Gift idea generator

What it's for

Being stuck on a present isn't a lack of ideas: it's that you keep going round the same three. A suggestion drawn at random breaks that loop rather than giving the answer: nearly always the idea that comes up isn't the right one, but it brings the right one to mind, because it moves your thinking to a category you weren't looking at.

The three families nearly every good present belongs to

Something consumable (good food, wine, a candle, flowers): it takes no space, doesn't ask to be kept forever and hardly ever misses. An experience (a dinner, a course, a ticket, a day out together): it's the one remembered longest, and given for two it works twice over. The upgrade on something the person already uses every day but in the cheap version: the umbrella, the chopping board, the headphones, the water bottle. It's the category with the highest hit rate, because it doesn't ask anyone to change their habits.

Two mistakes people always make

The first is giving a hobby: the watercolour set to someone who doesn't paint, the kitchen gadget to someone who doesn't cook. It feels like encouragement and lands like homework. The second is giving your own taste: the book you enjoyed, the record you listen to. A present is about the person receiving it, not the person giving it.

And one practical thing that matters more than the present itself: if you buy in a shop, ask for the gift receipt, and say so. It takes nothing away from the thought and it spares the recipient the awkwardness of keeping the wrong size so as not to offend.

Nearby tools

If the present is from a group and has to be split, the accounting is kept by Group expenses; to set a spending cap Savings goal. For a well-written card there is Motivational quotes, and if all you need is to choose between two or three ideas you already have Pick for me.