During Christmas, hampers are given as gifts to loved ones and the needy.

These hampers usually contain small non-perishable food items, particularly seasonal favorites such as chocolates, biscuits, rice and cooking oil.

But this year, there is a new introduction to the hamper business in Kumasi, the water hamper. 

Maame Ama Tawiah sells hampers at Adum in Kumasi. Her customers ask for water when they come to buy.

With such demand, she decided to make water a part of her special hamper packages this Christmas.

‘’Some of my customers demand we add water to our packages. That is why you see this unique hamper. Since I started selling it, market has been good, they will buy it all. To make this Christmas very different from others, we did this and so far so good. We are going to do this every year,’’ she said.

The price ranges from 20 cedis to 80 cedis depending on the size.

Maame Ama says the water hamper is here to stay.

'We have varieties, the price depends on the size of the basket’,’ she added.

But would you be happy to receive a hamper full of water as a gift?

Here are some responses from the streets of Kumasi.

‘’I will reject it, if you don’t have money don’t get me any gift. Just let me know you don’t have money’,’ said a vendor

‘’I will take it because there is a saying that half a loaf is better than none. So it is better than not having anything at all,’’ said another person.

‘’It isn’t a must for anyone to send me a gift. Why would a person even think of water hamper? Water isn’t something I would ever need as a gift,’’ a trader said.

‘’Usually, hampers are filled with oil, rice, sardines and many more. If anyone brings me otherwise, I will accept it and insult the person in my head,’’ said Akwasi, a retailer.

Remember gifts are freely given and as the popular Akan adage goes “ne3 3w) )d) ns3m na )de ma”.