Gifts & occasions21 categories
A gift for someone I barely know
A new partner's parents, a host you've met once, a neighbour you owe.
I need a gift for someone I do not know well. The risk is being either forgettable or too familiar. 1. Tell me what the gift is doing socially: thanking them, marking a first meeting, or returning a favour. That sets the size. 2. Suggest five ideas that are safe without being dull. Prefer things that are good in themselves and do not require the recipient to share my taste: something consumable, something for the household rather than the person, something local to where I am from. 3. Flag the traps: anything requiring a size, a taste preference, a dietary assumption, or a display decision in their home. 4. Give me one line to say when handing it over that explains the choice, since the gift cannot explain itself. If I have given you almost nothing about them, ask two questions rather than guessing. Do not assume their household, beliefs or drinking habits. Who they are and the situation: Budget:
Making it yours
- Paste your own material where the prompt asks for it. Everything above that line is instruction, not content.
- Delete any rule that does not apply to you. A shorter prompt that fits beats a thorough one that does not.
- If the answer comes back vague, add a line saying what you do not want. Constraints work better than encouragement.
Tricky recipients. Colleagues, near-strangers, people who want nothing, and gifts that could land as pressure.
Related prompts
A gift for someone who insists they want nothingThe parent, partner or friend who says "don't get me anything" and means it.A gift for a colleague, without being weirdSecret Santa, a leaving present, or thanking someone at work.Give without creating an obligationWhen a gift might land as pressure, debt, or a request for something back.Anything but another candleWhen your gift instincts have become a rut.For someone who has everythingThe person who genuinely does not want more things.Is this gift too much?When the amount might land as pressure rather than generosity.
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