Is it your friend’s birthday? Need a gift idea to celebrate your friend’s achievement? Or do you just want to let your friend know how meaningful you find the friendship? All of these can be accomplished with a well-chosen gift, but sometimes choosing such a gift can certainly be a challenge! But choosing the right gift can be totally worth it both for you and your friend. In fact, according to an article by American Psychological Association giving gifts may promote feelings of mutual trust and warmth between you and your friend. Fear not, we are here to help, with this guide on how to choose a perfect gift for your friend. We will cover the step-by-step processes and techniques to help you figure out which gift would be perfect for your dear friend!

If you are still unsure after this guide on how to come up with gift ideas for yourself, why not let our team suggest gifts specifically tailored to you free of charge? To get started, head over to our gift questionnaire.

 

1. Check your friend’s wishlists:

The first place to embark on your quest for the perfect gift is to delve into your friend’s wishlists. Wishlists can be a goldmine of inspiration, filled with items your friend has expressed a desire for. While it seems like a straightforward process, approaching your friend’s wishlists requires a touch of finesse to avoid common pitfalls.

• Begin by contemplating the shopping or service websites your friend frequents. Are they a fashionista exploring clothing stores for the latest trends, or perhaps an avid gamer with an extensive wishlist on platforms like Steam? Identifying the right wishlists is crucial to unlocking the potential for the ideal gift.
• Once you’ve pinpointed the most relevant wishlists, take a closer look. Remove any items that have become outdated, such as those added a long time ago that your friend may no longer be interested in. Also, eliminate items that fall outside your budget or don’t feel like the perfect fit for your friend. If the mental image of your friend’s smiling face as they open the gift doesn’t make your heart skip a beat, then it may not be the right choice.
• Now that you’ve narrowed down the wishlist items your friend would love, it’s time to make a reasoned decision. Let your heart guide you, but also let your brain weigh in. Consider which gift your friend currently needs more and which one is more practical. After all, the aim is to avoid giving gifts that might cause more problems than joy.

If, despite all your efforts, none of the wishlist items seem like the perfect fit, fear not! We have more strategies to help you unearth the gift that will leave your friend in awe.

This technique for finding the perfect gift is simple yet limited by the necessity of discovering preexisting wishlists. If you didn’t find anything perfect for your friend in their wishlists, keep reading, as we will explore more ways to identify the ideal gift for your friend.

2. Consider upgrading one of your initial gift ideas:

If you have some initial ideas that you think your friend will sort of like, but you are not THAT excited by them, this technique may help uncover the gift your friend will really appreciate! Take the ordinary gift and elevate it into something extraordinary by putting a twist on it. For more in-depth examples of upgrading gifts, check out our guide specifically covering how to upgrade ordinary gifts, complete with examples.

For instance, consider your friend’s love for tea. The most obvious gift might be a bag of quality tea, but that doesn’t quite do it for your friend, as you know they probably already have a good bag of tea leaves. Now let’s think about how we can upgrade from a bag of tea:

They brew the tea the same way every morning. Maybe it’s time for a change, and you could invest in a quality cold tea brewer!

Perhaps you’d rather turn it into an experience and book them in for a tea tasting session, where you can taste and appreciate multiple teas, as part of a social and enjoyable experience!

Or maybe you’re not as excited about a bag of tea as a gift because it is only a singular type of tea, and you can’t decide which one to buy? How about you buy a multi tea taster bundle? That way your friend will have plenty of flavors to try!

Perhaps you find that they don’t drink the high-quality loose-leaf tea purely because preparing it causes a mess, which your friend has to clean up every time. If this is the case, you might consider a handheld hoover, which will help them clean up any mess from the tea with no fuss!

As you can see with this technique, we take the ordinary gift and elevate it into something a bit more extraordinary by putting a twist on it.

3. Analyze your friend’s daily routine to find the perfect gift:

So the last two methods for finding a gift for your friend that we discussed require you to have some idea of what kind of gifts they would like. But what if you have absolutely no clue what they would like? Or what if they are the kind of person that tends to buy anything they need? Well, if this is the case, you may find this approach incredibly helpful.

The idea here is almost like a reverse version of the previous technique. Where previously we took an item we like and upgraded it into a gift they will love by looking at circumstances around the item, here we will take the opposite approach to identify the gift by analyzing your friend’s daily routine.

This method is fantastic for identifying functional gifts they truly need, even if they don’t know it yet! Let’s walk through an example:

• So they wake up in the morning feeling groggy – perhaps it is time to upgrade their waking up game by gifting them a sunrise alarm.
• Then your friend grabs an instant coffee, and its bitter taste assaults their taste buds – maybe you could give them a French press and a coffee grinder to let them make a far better coffee every morning.
• At work lunchtime, they are eating homemade sandwiches – how about you treat them to a pre-prepared meal service to save them time and add some variety to your friend’s lunches!
• Back at home from work, they wish to go to the gym, which is their hobby, but having to wait and pay for public transport is a right pain! – how about you treat them to a bike?
• Finally, once they go to sleep, sometimes they feel tense – maybe a weighted blanket is your gift of choice?
• As you can see in the above example, we come up with gifts that will make any aspect of their daily routine better or just that little bit more comfortable.

A good idea is to take stock of a couple of routines to do this exercise on. After all, your friend may do different things on the weekend compared to weekdays.

 

4. Mix it up:

Finally, you can take any of the described techniques and mix them together to find a perfect gift for your friend! For example, notice their instant coffee part of the morning routine could be improved. Well, how could it be improved? Just so happens, an espresso machine is sitting in your friend’s wishlist. Boom, you found the perfect gift!

Conclusion:

In this guide, we covered our favorite steps on how to think up a gift for your friend. These steps will ensure they will be absolutely enchanted by the gift! However, if you are still stumped as to what gift to get your friend, why not let our team of experts suggest a gift for them? To get started, head over to our gift questionnaire!

Remember, the joy of giving comes not just from the gift itself but from the thought and effort you put into selecting something meaningful for your friend. May your gift be as extraordinary as your friendship!