In England, there are many particular gift giving customs which are specific to this country. For example, many people in England do not exchange gifts on Christmas Eve, unlike other countries like the United States. The British do not engage in many gift giving customs on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve, many families engage in carol singing and going out to the local pubs. Children will typically hang up their stockings, in preparation for the gift giving customs of the next day.

When children wake up the next day, they will awake to see their stockings filled with gifts from Santa Clause. This is just one of many gift giving customs in Britain. Another one of many gift giving customs in Britain is that families will exchange gifts with one another. This was not always one of the customs in Britain. Back in 1647, the Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell banned all sorts of Christmas activities from taking place in England. Enjoying Christmas feasts and exchanging gifts were considered immoral gifts by the leader Oliver Cromwell, so they were banned. This ban was lifted, however, in 1660.

Boxing Day, which takes place on December 26, is typically the day for most gift giving customs to take place in England. On this day, co-workers, families, and friends exchange gifts with one another. This holiday originated during the medieval times, when one of the customs was for priests to engage in gift giving with the poor. The priest was supposed to distribute gifts to the poor on this day. On this day, wealthy people would also eat huge feasts and collect all of the remaining left overs from the meal. Then, wealthy people would distribute all of these left overs to the poor and other servants in the community.

Another popular gift giving custom in Britain is celebrating the twelve days of Christmas in England. This celebration originated due to Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night performance. One of the gift giving customs that occurs in this time is the giving of a mince pie to families. Whoever finds a bean in the mince pie then becomes the king of a party for the evening. This is just one of many gift giving customs that occurs during the 12 days of Christmas.

There are plenty of gift giving customs that occur in Britain every year.