While it’s always nice to receive gifts, the process of giving them can be even more heartfelt. It’s wonderful to spend time thinking through your options, the preferences of the person you like, if you’ll source the gift from a special place, and many more variables that go into this process.
Good gift-giving is a real art and it really is a worthwhile venture to perfect. A beautiful, well-timed, and precise gift can be a fantastic testament to a friendship, and it can help you bond even more closely.
But what do you gift the person who has everything? It’s not that easy to figure out. While it’s true that cost shouldn’t be a factor, sometimes a person being able to acquire everything means the valuation of what you give them means much less than the sentimental or practical value.
We can offer some tips to help you, below:
Consider Their Hobbies & Interests, Then Gift Around That
A great starting point is to think closely about what this person already enjoys and how you could help them expand their love of it. That way, you’re not trying to guess what might impress them but will be more focused on deepening their appreciation for it or seeing it from a different angle.
For instance, someone who’s into cooking might appreciate a high-quality kitchen gadget they’ve never picked out for themselves even if just to try it out. Or, a passionate reader might love a signed edition or a custom bookmark made with care because you can’t just pick those out on a shelf. If they’re a wine enthusiast, something thoughtful like a freestanding wine fridge could offer real utility and elegance, especially if they’ve been keeping bottles in a cupboard or kitchen rack, or have told you their desire to expand their collection.
This means that the time you take to consider what fits into their world naturally will show, and it makes the gift feel both relevant and personal.
Gift Experiences & Comforts
A physical gift isn’t always the only way to go, especially because you might not want to buy a product for someone who already has everything in their household.
It’s good to know that experiences tend to last longer in memory, and they can feel more special because they involve time, setting, and often shared company. You definitely have to plan them ahead of time. The classics obviously include a great restaurant reservation, a spa day, concert tickets, or a short weekend away, depending on your connection to the person.
But it’s even better if you personalize the experience a little, such as picking something they’ve talked about, admired, or dreamed of trying. Certain comforts in line with that can make them feel better, such as buying them tickets but also the hotel package around that, depending on their needs or their travel preferences. For instance, this can be very specifically matched to what they need. If they travel wth a disabled child, for example, you can make sure that any experience you book for them has that taken care of, with appropriate facilities managed and accessible. This example shows that tweaking a gift, and even an experience, can make a healthy difference.
Gift Your Time & Effort
When someone already has everything they need, the most valuable thing you can offer is often your time. In some cases that may be all they really want from you, and so a shared day out, a handmade meal, or maybe something thoughtful like offering to help with a task they’ve been putting off can be a lovely gesture.
Now that doesn’t mean “helping them move household” is necessarily a gift as you may imagine, but it’s a combination of experiences that show you’re dedicating your presence ot them that counts.
Moreover, time and effort make a gift feel much larger than the item or gesture itself. Maybe they hope to run a marathon and so you’re coming into town to support them along the way, help with their charity fundraiser for a cause they care about, and wait at various points with bottled water for them. When you show someone that you’ve gone out of your way not because you had to, but because you wanted to, that becomes the heart of the gift. We should all be so lucky to have people like that in our lives.
Create Something From Scratch
Even if you’re not especially crafty, creating something by hand is a nice gesture and can have something more of an impact than a store-bought item. It’s lovely to know that someone took the time to make something just for you that immediately adds meaning. It could be a batch of homemade preserves or jams you’ve been making from your home garden, a hand-poured candle you’ve created with love, a framed piece of photography, or maybe a scarf and some winter gloves you’ve knitted with a lovely custom design.
These are the sorts of gifts that couldn’t be purchased because they came from you and so it’s a lovely reminder that not everything worthwhile has a strict value in it. It also shows that in our luxurious, often convenient product market, there can be nice ways to experience love outside of consumerism.
Consider Sentimentality
Sentimentality can differ between people and what they care about can depend on the time we’re currently in, the familial arrangements they have, or maybe the history they’ve experienced. For example, if they’ve lost a relative, then you might find a picture you had of them when all three of your shared a day out, have that picture enhanced, beautifully rendered and framed, and gift that to them.
This is just one example but you understand the idea, that sometimes appreciating the love around us and reminding us of what really matters makes any gift more appealing. Why would you necessarily need a huge luxury if you’ve been reminded of what’s most important in life? There’s something to be said for that approach to gifting.
With this advice, we believe you’ll find it easier to gift, even for the person who has everything in your life!
