Edwardian Etiquette of Gift Giving

Do not try to make your gift look as though it cost more than you paid for it. Aside from the paltry spirit of such giving, it is a delusion and a snare, for next year your offering must seem to be as fine as the one of this season, or you may appear to have been less anxious to please your friend. 

Suggestions on Bestowing and Receiving Christmas Presents

There is an etiquette governing the giving and receiving of presents, as there is about most things, because there is always a best way to do everything, says the Ladies’ Home Journal. If we penetrate below the surface of the little courteous conventions, we shall find that consideration for the feelings of others underlies all. 

Do not try to make your gift look as though it cost more than you paid for it. Aside from the paltry spirit of such giving, it is a delusion and a snare, for next year your offering must seem to be as fine as the one of this season, or you may appear to have been less anxious to please your friend. 

Take the time to write a few words of loving or cordial greeting on the cards that accompany your gifts. Without that evidence of individual personal thought, the offering of even the finest present appears somewhat graceless and perfunctory. A message on a card is better than a note because it is more informal, and one should not seem to make much of a gift. 

Having your presents daintily wrapped is not less a matter of courtesy. Let their outward appearance commend them. Leave them or send them to their destination the day before Christmas, unless you can insure their reception early in the day. A tardy gift appears like an afterthought.– Hanford Journal, 1910

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia