I have a bit of an obsession with finding people the perfect gift. I think I have been fairly good at it when I can afford to be. Not to say that you have to have a lot of money to buy the perfect present, but sometimes I have found the right thing at the wrong time financially.
When picking a present I think about who I am buying for, and try to be very particular about things they like and don’t like. For example, I have one friend who gets very into her TV shows and we have shows that we specifically watch together or ones that she has been obsessed with since I met her in elementary school. I know that if I go out and buy her a Sunnydale school hoodie, the school from Buffy, she will love it, (and she did, I got it for her last year). But, I have other friends that get into shows, but are not into merch for those shows. So, with them I have to think well what are their interests right now, one year my friend Julie was really into nails, so I got her an at home gel nail kit, my friend Lina is obsessed with robots so I got her robot that you can build and program yourself.
The difficult people however are the ones that buy themselves whatever they need, my boyfriend can be this way. So, I will try to take note of the things that he wants so that come December anything he hasn’t remembered to buy go straight on the list. Another thing I have done is keep note of things they have been into in the past, for example Joe used to be into video games, he still has the consoles but he never plays, but I knew there were games he had that broke or he wanted but never got, so I got those for his stocking last year and he loved it. He doesn’t play them much, but the joy he had when he opened them made it worth it!
I start making my Christmas list very early this gives me a head start because sometimes I may think I have a great gift for one person and then change my mind on it, but realize it actually might be perfect for someone else, I have done this so many times!
I hope this was helpful! Good luck shopping!