Gifts versus 'Gift' Exchanges
How do you define a gift?
To me, a gift is something that has been given with no expectation of anything back (a thank you would be nice to get back, though; unless something was given anonymously)
Gift Exchanges are a whole different category - and if I had my druthers, they would be be banned.
Why? For many people, the whole process of trying to find or make a gift is very stressful - then there is the 'value' issue - $5.00 for some people is a noticeable amount of money - for someone else in the family, $10,000 is chump change -
For some families, they have chosen to do charity contributions instead of 'exchanging gifts'- which seems to work out fairly well.