anniversary, a birthday, a sickness, promotion, just because, to say " I care / I love you."
4. Any time under a month is usually too short a time, while sometimes you can find the gift just by turning a corner, but mostly it takes planning and that is fair because if the person is important to you, then taking time to find the gift is part OF the gift.
5. Whatever amount you have.

Finding a personalized gift will take time and effort, it will involve actually spending some time getting to know the person and developing a feel for what is important TO THEM & it is because we have to put ourselves in another's shoes that gift-giving is confusing. The discovery of the perfect gift, the finding of a personal gift for someone is as good for ourselves as it is for the recipient.

In the next article of this series, I will be looking at businesses which provide a personalized gift service and I will be looking at why I believe the service offered by Paintyorlife.com is the most innovative I've ever seen.