I don't understand why so many of you lasies have branded this as a fazool practice. I would certainly want to buy gifts for my future in laws and share in my good fortune/happiness.
It is a joyous occasion and our families want to celebrate the event by gifting each other. We gift our freinds on their birthday, anniversary etc. so why is it wrong to gift our families on something which is also a big event for them, not just the bride and groom. They are getting a new d-il, s-i-l etc. I just understand why so many of you criticise the tradition, but then maybe I'm just an exception and love buying gifts.
Because in many families, it is not looked upon as just 'gift exchange'.. the expectations are set high. Exchanging gifts with friends or family is something very different than with inlaws at time of wedding. Either you will see the bride complaining that her inlaws didn't give her enough baree or gold or didn't bring her nice stuff or you will see the inlaws making faces over something petty. In many cases, there is nothing genuine about gift giving anymore, it's mostly done for sho shaa purposes and that is called fuzool kharchi. It has become more of a cultural norm that to keep up with the standards, we must gift something extragavant. Do you really think that so many of these families that give out expensive things to inlaws do it out of love or for the pleasure of just giving gifts. I don't think so. It's either to show off how much money you have or parents do it so their daughters don't have to listen to taunts later. I have seen it happen so often- inlaws saying crap to the girl and making comparisons with other people in the social circle. If it's done with sincerety and within limits then that is a different story.. but even then there's no need to go crazy with it.