Jewelry is personal.
Which is one of the reasons I’ve never been able to understand why it’s such a common gift among couples. It doesn’t matter if you’ve unfortunately started dating someone two weeks before their birthday, or if you’ve been together for decades. Jewelry has always been a go-to gift.
However, this is a rookie mistake, my friends. It really isn’t the present “you can’t go wrong with.” The truth is, jewelry is not an easy gift. If anything, I’d say it might be the hardest if you don’t know the person well enough.
You may be wondering, “How can jewelry be all that different from anything else we wear?”
Rings, earrings and necklaces aren’t like T-shirts, dresses or jeans. First, we wear a blouse for 12 hours, throw it in a hamper and pull it out of our closets maybe a few days, weeks or even months later. Jewelry, on the other hand, has a more direct feeling we encounter almost every day.
With jewelry, you buy it thinking you’re going to wear it all the time. Countless people have rings, necklaces and earrings they shower in, sleep in and flat out live in. They never take it off. It becomes as familiar to their appearance as the color of their eyes, or the length of their hair.
Jewelry is particular because, when the right piece is found, it coincides with your personality and the way you present yourself on the daily. For many, the little accent holds sentimental meaning and constant reminders of loved ones or special memories.
I wear a skinny silver band around the ring finger of my right hand every single day. It’s a friendship ring from my best friend of nine years. In fact, she’s one of the only people I’d trust to receive jewelry from because she knows me so well.
That’s exactly why jewelry is such a tough item to gift another person. You’ve got to really know who you’re getting it for. Because when they open that little box, they are either going to absolutely love it or totally detest it.
It’s a hard truth, but a truth about jewelry. While some may smile and say it’s nice, they might really be confused and asking, “Did they really think I’d like this?” It becomes a question of, “How well does this person even know me?”
It doesn’t make sense if you give someone who is a minimalist and shy a loud statement necklace. If you give someone who rolls their eyes at clichés heart-shaped earrings, they'll wonder if you’ve been listening to them talk at all. It’s difficult to really grasp, but somehow jewelry manages to speak to a person’s taste, personality and presence all at once.
I don’t mean to startle you if you’ve got an anniversary or birthday on the horizon. But certainly a gift out there exists that leans away from bling and into something individualized for the person you’re trying to impress.
