Giving cash as a gift is its own mix of pleasure and pain. For the gift-giver, it comes with the feeling of generosity and knowledge that the recipient will be able to do whatever they want with it. For the gift-receiver, it eludes this freedom to choose-your-own-gift.
But if you think it's always nice to get cold hard cash as a gift, maybe you've just been dealing with the 20's and 100's that aunts and grandmas throw your way. However, cash gifts can be painful: they bluntly show exactly what the person 'spent,' possibly making you feel either guilty or shorted.
At my seventh grade birthday one of my presents was a ziplock freezer bag with money; not just some bills, but probably all of the bills and change my friend had. I still get the image of a little girl with a hammer breaking open her piggy bank, the crumpled bills and mixed coins spilling onto the floor.
While cash gifts can be humbling, showing the generosity of our friends and family, they can also make you feel awkward and uncomfortable. So, don't break open your piggy bank with all that change just for a birthday gift! Or at least head over to the bank and drop it in a machine to get the bill equivalent of all those quarters and dimes. In the interest of the gift-giver: don't empty your life savings on a normal occasion for a gift. And in the interest of the gift-receiver, if you're going to go all out, don't let us know!
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