Most people with whom we share holiday gifts already have everything in the world. We get a lot of joy in bringing a smile and cheer on the faces of our loved ones. However, we often forget that gifting can bring an even greater joy if it is for the people who have nothing. Charity Gifts if chosen wisely, can transform someone’s life or save it too. The least they do is bring cheer, joy and hope to people who need it most. Here are some charity gift ideas for different social causes. One can contact any of the NGOs, and either gift these in person or utilize any of the online gifting services for the task:

• Victims of Child Trafficking & Homeless Women: Girls and women are the most vulnerable sections of Indian society. They are even more at risk if they are abandoned by their families or have been drug addicts, in severe need of rehabilitation. The good thing is that there are many NGOs working to empower them and provide shelter for them. One can also chip in directly, by gifting them some essentials, in partnership with the NGOs. Holiday gifts for them can include baby beds, feeding bottles and baby gift sets that can help new moms take care of their children during the first few weeks of their lives. Even simple and traditional kitchen and home appliances such as cooker, tiffins & casseroles can be appreciated more than you would imagine. You may also help women jumpstart their career as a beautician by ordering them gifts like cosmetic hampers, grooming items and beauty appliances like hair styler and hair dryer.

• Children: From orphanages to shelter homes to schools for poor children, there are many places where you can reach out to destitute and poor kids, disabled children, and children who live in extremely poor conditions. You may order school gear such as school bags, tiffins, water bottles and stationery supplies for them. Arts & Hobbies kits like colouring sets and play dough sets, board games that can help learning or soft toys and chocolates are all gifts that will delight! For an orphanage with ample space, sports kits like cricket sets, badminton, football and volleyball are a good idea too.

• Empowering the Poor: Buying handicraft items is one way to feed a family or community, without hurting their self-respect. Made by artisans trained for generations, these exquisite artistic pieces will certainly make the day of the recipient, and help artisans earn their livelihood with dignity. Home decor items like diyas and candles, idols of gods and goddesses, torans and elegant handmade jewellery ultimately come from poor families who make these to feed their families.

Small charity gifts that come from the heart are better than the elaborate philanthropic acts that mean little to people who organise them. Gujarat Gifts tries to promote products by small artisans and women and contribute to their income by selling these online. Our experts can guide you further about which charity gifts you can buy, and where you can send them, depending on your budget and the social cause closest to your heart. You need not buy from us – we would be happy to help you connect with a charity of your choice.

Choosing a wedding gift is not an easy task in a country like India, which is home to a multitude of religions with varying traditions and customs. Knowing what is appropriate and what is not while picking up marriage gifts for people from different religions is a difficult task at best. To make this a bit easier, we present a guide on how to choose the perfect Wedding Gifts for India based on the ethnicity of the bride & groom:

1. Gifts for Hindu Weddings: In Hindu culture, cash denominations ending in ‘1’ such as Rs 251, Rs 501, etc. are considered lucky. But cash gifts have become such a cliché these days that they are almost instantly forgettable. For someone close to you, you might want to gift more practical gifts or treasured keepsakes. Gold or silver coins bearing images of Lord Ganesha (God of Good Beginning) and Lakshmi (Goddess of Wealth & Prosperity) are considered lucky by Hindus. There are enough Gods-Goddesses pairs popular in Hinduism that denote eternal love, never-ending devotion or ultimate marital bliss. Statues of Radha-Krishna, Shiva-Parvati or Sita-Ram, are sure to win over a Hindu couple. Just avoid anything made of leather in Hindu weddings – especially cow leather.

2. Wedding Gifts for Christians: Devout Christians often give religious icons as universal wedding gifts. While crucifixes may seem macabre to you as a non-Christian, you may choose to give Bible with a personalised cover (with couple’s names or initials on it) or a pair of wedding bands in gold or silver to both Catholics and Protestants. For a Christian bride, you may gift a beautiful flower bouquet to match her wedding dress that she can carry up the aisle.

3. Gifts for Muslim Marriages: In Muslim weddings, refrain from anything related to alcohol or drinking. No matter how lovely those champagne glasses may seem to you or how rare a wine bottle is, it is a strict ‘no’ as a wedding gift to someone who practices Islam as his or her religion. Personalised gifts with the names of bride and groom in Islamic calligraphy or home décor items with Islamic artwork can make good gifts for Islamic weddings.

