Hey Pandas, What Are Your Recommendations For Good Gifts To Give People? (Closed)

As I myself am a horrible person to shop for, I recommend giving them money. Yes, there are people crying that this is crass, but their giftees are the ones cluttering up the Returns/Refund queue every Christmas. Your "thoughtful gift" is getting turned into a "thoughtful giftcard".

To me gift giving isn’t just randomly choosing something to give. I put a lot of thought and effort into what I give. I think about the person, their likes and dislikes, hobbies, wants or needs and their personality. For example my Nanna is awful to buy for, you ask her what she wants and she has no idea. She doesn’t have hobbies, wants or needs etc so I buy her pretty much the same thing every year and she loves it. She loves cherry liqueurs (can only find around Christmas), scratchie tickets, a calendar for the following year and a shopping list pad. My aunty loves tattoos and is saving for one so she got a gift card for the tattoo place she goes to. My uncle loves cars and fishing so he got a car shop gift card. My dad loves food so I buy things that he wouldn’t normally buy but I know he likes for example dukkah, fancy cheese, fancy chutneys, dolmades etc.

I also like to make gifts. My brother loves coffee and wine so I made a coffee cup and wine glass wall hanging that says “How to tell the time” AM over the coffee cups and PM over the wine glasses. My mum loves lanterns and has a lantern feature ceiling in her outdoor entertaining area so I bought a couple of lanterns and glued transparent photos of her kids and my kids, which she said is the most amazing gift she has ever received. My mother in law likes nice things sonI made her 2 candle stick photo frames with photos of the kids.

So you see choosing presents is an art. You don’t want to buy something for the sake of it coz it will likely be a waste of money and the item will end up in landfill. I find asking the person what they want or need is the best option first and if they can’t help then I follow my rules as mentioned above. I don’t give money for Christmas but I have no issue giving money for birthdays so quite often I will gift money which mainly ends up being for the teen boys in my family (super hard to buy for).

If I know the person well, I always go for something related to their interests and their sense of humor. In another question above, I listed the best gifts I've received. One had to do with my love of music and the other made me laugh. Those are definitely the best gifts. It also shows them that you're paying attention to who they are, what they like, and what makes them laugh.

Gifts don't have to be tangible. In [traditional] Asian culture, oftentimes individuals don't even verbally say "I love you". It's all the actions done that already imply it. For instance, parent(s) make breakfast for the family before heading off to work and/or school. For younger children, parent(s) make sure the kid(s) have everything they need in their bag. In reality, you just need to carefully observe around you and you'll realize that your existence and their existence is the greatest gift on Earth. :)