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Gift giving is all about understanding the recipient’s passions and finding something that aligns with their interests while offering a new experience or perspective. To find the perfect present for someone who seems to have it all, you need to try and find something they didn’t even know they wanted. So before you add another gift card to their gift card pile, consider these thought-starters for your pickiest loved ones.
Give an experience
For the person who buys whatever they want for themselves as soon as they want it, shift your gifting focus to experiences. Sure, this is an obvious choice, but you can still be intentional with it. Book a local cooking class, wine tasting, pottery workshop, concert tickets, or other events you know match their interests. If we’re going by “it’s the thought that counts” logic, the effort of giving events and activities is a much more meaningful thought than material goods. Now that we’ve got the sappy stuff out of the way—who doesn’t love material goods?
Surprise travel
Travel-themed gifts give you a wide window of ideas for what to get someone. If your budget allows, surprise that frequent jet-setter or travel lover with elements of a trip, like plane tickets, hotel bookings, or even full travel packages. Or get creative with travel accessories:
Electronics Organizer Travel Case
Subscription boxes
For eclectic personalities who enjoy surprises, subscription-box services make fantastic ongoing gifts, especially monthly ones that they’ll continue to enjoy in the months following Christmas. There are a ton of different subscription boxes out there that deliver curated items like books, coffee, healthy snacks, or even exotic meats and alcohol. You pay for a recurring shipment for a set period—like three, six or 12 months—in which they’ll receive items tailored to the recipient’s unique tastes. Consider a flower subscription service for the eco-conscious, an Atlas coffee club subscription for the caffeine addicts in your life, or perhaps a snazzy Japanese snack box.
Fancy consumables
Lifehacker’s Alice Bradley got a Murray’s Cheese gift basket this year and “lost [her] dang mind.” Cheese, candles, napkins—think elevated versions of everyday stuff, like cashmere socks ($25.99) or fancy hand soap ($29.99).
Home and Body Hand Soap Collection
An emphasis on cozy
If this is a person who already has everything, why not add some accoutrements to their life of luxury?
Charitable donations
A charitable donation gifted in someone’s name can be meaningful for do-gooders and people passionate about social causes. You can choose a monetary amount or symbolic adoption of animals or trees through various nonprofit organizations. Print out a custom certificate to give the recipient announcing your donation made in honor of them.
Lifehacker managing editor Meghan Walbert recommends One Simple Wish, an organization that allows you to grant wishes for kids in foster care. Another option is to plant a tree in someone’s name, which you can do here.
And hey—if they’re a stinker about a charitable gift, then they should reflect on why they’re so hard to buy gifts for in the first place. But hopefully, with a little extra thoughtfulness and creativity, you can make even the pickiest on your holiday shopping nice list light up.