4. Gifts for Punjabi or Sikh Weddings: It is not customary to carry gifts to Sikh weddings unless you are a close relative or a very close friend. Most guests give cash gifts to bride and groom after the wedding ceremony is over. However, unlike Muslims, Sikhs do love their drinks. So, if you really want to impress them, huge bottles of good quality liquor or wine glass sets make good wedding gifts for them. However, you might want to stay away from things like shaving kits and personal grooming items related to hair grooming.

5. Gifts for Buddhist Weddings: Monetary gifts in red envelopes with gold lettering make traditional wedding gifts for Buddhists. Feng Shui gifts that denote luck and prosperity make good gifts for Buddhist marriages too. Fuk Luk Sau – the Three Wise Men – are considered luckier than the solitary laughing Buddha for the newlyweds.

At Gujarat Gifts, our experts can help you choose appropriate gifts for your friends and relatives in India. Do visit our wedding gifts page at:
http://www.gujaratgifts.com/wedding-gifts-to-india.html

Since the time of our inception, God has given us innumerable gifts and we don’t ever question why we need them. Gifts and presents are just tokens of our love, affection and thoughtfulness towards the receivers. Wrapped up in little and big packages, Gujarat Gifts delivers joy and pleasure to your near and dear ones and make life a little more gratifying for them.

Here are some of the most amazing gift ideas for major milestones in life:

Graduation Gifts: Passing out of college is one of the most memorable moments of our lives. It is a time to dream and take new flight. It is also a time to say goodbye to your old friends and college. Personalised T-shirts, mugs or 3D crystals with your most memorable college moments on them make excellent gifts for your friends.

Gifts on Promotion: You work hard and give your best to your job for the much-awaited promotion. Many-a-times, people do not take a chance to stop because they want to make it to the top so strongly. Of course, you want to give them best ‘congratulations’ gifts that they deserve. From gorgeous fresh flowers and fruits combos to chic office gifts are perfect for an employing moving up the career ladder. A photo mug or a keychain is also a good way to remind them of you all the time.

Wedding Gifts: You know enough people that recycle unwanted and untouched wedding gifts and pass them on to others. Instead of buying just one more set of bowls or cotton bedding set for next wedding you are attending, choose something for the couple that they will treasure. Bouquets of red roses, yummy chocolates and mouth-watering cakes make good gift combos for couples who opt for close friends who are going for a love marriage. Home and kitchen appliances may be more suitable for family wedding events and arranged marriages.

Gifts for New Parents: We all agree that babies are God’s best gifts. As babies stare at us with their curious, inquisitive eyes, we want to present them nothing but the best. Teethers and soothers that make them wiggle with delight and baby beds where they can sleep like angels at night make excellent gifts for little babies and their parents.

Housewarming Gifts: Buying a home and setting it up is not easy for any proud home owner. A new home is the symbol of one’s love, memories and progress. Feng Shui gifts or spiritual gifts that symbolize wealth and prosperity and are believed to attract divine blessings are worthy gifts for such an occasion. Beautiful fresh flower bouquets can lend warmth and beauty to a new home too.

Retirement Gifts: After a long lifetime of hard work and dedication, retirement is a moment to cherish. It is not easy for most people to bid farewell to their long-standing colleagues and work place just like that. Personalised gifts with meaningful text messages, evergreen branded watches, photo cubes capturing office moments and timeless gold and silver coins make admirable retirement gifts.

The Best gifts are those that preserve the memories of yesterday and create more memories today. So choose well!

Do visit our Gifts by Occasions page at http://www.gujaratgifts.com/gifts-by-occasion.html

Birthdays are truly a once in a year affair! Great birthday gifts are highly individualistic – ones that seem to have been picked up just for the person they are meant for. We realise that it can be a surprisingly difficult to pick one up. So, here are some great tips for you to order a birthday gift that will be cherished by the recipient for years to come:

Birthday Gift Tips for Spouse

The fact is that after marriage, you tend to become more practical. So, if you pick up a wrong dress size for your wife or chocolates for husband who is trying to lose weight, you will not hear the end of it. Dig a bit into your spouse’s personality to know his or her tastes and preferences. Fresh flowers for die-hard romantics, cool gadgets for the nerds, and a bottle of red wine to soothe nerves of workaholics can be some good birthday present ideas. Remember, household appliances do not count as birthday gifts when it comes to spouses!

