we've always wondered what is the gift opening etiquette in our region - sometimes we visit friends in various occasions, a birthday or a simple home visit and we bring a gift for that matter - some of our friends open the gift at once and show excitement and recognition, whilst some others simply take the gift away to open it in discretion.
we used to keep the gifts away to open them in discretion, however a few years back we changed our habit and started opening gifts as we received them - the reason why we changed is that we wanted people to open our gift in front of us, and show us the appreciation, or the disappointment for that matter, that's the only way we could understand & evaluate what people want or like.
we tried to google the subject and it seems that gift opening etiquette varies depending on the culture & the situation - like in japan, it is rude to open a gift in front of the giver as it makes the gift more important than the giver - in birthday parties, it is not practical to open the gifts in front of the giver as it can take a lot time and this can be considered boring for the people attending the event - this can also make people feel awkward if they ended up spending significantly more or less than the other parents - finally gift duplicates can be spotted immediately and put the gift giver in an awkward situation.
we were curious to know if there's anything of that sort related to the middle east culture, but it was hard to find something relevant, so what's your take on this?












