Not everything is digital
Do you remember these 12 gifts people used to give but don’t anymore?
No one can deny that the modern age has brought an almost infinite number of advantages. But, be it for nostalgic reasons or otherwise, everybody misses something from the past that was rendered obsolete by technology, social convention, or simply fell out of fashion at some point in time. Among those are many things that we used to gift to each other and we don’t anymore, from music to DVDs, to preserves. Which one do you miss the most?
Image: Joshua Lam
1
Music
Back in the day, the gift of music used to mean something. It was a connection between the person who made the gift and the one who received it . It was a beautiful object, to be played on a music player and stored at home. Nowadays, music is something much more abstract that is streamed from online services and is not given as a gift of discovery anymore.
Image: Jamakassi
2
Movies
Movies have experienced a fate similar to the one suffered by music. Thanks to streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and the rest, movies are available to watch online, and no one owns a VHS, DVD, or Blu-Ray player anymore . It used to be a fun thing to give as a gift. "You are going to love this movie". Not anymore. Nowadays, we just recommend things from HBO or Disney to each other.
Image: Delaney Van
3
Preserves
Since the dawn of time, preparing a meal with care and dedication for somebody else has always been a way to show affection. Until not so long ago, gifting preserves used to be a common practice and a way to express love from a distance . Nowadays, if you want strawberry jam, you can just go to the store.
Image: Rob Wicks
4
Knitted clothes
The many hours invested in knitting a clothing item are an integral part of the gift that the person who created it is giving . The warm embrace of a knitted sweater, scarf, socks, or any other item created similarly cannot be replaced by store-bought clothes.
Image: Liana S
5
Fresh flowers
Giving someone a fresh bouquet, especially harvested from one’s own garden, used to be a thing in the past, at least for people who had gardens. It was meant as a kind gesture that said "I thought about you when I picked these flowers" and embellished the home of the one who received it.
Image: Annie Spratt
6
Homemade cooking
A delicious homemade pie or a nice dessert used to be a common thing for house guests to bring to their hosts. While it still happens from time to time, it used to be much more common. These days, the usual drill involves stopping by the deli to get a packaged item, at best.
Image: Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦
7
House plants
Plants can really upgrade a room, and people used to know this, at least to a larger extent than today. Bringing a small house plant to a new home is a great gift , and it used to be a much more common practice than it is these days.
Image: Lasma Balode
8
Framed artwork
Paintings have the reputation of being expensive things. And in some cases, they are. But beautiful artwork by unknown artists can be found for low and reasonable prices everywhere . People used to know this and bought paintings to decorate their walls and, taking into consideration the personal taste of the receiver, to give as gifts.
Image: Jonny Caspari
9
Maps
In the age of smartphones, paper maps have become somewhat irrelevant and cumbersome. But they make for beautiful objects and can be framed into beautiful works of art . Gifting maps depicting places that are relevant to the gift receiver is a habit that should come back.
Image: Hutomo Abrianto
10
Greeting cards
Be it of the Hallmark kind or any other, greeting cards used to be given for many different occasions throughout the year. Since the Internet came around with emails, social media, and WhatsApp messages, these cards have all but faded into oblivion.
Even if you only kept them for a couple of months before throwing them away, it was fun to receive those cards as a reminder of the fact that someone cared about you enough to buy, write, and mail the card.
Image: Annie Spratt
11
Handwritten postcards
Somewhat similar to greeting cards but not quite the same are postcards. These lovely reminders of a friend or a relative’s trip brought the comfort of knowing that whoever wrote the postcard was thinking about you .
Again, the internet has rendered postcards obsolete, but that does not mean that, even to this day, receiving one would be a very nice gesture.
Image: Ireland Rogers
12
Framed pictures
Giving someone a framed picture of a significant moment can be a great gift, and it used to be much more common. Just like in the case of the framed artwork, it is important to understand the personal taste of the person who is receiving this gift . But if this is understood and taken into account, there is no reason why this shouldn’t come back as a great gift idea.
Image: Natalia Rüdisüli