Birthday Gift Tips for Children

Almost every parent has stories of onslaught of forgettable birthday gifts that their kids’ birthday parties leave behind. Kids love gifts that can engage them. Three questions can help you filter birthday gifts for kids –
1) Are they good for children? (like creativity toys and books)
2) Do they match their hobbies or interests? (like sketch pens for artists and science kits for the experimentalists), and
3) Will they last beyond their age and interests? (like pet-care items or non-perishable playthings that can be donated later).

Birthday Gift Tips for Boss or Seniors

The dilemma of choosing a birthday gift for your boss or a colleagues is that you want to order them a special present but still not make it too personal or expensive. You don’t want to look too stingy in their eyes and yet, you don’t want them to read too much into a gift with an exorbitant price. You also probably don’t know what the person might already have. Items to commemorate good times at work and successes of the team are perhaps the safest and best birthday gifts for your workmates.

Birthday Gift Tips for Best Buddies

Best friends, whether they of same sex or opposite sex, are ones you know inside out. Naturally, you would want a gift that will warm them up (but not make them go all lovey-dovey). Sneak around your friends’ house to get a good idea of what they might like as birthday gifts. Light-hearted and humorous gifts such as T-shirts with funny slogans, personalized gifts (such as a photo frame with a memorable picture-perfect moment you both shared) to a prank gift – Gujarat Gifts offers you some excellent gift choices for your chums.

Do visit our Birthday special at http://www.gujaratgifts.com/birthday-gifts-to-india.html

May and June are a much awaited period for school-going kids in India, as these months stand for summer vacations. This period is keenly awaited even by the parents, for it is the time, when families plan their annual vacation.

As May ends, kids and parents in many states gear up for the school re-opening date, which seems all too close! For kids, it means a return to books and summer assignments, while for parents, it is the time to plan for buying new uniforms and school essentials.

We, at GujaratGifts.com believe, this is the perfect time to help out and show your love and caring by sending some thoughtful back to school gifts to your loved ones back home in India. With that objective, we present our list of top 5 items which are sure to be appreciated and cherished this summer!

1. School Bags: Kids do get bored with carrying the same school bag for years on end. With parents, reluctant at times to get a new one, if the old one is in perfect working order, gifting a school bag is a sure-shot way to light up the little one, and help her go back to school in style. You can check out some range of school bags here: http://www.gujaratgifts.com/gifts-for-kids/school-gear/school-bags.html

2. Stationery Items: There are very few items which evoke a fascination for school going kids like the humble stationery item. Any back to school season cannot be complete without new items like pencil boxes, coloring kits, geometry boxes, and sharpeners. You can be sure that your gift of love will find its place of pride amidst things to be flaunted by the kid. See some of these at http://www.gujaratgifts.com/gifts-for-kids/school-gear/stationery-items.html

3. Water Bottles: The range of water bottles available today are a far cry from what the older generation remembers from our days in school : today, water bottles are colorful, and employ a wide range of popular characters like Spiderman, Superman, Ben 10, and cute cartoons. These are both functional and fun to carry, and make for great gifts! You can see some of them at http://www.gujaratgifts.com/gifts-for-kids/school-gear/water-bottles.html

4. Lunch Boxes: The set of stuff to buy for school is not complete without an attractive lunch box, to go with the other cool stuff. Gone are the days of steel multi-box tiffins; as plastic lunch boxes in a variety of colors and motifs rule the school! These are multi-compartment, keeping in mind the portions and quantity appropriate for school going kids. You can see our range of lunch boxes at http://www.gujaratgifts.com/gifts-for-kids/school-gear/lunch-boxes.html

5. Sports & Hobbies: School cannot be all work and no play, and what better gift than an item which is sure to exercise the non-academic talents of the young child. To that end, some great gifts are coloring kits (http://www.gujaratgifts.com/gifts-for-kids/others-en-2-3-4-5/arts-and-hobbies.html) and sports equipments (http://www.gujaratgifts.com/gifts-for-kids/others-en-2-3-4-5/sports-gifts.html). One can even give encouragement to the musical talents (discovered or undiscovered!) of the child by gifting a musical instrument (http://www.gujaratgifts.com/gifts-for-kids/others-en-2-3-4-5/musical-instruments.html)

We hope this short guide was useful for you in choosing a fabulous back to school gift for the young one back in India. If you have any suggestions, please do let us know!

