This interactive map from Cloud 9 Living offers some potentially helpful tidbits on gift giving traditions around the world. For example, if you’re thinking of giving a clock as a gift in China, think again. It’s considered bad luck. Or, if you head to Russia, remember to give bouquets with an uneven number of flowers. Even-flowered bouquets are for funerals. And, when in Sweden, you can’t go wrong with a bottle of liquor. Click through to see the infographic in larger format.
Contrary to the map, I seriously doubt wine is an appropriate hostess gift in Saudi Arabia, Libya, Iran, and other Islamic countries that have banned alcohol.
There are some other really narrow-minded generalizations on this map. For instance, while Mexico is listed as 82% Catholic, the United States is labeled merely “Christian” which might come as something of a shock to the millions of Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and people who have read the Fist Amendment living in the U.S.
Also, the bizarro-meter on the “Bizarre Gifting Standards” section is completely offensive, as the traditions of various non-Western countries are rated by kookiness.
Cloud 9 claims to be “meant for world travelers, study abroad students, those living in or visiting a foreign country.”
Good luck with that.
Information about Brazilian tradition is not quite right as well.
“Gifts are ceremoniously thrown into the sea.” Took me awhile to understand what it was about.