Gifting

[theCryptofishist]

Pretty soon we will be getting the birgins in here all aflutter with "what am I going to gift" and the same old voices will chime in with: If this is your first year, just be prepared and help anyone you can in your immediate neighborhood.
Then we'll have the post about volunteering on playa and the posts about how people hate the plastic crap, and it will be the same old conversation all over.
Anyway, we've had this discussion before, but I don't see a thread only about this on the first page in the politics and philopsophy forum. (Maybe I should have checked tips and tricks...)
So:
Gifting, what works, what doesn't, and why.

[Dr. Pyro]

Just gift me absinthe and lots of it and everything else will take care of itself.

[delle]

Just gift me absinthe and lots of it and everything else will take care of itself.

Perhaps. But your delivery system needs working on,

still blushing over having plopped to my knees for my drink. But you WERE removing your pants!!!! What's a girl to think?????

[theCryptofishist]

TMI is not a gift, except as in so far as in german "Gift" means poison.

[Ugly Dougly]

We get stuck on things. It's an attitude of givingness (I know, that has too many syllables) that matters.

[theCryptofishist]

Openness? abundance? Willingness to give? (Yeah, that last is more syllables, but possibly less awkward...) Willingness to give of yourself?

[unjonharley]

Been collecting a nice gift.. We buy our laundry soap in containers with a measuring cup lid.. It has a pour spout insert in the neck of the container..
The pour spout is easy to knock out.. Makes a great pee jug.. I have five right now.. There will be more by Aug.. Which "boy" camp would not want a gift like that??

[B the B]

Please don't give me one, no offense. I'll end up washing my clothes in my own piss when I get home. I know myself.

[Ugly Dougly]

B the B, that may be the best way to neutralize playa dust. And I was washing with vinegar....

[unjonharley]

Please don't give me one, no offense. I'll end up washing my clothes in my own piss when I get home. I know myself.

In the early Roman days of Pompeii, Piss was collected (with a tax) for the laundry's (acid) to remove grease. Sure hope they didn't use the same slaves for laundry and wine stomping.

[JayBobBoy]

I found gifting to be quite easy. I never went anywhere without at least 6 cold PBR's to give away.

My other gifting success was using my Polaroid camera to gift burners pictures of themselves. With permission of course. Many people shy away from cameras at BM for fear that images will make their way back to defaultia. The Polaroid was a perfect way to alleviate that anxiety. They were in complete control of the image.

I would say about 60% said yes to my picture offer. I took one couples' picture at center camp, handed it over and waited for it to develop. That is always my favorite part. Watching their reactions as the picture slowly comes into focus. We drew a crowd and I gave away all the pictures I could. It was a blast.

I think people really liked having that snapshot in time captured (with no possibility of it going on the web). It was very interactive and really met some great people this way.

The film is expensive (they don't make it anymore), but I think I'll do it again!

[AntiM]

I have a Polaroid from this past year taken by a lovely young lady, she said it was a new type which just came out. Not sure what brand, but yes, I have a handful of such pics from the playa from several years.

[JayBobBoy]

How to receive a gift on the playa might be another topic to cover for burgins.

My advice:

You will be gifted when you least expect it. Go about your day practicing random acts of kindness and interaction and you will be rewarded.

Never, ever expect to be gifted. That way it is really special when it happens.

There is no need to reciprocate unless you feel the need. That was not the intention of the gift (or it shouldn't be).

A hug and/or kiss is a great way to say thank you!

[Katiebaby25]

One of my most memorable gifts this year was a scarf... one of the guys at our camp came into our dome one evening and said "It's going to be chilly out there tonight ladies, you'll need these scarves" and handed us each a scarf that perfectly matched what we were wearing! It was so thoughtful and he had hand picked each one perfectly for us.

