A great gift should have one of these three qualities

And not one of them is "expensive." Everyone has received a present so bizarre and borderline useless that you question whether the gift giver actually knows you at all. Maybe you are that person from time to time! (No judgment.) In the season of gift-giving, I found Eliza Brooke’s [guide to conceiving of a memorable present]( to be both utilitarian and hilarious. This quote from New Yorker staff writer Helen Rosner made me laugh out loud: “I’ve always believed that literally anything on earth, any object, any piece of trash, anything you find in a store, can be a perfect gift.” It’s true! Some of the most thoughtful and memorable presents I’ve ever gotten have been [weird T-shirts]( or a unique camera strap. The gifts were neither expensive nor groundbreaking, but it proved the givers knew me well — my personality and my needs. Eliza’s piece is full of great advice on how to be the best at giving presents, like keeping a running list all year. People love to complain about what they need and don’t have! Write it down! Spend some time with the story and start making your shopping lists. —[Allie Volpe](, senior reporter   How to give a truly excellent gift [A person opening a gift]( Getty Images It’s a special kind of agony to realize, while exchanging gifts with someone, that they got you something way, way better than what you got them. A few years ago, I bought for my partner what I thought was a perfect anniversary gift: a bulk order of astronaut ice cream. In many ways, I nailed it. He loves freeze-dried ice cream, which you rarely see in the wild outside of science museums, and I had gotten a comical number of packages. The problem is that his gift for me was an all-timer, a miniature painting that he had commissioned from an artist who specializes in painstakingly detailed watercolors. He had worked on it for months, and the image illustrated my favorite Google search: “[owls kissing](.” (Saccharine, I know, but I dare you to find me anything cuter.) Astronaut ice cream would have been an amazing present if given on a random Tuesday, but the occasion and the wild discrepancy between our gifts was hilarious and vaguely horrifying. I do believe that intention matters more than execution with gifts — that it doesn’t really matter what you give someone, as long as you put thought and love into it — but sometimes it would be nice to get a do-over. This holiday season, I am out for blood, and by blood, I mean really good presents. Is transforming myself into the best gift-giver of all time too much to ask? Probably. In the interest of merely learning how to give better presents, I turned to several experts in the arts of gift-giving and etiquette, who shared their tactics and frameworks for gathering ideas and getting in a creative mindset. [Read the full story »](  [Learn more about RevenueStripe...](   It’s the holidays. Be nice to the workers trying to help you. The awful American consumer gets extra awful during the holidays. [Read the full story »](   Support our journalism We aim to explain what we buy, why we buy it, and why it matters. Support our mission by making a gift today. [Yes, I'll make a gift](   How Instagram turned a Holocaust memoir into a self-help manifesto Inspo from Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl’s iconic book, can be found on wellness accounts, on Pinterest, and as merch. But what gets lost in the appropriation? [Read the full story »](   More good stuff to read today - [One secret to cheap travel? Pet sitting.]( - [Crypto probably isn't dead, but should it be?]( - [Holiday scam email season is here. Don’t fall for it.]( - [The 25 best movies of 2022](  [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Manage your [email preferences]( or [unsubscribe](param=goods). If you value Vox’s unique explanatory journalism, support our work with a one-time or recurring [contribution](. View our [Privacy Policy]( and our [Terms of Service](. Vox Media, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Floor 12, Washington, DC 20036. Copyright © 2022. All rights reserved.