When Do People Give Gifts or Presents In Your Country?

 

When Do People Give Gifts or Presents In Your Country?

IELTS Speaking Test Part 1 Questions

Giving Gifts

When do people give gifts or presents in your country?

I think like in most countries we give gifts on special occasions; the main ones would be birthdays, weddings, graduation from college or university, maybe when people buy their first apartment or home; really anything that people think is an event to celebrate.

Do you ever take a gift when you visit someone in their home? [Why?/Why not?]

Yes, sometimes, but it's a little different, maybe I would take something like some flowers for my grandmother or if it's a friend's house then maybe a bottle of wine or something like that.

I think it's nice to show your appreciation for the invitation or in the case of my grandmother, I know that she loves flowers so they always make her happy - which is great.

The type of gift would depend a lot on why I was visiting; maybe a dinner invitation or just to call round and see a friend.

I suppose it's considered normal when it's a social invitation but I certainly don't always show up with a gift on every occasion.

Receiving Gifts

When did you last receive a gift? [What was it?]

Ok, this is funny; just a couple of days ago I received a bag of potatoes from the owner of the store at the corner of my street.

Not exactly your usual 'gift' and I still don't know why he did it, but he just gave them to me and said not to worry about paying for them. It was a complete surprise, but a really nice gesture by him.

Buying Gifts

Do you enjoy looking for gifts for people? [Why?/Why not?]

Sometimes I enjoy looking for gifts, but not always. Again, it depends on what type of gift I'm looking for and who it's for.

Things like birthday presents can be hard to choose sometimes because they're so personal unless you know the person really well.

Wedding gifts, on the other hand, are much easier - they even give you a list sometimes!

The gifts I like buying best are when I see something and I just think of a particular person, so I'm not really looking for a gift but I find something that I think one of my friends or family would love, and I buy it for them.

There doesn't always need to be a special occasion to give a gift.