Mother’s day this year is on Sunday, the 11^th of May, and online shopping for gifts is on, in full swing, with 3 days to go for the event! As we have been handling the event for almost 17 years now, we thought it might be fun to take a peek, and share interesting details of what people are buying this year for their mom and other interesting trends vis-à-vis Mother’s day.

While are still accepting Mothers’ day gifts orders for 3 days, we crunched the numbers for the sales so far, and here are our findings!

1)      Most loved gifts for mom: Unsurprisingly, the number 1 gift for mothers is Flowers. However, most people bought flower hampers in combination with cakes, chocolates, and dry fruits in that order. Most shoppers, being well versed with online gifting opted for ready-made hampers, instead of buying gifts ala-carte, thus saving a tidy sum in the process!

Galloping ahead of regulars, Personalized Gifts surprisingly had a strong surge in sales this year, indicating a growing preference to customize one’s gifts with photos, text and custom messages

Sarees, Accessories, Perfumes and Jewellery are a staple feature, and these categories did well, after the above categories. Home appliances, Kitchen appliances and silver gifts rounded-out the pecking order.

2)      Average Spends: Surprisingly, the average order value of Mother’s day gifts exceeds that of Valentine’s Day, which shows that shoppers do ensure that their mom feels as special as their spouse, on special occasions. Our breakup is as follows (rounded figures):

Upto $ 20                                22%
From $ 21 to $ 30                    37%
From $ 31 to $ 40                    28%
From $ 40 to $ 60                    8%
Above $ 60                              5%

Above $ 100 (included above)                          2%

3)      Age & Gender:  54% of shoppers were male, as compared to 46% females. The age breakup of our Mother’s day shoppers was:

18-24               27%
25-34               34%
35-44               15%
45-54               12%
55+                  12%

The age breakup does reveal the trend that even shoppers aged above 50 take care to wish their elderly parents back home on Mother’s day. This is a heartening trend and talks volumes about the Indian culture and the bonds of love across continents.

4)      Top 10 Shopper Locations:  These follow a usual trend, and our shoppers are from the major metros worldwide. The ranking order by country is:

United States
Canada
India
Australia
UK
UAE
Singapore
Bahamas (!)
South Africa
New Zealand

This data reveals the trend that Indian shoppers within India have taken to online gifting in a major way, thus putting India at the # 3 spot, and giving many other countries a run for their money. This just goes to underscore the fact that Internet users in India are warming up to the convenience and cost effectiveness of online gifting, which has been mainstream in other countries for many years.

5) Top 5 Indian States: The top locations within India contributing to sales are:

Maharashtra
Delhi
Gujarat
Karnataka
Madhya Pradesh

We hope you had fun glancing through these interesting numbers! We are still accepting orders for Mother’s day for the next 3 days, and will be sure to update these, if trends change significantly after the occasion. Wishing all patrons, and their moms, a very Happy Mother’s day 2014!

Our Mother’s day special is at: http://www.gujaratgifts.com/mothers-day-gifts-to-india.html

If we think of the one thing India is obsessed with; leaving cricket and film stars out, one would surely come up with Indian Weddings as the evergreen topic of interest. It is said to be the one recession-proof industry, which simultaneously provides jobs, brings about family reunions and gives an endless array of topics of conversations (and gossip!)

The one peculiar aspect of Indian culture is that we make Indian Weddings a multi-day (or week) event, and end up turning up on the weddings of even distant cousins, irrespective of work schedules and distances. Every aspect of the occasion, right from clothes, venues, stage-sets, and yes honeymoon destinations of the would-be couples is sliced, diced and benchmarked, to be referred to for posterity.

No wonder then, that giving a gift on the occasion of a wedding, engagement, roka or anniversary is no task for the faint of heart! If you have to do this remotely, using the services of an online gifting company, then be warned – your task ahead is tougher still. We, at Gujarat Gifts, would like to share some tips to help you make this gifting occasion a pleasant one!

• Know the personality of the Bride & Groom: Chances are, you know only one side of the family, and the bride / groom to be is a big fill-in-the-blank for you. If you want the gift to be a memorable one, and stand out from the heap, you need to invest time in understanding the other person. Without advocating stalking, you may want to check out the person’s social media profile (google plus, facebook, linkedin), whether (s)he is working or not and what the background is. This will help you decide whether you want to go sophisticated or desi, practical or dreamy, and your gift will be appreciated that much better!

