I recently had a birthday, so it feels timely to post on this topic. Gifting has changed in my family over the years already. My brother and I no longer exchange gifts (with our spouses either), but we do give gifts to our nephews. This year my mom suggested that we stop birthday gifts, and I was definitely on board with that; she did still send me a card though. With an increase in consumerism and disposable income, I find that we often don't know what to buy for a gift, because people already 'have everything'. Over the years this has led me to focus on asking for and giving experience/consumable gifts when I can. We do still buy things that our kids need or want, but we also try to not overdo it. Gifts are meant to tell the person that you were thinking of them, so it's strange to think that they've become somewhat mandatory with certain holidays. We do feel that the conversations with friends have been easy and we often ask for no gifts at our children's ...