Holiday Gift Advice Column: the Dos and Don’ts of Gifting to Asian Parents

Navigating gift giving for Asian parents is like trying to solve an extremely complicated math equation. It’s hard, messy, and oftentimes very, very confusing. Every holiday season, you find yourself in the same age-old dilemma: Should you get them something fancy and pretty that will cause them to scold you for unnecessarily spending money, or should you go for something cheap and risk coming off as the callous, ungrateful child that doesn’t respect his/her parents?

After years of gathering and collecting data, I have found the ultimate solution: the best strategy is to rate your gift on a scale of practicality. If you think they will end up using your gift once or twice in their entire life, it might not be a great idea. However, if it’s something that you can envision your parents really using to its full potential, you’ve probably hit the jackpot. 

The best gift I ever got my mother was a $10 dollar foot scrubber. I know, I know, that sounds simply ridiculous. However, her feet have been dry and cracked for a long time and she uses that thing EVERY DAY. To date, she still raves to me how that was the best gift I ever got her. Now every year as I walk down the aisles, I tell myself to forget the price.

The real question is if they can use my gift consistently and sustainably! Without further ado, here are my top tips to giving that hard-to-please asian mother a smile on her face (Disclaimer!! Every parent is different and these tips may not apply to every individual):

Donts: 

• • Gifting parents jewelry (necklace, ring, etc.)
  • Gifting something tacky like a sweater with Chinese characters on it.. Come on.
  • Gifting her a purse or some sort of handbag/clothing item unless you are super in tune to her tastes or have $$ and can drop a good amount on a reputable brand.
  • Money (Not only is this extremely disrespectful, it’s also just not a very thoughtful gift)

Dos:

• • Gifts related to improving their tea-drinking lives is a safe bet
  • A framed picture of you and your parents when you were younger (very sentimental, very sweet)
  • Food – and not just your run-of-the-mill asian grocery store snack, something hard to buy or special like taiwanese beef jerky or something (I made that up do not go looking for Taiwanese beef jerky)
  • Study: give them the gift of good grades (never goes wrong but don’t do this as your only gift, smh)
  • Kitchen appliances! Not sure if this is only my parents but they love fancy gadgets in the kitchen.

Hopefully you find these tips helpful, good luck!