Gifts for someone who loves reading
The trouble with buying for a reader is that they have usually already bought it.
Books
Gift ideas by interest
Pick what they are into. Every guide is a handful of searches aimed at gifts rather than at weekly-shop restocks.
Reading & words
Gifts for someone who reads comics
Comics are bought in runs, not singles, so a box set lands better than guessing which issue they are missing.
Comics
Gifts for someone who still writes things down
For people who are particular about pens, a boxed set is safer than a single one.
Stationery
Gifts for someone who is learning a language
Apps replaced the textbook for most people, which is exactly why a good physical one is a gift again.
Languages
Play
Gifts for someone who plays games
Games themselves are risky; they probably own it or are waiting for a sale.
Gaming
Gifts for someone who loves board games
The test of a board game is whether it works with the actual room — five people of different ages, after dinner.
Board games
Gifts for someone who likes puzzles
A jigsaw is a gift for the evenings rather than the day.
Puzzles
Gifts for someone who is a film buff
Streaming killed the DVD but not the film buff, and a projector turns any blank wall into a reason to have people over.
Movies
Gifts for someone who is into anime
Figures and merch are the obvious route, and obvious for a reason — they are what gets displayed.
Anime
Music & stage
Gifts for someone who is into music
Speakers and headphones span every budget, which makes this one of the easier interests to buy for.
Music
Gifts for someone who plays an instrument
Buying somebody their first instrument is a big swing.
Instruments
Gifts for someone who dances
Practice gear wears out faster than anything else, which makes it a better gift than it sounds.
Dance
Making
Gifts for someone who makes things
A boxed set is the gift here, because starting is the hard part.
Art
Gifts for someone who makes things by hand
The hardest part of a craft is starting one, so a kit with everything in it beats a better version of a single component.
Crafts
Gifts for someone who works with clay
Most people who like pottery took one class and never set anything up at home.
Pottery
Gifts for someone who takes photographs
Never buy the camera.
Photography
Gifts for someone who fixes things themselves
The gift here is the tool they keep meaning to buy and never do — a proper drill rather than another screwdriver set.
Diy
Food & drink
Gifts for someone who likes cooking
Every kitchen has knives and boards, and most kitchens have bad ones.
Cooking
Gifts for someone who bakes
Baking is the one kind of cooking where the equipment genuinely changes the result, so tins and trays are not a boring gift.
Baking
Gifts for someone who lives at the barbecue
Whoever does the grilling usually owns the grill and nothing else.
Grilling
Gifts for someone who loves food
A hamper is not a lazy gift when it is a good one.
Food
Gifts for someone who lives on coffee
There are two gifts here and they are different: the kit, for someone still using instant, and the beans, for someone who already has the kit.
Coffee
Gifts for someone who drinks tea properly
India has extraordinary tea and most of it never reaches a supermarket shelf.
Tea
Gifts for someone who appreciates a good whisky
Amazon will not sell you the whisky, and everything around it is the better gift anyway — a bottle is gone in a month, good glasses last decades.
Bar
Body & calm
Gifts for someone who works out
Equipment is personal and opinions are strong, so the safe ground is the consumable stuff — mats, bands, bottles, towels — the things people use constantly and never get round to replacing..
Fitness
Gifts for someone who runs
Runners are well equipped for running and badly equipped for everything around it.
Running
Gifts for someone who does yoga
The mat is the obvious gift and usually the one they already own.
Yoga
Gifts for someone who needs to switch off
The useful gifts here are small and specific: something for sleep, something for the end of a long week.
Wellness
Gifts for someone who is into skincare
Buying someone a product for a skin type you are guessing at rarely lands.
Skincare
Gifts for someone who is particular about grooming
A good trimmer outlasts three cheap ones, which makes it worth giving rather than buying.
Grooming
Gifts for someone who is into makeup
Buying a specific shade for somebody else rarely lands.
Makeup
Gifts for someone who wears a signature scent
Scent is personal enough that guessing is genuinely risky, so a sampler set is the honest gift — they find theirs, you did not decide it.
Perfume
Outdoors & sport
Gifts for someone who plays a sport
Buy for the sport, not the brand.
Sports
Gifts for someone who lives for cricket
Half of this is for playing and half is for watching, and they are different people.
Cricket
Gifts for someone who cycles
Cyclists buy the bike and postpone everything else.
Cycling
Gifts for someone who camps and treks
The tent is usually sorted and everything else is improvised.
Camping
Gifts for someone who fishes
Rods are personal, tackle is not, which makes the small things the safer gift.
Fishing
Gifts for someone who swims
Goggles fog and straps perish, so the pool bag is always missing something.
Swimming
Style
Gifts for someone who cares how they dress
Clothes come back; accessories do not.
Fashion
Gifts for someone who dresses up for weddings
Wedding season means everybody needs something they do not own yet.
Ethnic wear
Gifts for someone who notices watches
A watch is a real gift and a real risk, because taste in them is specific.
Watches
Gifts for someone who wears jewellery
Occasion jewellery sits in a box; everyday pieces get worn, which is the better outcome.
Jewellery
Gifts for someone who always needs another bag
Nobody owns the right bag for the thing they are currently doing, which is why this never stops being a good gift.
Bags
Gifts for someone who is into shoes
Sizes make shoes risky unless you know them, so care kits and racks are the safe half of this.
Shoes
Home
Gifts for someone who is doing up their place
Taste is the risk, so aim at the things that finish a room rather than define it.
Home decor
Gifts for someone who loves a cosy room
Warm light is close to impossible to get wrong and works in anybody’s house.
Candles
Gifts for someone who keeps plants
The plants that make good gifts are the ones that survive being forgotten for a fortnight.
Plants
Gifts for someone who gardens
Balcony gardening in a city is mostly pots and patience.
Gardening
Gifts for someone who is setting up a kitchen
The counter appliance somebody uses daily is worth more than the fancy one they use twice.
Appliances
Gifts for someone who automates their home
Smart plugs and bulbs are the cheap way in and the ones people keep.
Smart home
Life
Gifts for someone who is always travelling
Frequent travellers own the big things and are missing the small ones.
Travel
Gifts for someone who loves their car
Car gifts are small and constant — a mount, an organiser, a charger that finally fits.
Cars
Gifts for someone who rides a motorcycle
Riding gear is the one place where the expensive version is genuinely safer, which makes it worth giving rather than economising on.
Bikes
Gifts for someone who likes gadgets
Skip the novelty.
Tech
Gifts for someone who keeps a pooja room
A pooja thali or a well-made idol stays in the house for years, which is rare for a gift.
Spiritual
Gifts for someone who follows astrology
Rudraksha and gemstones are the traditional gift and still the most given.
Astrology
Gifts for someone who is a child
Age matters more than anything else, so filter by it first.
Kids
Gifts for someone who has just had a baby
New parents are given clothes the baby outgrows in a month.
Baby
Gifts for someone who has a pet
The gift is for the animal, the thank-you comes from the owner.
Pets
Why we made these
Because you always remember on the day
chipinkart emails you a week before a birthday with ideas that suit the person. Free, no app to install.