Giving:
I give them whenever I feel like it, but it's not that often. Normally I don't like giving gifts for reasons related to why I don't like receiving them. Christmas is an exception, because it's something accepted for gift giving, and is a special time of year. Birthdays I've generally kept to things that are personal but not worth much; pictures, poems, other stuff that's made for the person in mind. Money/purchased gifts just don't have the same effect on a birthday.
Receiving:
I don't accept gifts well, except on certain events, and even then it's limited. I don't like expensive gifts. I don't' like gifts that cost money, or ones that were given without thought.
For an example, if someone gave me a gold ring with a diamond in it, I'd be very disappointed in them; first, because it's throwing money at me, which I consider foolish. Second, because it's inefficient, there's a thousand things they COULD have gotten me that would've been far more enjoyable or useful for a longer term for that money... hell buy me a car, it's probably cheaper than some rings XD And third, I don't like gold or diamonds, I'd prefer silver or titanium and cats' eye, and therefore would be irritated that they would pay so much on me without even knowing my preferences, and it's not exactly like I keep those preferences a secret. So either they ignored whot I'd told them, or didn't know me well enough to be buying me a ring in the first place.
Another problem, is that I don't care for being given stuff for free; I'd rather earn my way. I don't care if it's affectionate usually... a big portion of this is I've been doing online games since... 1997. Back then girls online were rare, and people tended to notice even if yeu didn't SAY so, some just caught on to subtle things. Not sure how but whotever XD Problem is though, that means people endlessly tried to shower with gifts... which sucked. It carries on today in other games, MMORPG's are especially bad for it; alot of the guys who claim to be female on there, that I've found, have two reasons to do so... 1st: they don't want to look at a guy's butt all day, or 2nd, they want free 'stuff'. Because if yeu claim female, people go ZOMG LOOK HERE HAVE STUFF! One male friend I knew (well still know but he stopped playing) on WoW was ridiculously rich with gold... so he'd bought every female member of the guild their own epic flight mount. Which... kind of irritated me that someone would do that, because it means that they imply only females deserve it rawr, or that he's hitting on all of them. Considering who it was, it was more likely the latter >.> Regardless, I turned mine down. As all other help. I earned all I needed, and yes I struggled often to make ends meet, but I managed. Sure it's just an online game and not 'real' money, but the point is there... I don't want to be handed over stuff, it looses all appeal that way if yeu get it that way. I want to earn it and feel proud to have accomplished earning such.
The ONLY way I'll normally accept gifts, is if it's considered by me to be an even trade... I wouldn't even let my BF (he wasn't at the time though) give me a small amount of money... it was literally like $20 or so, and was for covering something major I had to do and I couldn't afford it at the time. I ONLY let him do so after a long argument, after agreeing that I would draw a picture for him and treat it as a commission, and only if I did my end of the bargain first.
So yeah... I'm picky on gifts XD
I dunno though, I don't like giving them either because of that, since I feel people should treat it more the way I do, which's silly of me, but whotever.
Generally I just don't like getting gifts, nor do I feel comfortable giving them. I especially don't like having them be given or received on a regular basis, since that kills the purpose of them... they aren't special after they become too common. Some things yeu need to stagger out significantly. Gifts, if showered on someone all the time, multiple times per month, become very... generic and boring. They loose all appeal. They're so common there's no feeling behind them anymore, or so it seems to me. Keeping them once or twice a year seems to be just about right. Any more than that and they don't have that special feel any longer.
Maybe the rare one... like if I *JUST* happen to see a rare game I know my BF doesn't have and he wants in the store, I'd pick it up just so noone else got it XD Especially if it was cheap =3 He collects stuff like that so he'd appreciate it, and it'd be one of those things yeu can't really wait for, and I KNOW I couldn't keep my mouth shut about it until christmas or whotever, so I'd just fork it over on the spot XD
Small things like that though, spur of the moment because yeu see something that would be perfect, that's about the only gift I truly enjoy, either giving, or receiving. Something yeu know would be appreciated and personal to them. One of my most prized possessions is actually an animation of a 3D piece of wood with the word "MEOW" carved into it, or at least that's whot it's supposed to be, it looks more like metal than wood but whotever XD Point is, it's something special that was given to me by an EX that, admittedly I'm GRRR at them now, since they left on rather harsh terms... but anyway, the thing is, I'd vastly prefer something simple like that for real, just a simple necklace with a thin piece of wood with something silly written on it, over a diamond ring XD
Alright, sure I'm odd, but I'm sentimental on strange things. I never throw out birthday cards either, I have stuff dating back to like... grade 2-3 or so? Since I started keeping that stuff in my room and not letting my parents throw them out anyway XD
It's strange, I suppose, but it's something that means something, and that I cling to. Even if it's kind of irrational I suppose =3