How to Gift Shop for Someone Who Has Everything

Gift shopping for that person who has everything can be as frustrating as picking something to watch on Netflix. You ponder on each choice like your life depends on it, then decide on nothing because it’s already bedtime and your popcorn’s gone… and you’re sad.

But, fortunately, there is a way to gift shop for anyone, even if it feels like they have everything. It just takes a bit of creative thinking… and this handy list of pointers!

So, if you’re after the perfect gift, follow these guidelines like they’re a glowing trail out of the oblivion that is directionless gift shopping. OK, here goes.

How to Buy the Perfect Gift for the Person with Everything

1.      Consider experiences instead of ‘things’

If the person that you’re shopping for has everything, then ‘things’ are pretty much out of the equation. So, what do you give if you can’t give things? You give an experience (and, FYI, a crisp high five probably won’t cut it).

Yeah, the experiences we’re talking about are specially-organised events that give people an opportunity to do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do. If the person you’re buying for is a petrol-head, give them the opportunity to drive a supercar. Do they already own a Ferrari? How about a 45-minute flying lesson, then?

You’d be surprised at just how many interesting experiences there are out there. They can go from the relaxing – like steam train rides, massages, and vineyard tours – to being more adrenaline-filled than a lotto winner on a rollercoaster – think paintballing, helicopter rides, and escape rooms!

2.      Choose something personalised for extra meaning

People that seem to have everything usually buy things for themselves… or they have loads of gift-giving friends that just get them. Either way, they pretty much own everything that can be bought from a shop. So, you need to get them something unique – something that’s one-of-a-kind. See where we’re going with this? Yep, you need to get them something that’s more personal than an office rumour started by the guy you accidentally spilled coffee on that one time.

Personalised gifts are items that, for starters, are either really useful or really good to look at. They’re things that you typically wouldn’t buy yourself. Then, to make them more sentimental than the climax of an Ashton Kutcher movie, you can add something special to them, like a name or unique message.

Personalised gifts mean so much more than regular items because they say how much you care… like, literally. So, if you’re looking for a gift that is not only out-of-the-ordinary but is completely unique (and super-memorable… yay for Brownie Points!), personalised gifts might just be your new best friend. (Ah, sorry, office-rumour-guy, you’ve been ousted).

3.      Go quirky

At the risk of sounding like a broken record (and clearly someone who’s old enough to remember what broken records sound like), people who have everything usually have everything because they buy the things they want.

So, here’s a simple way to approach gift shopping for them: buy them something they don’t want. We’re not talking about a dusty doily from the charity shop on the corner. We’re talking about quirky gifts!

Quirky gifts are often things that have very little use other than making you smile. Like chihuahuas. We joke because we love. Point is, quirky gifts come so far out of left field that they make an impact, make you a memorable gift giver, and give the recipient something to bring out at parties to create an atmosphere… of awkwardness. Again, we joke because we love.

Quirky gifts can be anything from annoyingly squawky rubber chickens to novelty books to mildly offensive card games to tongue-in-cheek risqué toys. Of course, these are usually better coming from someone who’s a good friend… or, you know, remember that awkward atmosphere we mentioned? Yeah, that.

4.      Shop by category

Some gifting sites like… hmmm, off the tops of our heads… Menkind allow you to search for gifts based on the person you’re buying for. And, this goes far beyond gifts for him and her.

Category-based gift shopping allows you to filter results based on the type of person you’re shopping for, the type of gift you’d like to give, the interests of the person, and the occasion.

So, you can target gifts for grandma or a brother, go straight after funny gifts or maybe romantic gifts, find jewellery or unusual gifts, or see only best man gifts, Mother’s Day gifts, or christening gifts, for example.

Category shopping essentially lets you whittle down the choices to arrive at a gift that’s perfect for the person you’re giving it to. It’s like when you can’t decide what to eat at a restaurant and you ask the waiter what they think you’d like… except the answers are far more tailored and come with less sass.

5.      Think of licensed products

Licensed products are basically merchandise centred on famous brands or pop culture. So, say the person you’re shopping for is a major Marvel fan. Maybe they have all of the Marvel movies going back to Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man. But, do they have a Captain Marvel Pop! Vinyl or a Deadpool drinks bottle? How about an Infinity Gauntlet speaker or a Captain America bathrobe?

Super heroes aside, there are loads of awesome, licensed products to choose from that range from a Slush Puppie machine to a Jelly Belly massage bean to a Lamborghini RC car, for example. So, if you know the person you’re shopping for is a fan of something, licensed products may help you come up with an especially thoughtful gift.

OK, so where do I get all of this amazing stuff?

So, you know those friends that tell you all about a secret funfair they found where kangaroos ride unicycles and juggle flaming lasagne… but then won’t tell you where it is? Yeah, that’s not us. We’re not going to drop all this helpful knowledge on you and then blindfold you, spin you around, and wish you the best of luck.

Instead, we’ll tell you exactly where you can find all of the things we mentioned above. Which, incidentally, is right on our site!

Think you know someone that would love an experience instead of another pair of socks? Check out our gift experiences!

Want to give a gift that’s unique and personal? Explore our personalised gifts!

Looking for something quirky? Try funny gifts for her, funny gifts for him, and our toys and games range!

If you’re after categories, you can find those right at the top of our homepage, menkind.co.uk.

As for licensed products, we mentioned a bunch of them, but you’ll find even more on our gifts for geeks page!

The Golden Rule of Gifting

We spent 12 years learning gifting enlightenment through inner exploration and external turmoil at a hidden temple in Tibetyoucantellwe’refullofit. Yeah, we didn’t. We actually have something way better: experience.

Through being an innovative retailer for way longer than Justin Bieber’s been a thing, we have learned that the secret to gifting lies in the receiver. Don’t try to overwhelm them with the most expensive thing you can find, and don’t try to go so unique that they don’t understand the gift. Instead, think of the kind of person they are and what they’ll like, and give them something you think they’ll love.

If you put in the time and effort to really consider the person you’re buying for, you’ll find that even the person that ‘has everything’ can be truly surprised and elated by the gift you come up with. We learned that from the gifting monks, but we’ll claim it as our own!