The holidays can be a stressful time for people; the pressure of having to find a perfect gift for someone can be hard, especially when you are shopping for your significant other.
According to The Fort Scott Tribune, “Overall, husbands and wives strive to buy something the other person wants. Men tend to be more romantic and buy women personal/intimate items or something they really want them to have.”
However, the article goes on to say, women buy presents for men that they think men need. In a poll of 130 students at Carlmont, 65 percent said they think girls spent more time picking out a gift for their significant other while 35 percent think that boys do.
The Ramroths are an example of how much time a married couple spends thinking of a present and how stressful it is, when comparing males and females.
According to “The Culture, Habits and Perceptions of Gift Giving,” with a married couple, the females tend to be more organized and put more thought into finding the perfect present than the male.
Andy Ramroth, a teacher at Carlmont High School said, “I usually spend five to 10 hours total picking out a present for my wife. Some years I already have something in mind that I want to give her, but other years I stress and have to piece little things together.”
On a scale of one to 10 with 10 being very stressful when it comes to picking out a present, Andy Ramroth said his stress level was at a 10. Finding the perfect gift can be a stressful task for couples because each want to find a gift that will make the other happy and show how much they care. Andy Ramroth’s stress about finding the perfect present for his wife, Karen Ramroth, is an example of common gift giving struggles among couples.
Karen Ramroth, who is also a teacher at Carlmont, thinks that she spent more time thinking of the perfect present for her husband. She said, “I start thinking about it in November. I start listening and trying to see what he likes, what his hobbies are, what he’s interested in, and what he says he likes.”
Karen Ramroth spends more time thinking about the perfect present for her husband, but when she was asked how stressful it was on a scale of one to 10, she said that it was just a three and she knows what she is going to buy for her husband before she goes shopping.
Adults are not the only people in relationships. In high school, there are many couples who have to go through the trouble of having to find the perfect gift.
Carlmont students Soha Said and Dakota Regan have been dating for over a year, and last Christmas they had to try to find the perfect present for each other.
When Said was asked how much time she spent picking out the perfect gift for Regan she said, “Two weeks. I had to go out and shop for presents he would like.”
Said said that on a stress scale level from one to 10 she felt like it was a six.
When Regan was asked the same thing he said, “A weekend or two. I made Soha something that I had in mind.”
Regan said that the stress level he felt was a three out of ten.
When someone has a present in mind already for the other person, then they don’t have to think about it as much.
People want to find the perfect presents for each other, especially couples. Those who plan ahead experience less stress when it comes time to actually buying a gift. People want to find a perfect gift for those special to them to make the holidays more meaningful.
