Dear LPG

As Christmas and birthdays come and go, it becomes more and more difficult to find presents for all those special people in your life.  Their parents have already thought of everything you can think of for the young, and you will never choose the right thing for a teenager. Let’s not go into what you buy for adults who already have everything.  That adult with everything becomes even more of a gift-buying enigma to choose something for as they get older and, once we retire, we get to the point where we have more than everything that we need unless we are going for those experience-type presents that cost far too much for our present buying budgets.

I am old-school, according to my family, because I still feel that a gift voucher or giving money is a present-buying cop-out, although I understand why they are the easy way out.   

Gone are the days when something small, designed to make the recipient smile or laugh when opened (albeit just for a short while), was enough, but I still believe that is what a present should be.  

Even if you go down the voucher or money route, there is a whole minefield about how much you spend.   Will the recipient offer that ‘short-changed’ look when the present is opened, which doubles as a disappointment?  The younger one’s facial expressions don’t hold back, and whatever the reaction of an older present opener is, givers like me are likely to think the worst.

Those pre-teenage children need to learn more about the value of money. Still, it saddens me to see them tot up what they have made from the monetary presents they have amassed at the end of each celebration gift session. It makes presents, especially at Christmas, even more of a financial opportunity and defeats the point of present giving, which is not really what present giving is all about.  

When we oldies were young, there were no gift vouchers or thoughts of receiving cold, hard cash and presents that were appreciated much more back then. But those classics are frowned upon now.  

Sweets and chocolates are sour for them, and you will never choose the proper clothing these days (the logo stamped in the appropriate place is so important). Toy presents can be a three-fold problem.   You get very little for your money, resulting in their looking cheap; you will risk being told that you got the wrong brand, and if you ask for advice from their parents, it will be limited because they have their own offerings to consider.   

The biggest problem we oldies have today is that we are not as close to our grandchildren as in previous generations because of the geographical needs that have forced our children to move them so much further away from us. The little ones also seem to be so much busier with their after-school clubs these days that, despite their mobile phones and watches, there is little time for a quick call to Grandma or Grandad.  

I don’t know the honest answer, even though Christmas is over for now, and none of the birthdays will occur for a month.  I am planning already…  

MP, New Cross.