A gym membership can be an excellent healthy way to kick-off a new year to a better, slimmer body. However, giving a gym membership as a gift can be a tricky affair. After all, how do you present someone with such a present without offending them? Many people joke around that gym memberships are often the worst gifts to give, because it's like giving a stove or a set of pans for someone on their birthday - you are pretty much dooming them to a life of slaving away in the kitchen, cooking for the whole family. This is a similar situation with gym memberships. Giving one as a gift brings up a whole slew of undesirable questions like, what are you trying to say by sending someone to a gym as a gift? Are you saying that a person is fat? In need of a workout? No doubt, a gym membership can become a hurtful, rather than loving gift; and thus, if you are really set on giving one to anyone in your family, you must be extremely tactful about it.

Before you rush out to a local Lucille Roberts and get a premium membership as a gift, consider your relationship with the recipient of this gym pass. If you are not particularly close to them or have not seen them in a while, do not, under any circumstances, give them a gym membership, or for that matter, any health-related gift. Chances are that the more casual your relationship with them is, the greater is the possibility that they will get offended, rather than flattered, by your gift. In other words, it is far more acceptable to give a gym membership to your wife, than your co-worker. And of course, never ever give one to your mother-in-law.

With that being said, let us consider a tactful way of presenting a gym membership as a gift. The phrase "I think you need to lose weight" should not be a part of your gift-giving routine. No matter how you say it, it will resonate in the other person's head as a humiliating, mortifying phrase. Even the most self-confident people will get a little testy, if they are reminded of their flaws during a festive occasion, such as their birthday or Christmas.

Thus, the easiest way of giving someone a gift that might improve their flaws is to acknowledge your own. How can you do that without turning the whole gift-giving process into a self-pity party? Offer a gym membership as a byproduct of your own quest of bettering your health and well-being. In other words, instead of saying "You need to lose weight, so I got you a gym membership", try a different approach. It is much more effective

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

---

Add your voice

Know something about Tips for buying a gym membership as a gift?
We want to hear your view. Write now!