• Avoid Risqué Gifts: Yes, we know bachelor / hen parties are quite the rage abroad, but are you really sure, the as-yet-unknown groom will appreciate that hilarious gag “T-Shirt”? You also have to contend with the possibility of your gift being received by another member of the family, inviting considerable embarrassment on the part of your acquaintance.

• Personalize it: Most gifting companies allow you to send a free greeting card along with your gift. Make use of that, and pen a nice memorable message for the couple-to-be. Chances are, that’s the gift that they will keep, and look at, years down the line. If you have good photos of the couple, you can even choose from a wide range of personalized gifts, which are sure to be a hit.

• Avoid Cash / Cheque: Yes, it’s a pretty practical solution to just give money to the newly-weds, but we strongly advocate against it. Unless you are related to the recipients very closely, giving money has a high chance of coming across as crass and thoughtless. If you really must, then a better option is to give commemorative gifts like gold coins, jewellery, which are near-cash, yet much more tasteful, as a gift.

• When all fails…: If you don’t have the time, energy or the closeness to the recipient that justifies a fine-tuned effort, it might be better to stick to the traditional and opt for flowers, along with classy chocolates. Be sure to research what each type of flower means, and choose accordingly. We have some fun details on that at http://www.gujaratgifts.com/meaning-of-flowers.html

So there you have it – we hope you enjoyed our tips to help you make the most of gifting on weddings, and related occasions. If you have any suggestions, do let us know!

Visit us at: http://www.gujaratgifts.com/wedding-gifts-to-india.html

Being an Indian gifting site does give us certain advantages – we get to see celebrations of both Indian as well as overseas holidays! After all, our roots are always grounded in India, but as we travel and work in foreign countries, we do end up assimilating the local customs there.

Mother’s day is one such curious phenomenon – If you had happened to visit a gift or a card shop about 15-20 years back in India around the second sunday of May, you would have seen no signs of a festival dedicated to mothers! It was simply unheard of in India – Valentine’s Day: Yes, Mother’s Day: what’s that?!

However, 1991 came, and brought along an opening up of our economy, which led to the inevitable movement of professionals abroad, in search of greener pastures. These people quickly took to the local holidays in US and UK, and added these to their holiday list. The 2^nd generation kids of the emigrants grew up steeped in these festivals, occasionally wondering why their cousins in India had never heard of such festivals!

Some of these families, when they moved back to India ended up importing these festivals, in addition to exotic celebrations like Halloween!

Thus was born the concept of Mother’s Day celebrations in India. In fact, our country ends up celebrating two versions of this occasion, though the second one is more widely known:

i)   Mothering Day: A holiday originating from UK, and celebrated in March (30^th March in 2014)

ii)  Mother’s Day: The US and International version, celebrated on the 2^nd Sunday of May (11^th May 2014 this year)

The concept does make sense – After all, if you have a day to celebrate your love for your soul mate, shouldn’t there be another dedicated to the other important woman of your life? However, we being Indians, have ended up making Mother’s day celebrations a pretty desi affair. Here’s how the occasion is celebrated in India these days:

• The bandwagon is led inevitably by retailers, both online and offline, looking for another occasion to sell us more cards, electronics, jewellery, along with flowers, cakes and perfumes.
• It’s common to see offers in our email boxes as well as in newspapers, reminding us of the need to express our love for our mom “on her special day!” (and here we thought every mom’s special day was simply the day when her child got married!)
• Many youngsters, loaded with some guilt on not spending enough time with their parents, do make it a point to take their mom (or parents) out for movies and dinner on this day. Some daughters do make this a shopping-day-out-for-the-girls.
• Spa companies, perhaps looking for an alternate customer base, do make it a point to persuade you to let them pamper your mom on that day, often with steep discounts.

Mom’s being moms are typically more vocal in gently dissuading their children from buying them expensive stuff. However, if you buy her something on this day, you can rest assured that the afterglow of that act will be remembered for years, just because she won’t be expecting a gift from you.

Stay tuned, as we bring you more updates on this festival, along with some unusual gifting ideas for Indian mothers. Mother’s day is next month, on Sunday, the 11^th of May 2014.

Visit our Mother’s day special at : http://www.gujaratgifts.com/mothers-day-gifts-to-india.html