birthday parties

At a birthday party in Economy of Joy, would there be presents or, no presents? The words gift economy seem to say that there should be presents but, if there are gifts everyone feels obliged to give gifts and some people might not give them with joy. It seems then that the perfect thing is to say is that you can just give gifts if you want but, if you do that people might still feel bad for not bringing a gift.

I guess the word "gift" in "gift economy" means anything you give with no physical payment except for joy coming back to you, not only objects. If you are talking about birthday party gifts you are usually talking about an object you are obliged to give. If we acknowledge that objects are not the best thing in the world maybe we would live more healthy, less cluttered and, more joyfully.






What do you think a birthday party in Economy of Joy would be like?

Post in the comments.