Now its winter and I love wearing that scarf because it still smells like playa dust

[TT120]

As a Birgin for 2012, I intend to gift my help. I'l have tools and muscle and intend to go around and ask if anyone needs help getting things set up or holding stuff while it's tied down and stuff like that. I am not going to bring any "things" for gifts as I don't want it to become MOOP. I figure I'll get the "lay of the land" before I start bringing "things" to gift. I might have some bottles of alcohol to gve away but mostly I'm just goiing to help everyone I can.

[B the B]

Don't forget your caulk! I'm gonna bring mine too and give it freely to whoever wants any.

On a more serious note while I was waiting for my spare truck key to arrive in the mail post burn. I rode around on my bike with a hammer and a long stick looking for people locked out of their cars. Opened up alot of opportunity to help people break down camps, pick up moop, apply sunscreen and aloe to peeps, etc.

[bucephalus]

A first forum post by a BM virgin:

I'm doing my best to absorb information before I try to pretend I know what to expect, and I'm trying to make sure I don't have any expectations.

But the subject of free giving! I have so many thoughts! What a terrific basis for a society!

I have very little money and I'm arriving on a motorcycle with my friend following several days or weeks of riding. I'm going to offer as much as I can, but will, by virtue of the nature of my arrival, mostly have only skills and muscle and conversation to offer. The skills include architecture, metal fabrication (incl. welding), bike mechanic skills, conversation, and anything a minister can do.

I'll see you all on the Playa! (That's how you say it, right?)

[Savannah]

Hi bucephalus! Bike mechanics' skills are wonderful on the playa; so is welding. You'll do fine. Consider bringing a couple of inexpensive bike tubes if it doesn't prove difficult; a lot of people bring pumps and patches but forget tubes. In 2008, my neighbor swapped out my tube (I brought the parts, but he did the labor; I didn't know how). He became like a brother to my campmate and me over the course of a week--that's not the only reason.

Your mileage may vary; I'm just saying it was awesome.

Welcome to ePlaya!

[Herring]

My unintentional gift of bar hopping with a bottle of bourbon and offering up a round of shots to all who wanted them went over like gangbusters last year. Until the last bartender misunderstood and added the bottle to the bar's stockpile without sharing a round but it was a big fun bar so I didn't mind contributing.

This year I'm making infused bourbon.

[Trishntek]

I've related this on other threads, but bears repeating here:

Monday night post burn, our crew of six was blessed with the 7 hour line up at exodus. Apparently there was an accident that tied things up for awhile.

There was a car-load of four individuals who was going the wrong direction of, and looking for the way to exodus. BMIR had just advised everyone to plan on staying in BRC instead of leaving at that time. They advised everyone to wait at least 7 hours before leaving BRC.

We passed this information on to them and they decided to join us for the evening. One of them is a gourmet chef and proceeded to create the best. meal. evah. out of our leftovers. They spent the night, helped us strike the next morning and departed relatively refreshed. We also were given a real boost at an exhausting part of the experience.

It's not so much gifting as it is being uniquely human.

[AntiM]

Every year MyLarry seems to give the gift of opening a locked vehicle. Last year he also repaired/tweaked two bicycles on the way to open a distraught young woman's car. I provided cheerleading services.

[lucky420]

AntiM
Every year MyLarry seems to give the gift of opening a locked vehicle

best gift everrrrrrrrrrr

[Drawingablank]

There is no need to reciprocate unless you feel the need. That was not the intention of the gift (or it shouldn't be).

A hug and/or kiss is a great way to say thank you!

This bears repeating since so many first timers seemed to feel a need to reciprocate when I gifted something last year - a thank you is more than enough and a hug is even better.

[Savannah]

There is no need to reciprocate unless you feel the need. That was not the intention of the gift (or it shouldn't be).

A hug and/or kiss is a great way to say thank you!

This bears repeating since so many first timers seemed to feel a need to reciprocate when I gifted something last year - a thank you is more than enough and a hug is even better.

Same here. If I give a gift it's because I see a need, or hope to see a smile.

It's not because I want to see someone look around quickly for something random to hand me.