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Gifts for someone who has everything: 14 ideas you can’t buy in a shop
Finding gifts for someone who has everything is one of the hardest jobs of the year. They’ve got the watch, the perfume, the latest gadget. And if you ask what they want, they say “nothing, honestly”.
The trick is to stop looking for things and start looking for moments: the only thing they don’t have is what isn’t for sale. Here are 14 ideas that work for exactly that reason.
Gifts with memories: the one thing they don’t have
Someone who has everything doesn’t need more objects. What they’re missing is seeing, all together, the moments they’ve shared with the people they love.
our favourite
1. Their conversations, turned into a book
The chat with their children, their partner or their oldest friends is full of things they’d never print: the good mornings, photos of the grandchildren, voice notes, the running jokes.
With a personalised message book you turn that chat into a book with photos, chapters by date and the voice notes and videos in QR codes. There’s no way they already have it, because it didn’t exist until you made it.
If several siblings give it together, each of you can keep a copy with 20% off.
A letter from each important person
Ask children, friends and colleagues to write them a letter. Together in a box, they’re worth more than any object.
A video full of messages
A minute from each person who loves them, edited into one video. To watch at dinner.
Experiences instead of things
Something nobody has given them
A wine tasting, a cooking class, a hot-air balloon ride. Ask yourself what they’d do with a free afternoon.
A return to an important place
The village where they spent childhood summers, the city where they met their partner. A trip that means something.
A meal with everyone
Bringing together the family or friends they rarely see. For someone who has everything, time with their people is the real luxury.
Personalised touches that land
Their favourite thing, upgraded
If they love coffee, speciality beans from their favourite country. If they read, a first edition of their favourite book.
An old photo, restored
That wedding or youth photo, restored and properly framed.
Their recipe or saying, engraved
On a chopping board, a mug or a frame. Something of theirs that becomes the whole family’s.
What works best
- Memories money can’t buy.
- Time with the people they love.
- Something made just for them.
- Group gifts that mean something.
What to avoid
- Another version of what they own: the wallet, the watch, the perfume.
- Gadgets they didn’t ask for: they end up in a drawer.
- A plain gift card: it looks like you didn’t think.
Keep reading
- Gift ideas for grandparents
- Gift ideas for mum
- Retirement gift ideas
- Personalised gift ideas
- How to keep the messages of a loved one
Frequently asked questions
What do you buy someone who has everything?
Something that isn’t for sale: a book of their conversations with family, letters from the people who love them, a new experience or time together. The only thing they don’t have is what’s made with them in mind.
What to get a man who has everything?
Memories (a book of the chat with his children or friends), experiences (a tasting, a meaningful trip) and objects that upgrade something he already loves work really well.
What to get a woman who has everything?
The same: personal before expensive. A book of your conversations, a letter from each important person or a plan she’s been wanting to do for ages.
What do you give someone who says they don’t want anything?
A gift that takes up no space and moves them: a video of messages, a meal with everyone or your conversations turned into a book.
They have everything. Except their story, on paper.
