When I was growing up, we received new toys mostly on just two occasions — Birthdays and Christmas. We might receive them a few other times, but those were also very special in their rarity. Please, do not misunderstand, we weren’t impoverished, we didn’t feel denied, in fact we felt blessed. We were well fed, sheltered, and well loved! I had all the modelling clay I needed, I had Lego, a GI-Joe, Tinker Toys, and many board games.

I do have to admit that I didn’t have a cell phone, game boy, or PC. I did have a guitar and guitar lessons when I wanted them. I had swim lessons and was registered in both soccer (that’s football for those of you not in North America) and hockey. My parents even bought a piano when my sister got very interested in playing from her lessons.

Still, there were more “gift” days than Birthday and Christmas. Now I am only going to speak from my own upbringing which was in a Christian Protestant family — Evangelical Lutheran to be exact — brought up in Western Canada, in a city in Southern Alberta.

What other gift days are there than Birthday and Christmas? (Just looking from my perspective.)

Back-to-School — clothes, books, writing tools, art supplies, and now electronics which might include games.
Halloween — costume, candy, toys to go with costume, party favours
Valentines Day — cards, candies, plush toys
Palm Sunday — palm fronds (perhaps a stretch, but I always looked forward to getting a palm frond on Palm Sunday)
Easter — candy, clothes, Easter toys for the young (plush toys especially like bunnies and ducks)
Graduation — pen sets, jewellery, clothes
Summer Camp — camping gear, knife, compass, clothes, journal, camera
Summer Vacation/Trip — toys, suitcase, clothes, car toys, puzzle books, car puzzle games, magnetic games, camera
School Picnic/Church Picnic — ?

Perhaps some of these might seem like a stretch, but they are times and dates of the years that I am sure children or young people look forward to in part for the gifts they can look forward to. I am sure that there is a certain segment of the population who were thrilled with frilly red and pink Valentine’s Day dresses for children… I am not so sure that little boys are so thrilled with being dressed up for Valentine’s day… I can remember shiny shoes, white shirt with stiff collar, and a clip on bow tie.

I am sure I must be missing some and I know that I am missing those holidays and special occasions of other groups. In fact I did not include Confirmation and Baptism in my list. We practise infant baptism with confirmation as an adult and it is normal to give confirmation gifts to close family members. I also received a nice Bible from the Church. (I wore out the great pen and pencil set you gave me, Uncle. I bought several ball-point refills and several pencil and even eraser refills. My next pen was a Fisher Space Pen… which I also wore out.)

Feel free to write your own article or write me telling me a few lines about your gifting holidays if you’d like.

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