I'm pretty good at buying gifts. It can be a lot easier than you think actually, an easy brownie point accumulator...
If it's an old woman, 90% of the time something involving lavander goes down a treat.
If it's a middle aged woman, or indeed most women, a voucher for a day's pampering at a beauty salon is a safe bet.
Quite often, nick-nacks that I would find totally useless and hate to be given are the exact things some people really appreciate. It's quite bizarre... I once got this jubilee commemoration plate, you know the sorts with the gilded edges and stuff? It was given to me as a 'reward' for participating in a community project, given to me by the mayor. I thought 'wtf am I gonna do with THAT? It's too delicate to eat off, and I wouldn't really wanna display it, not my style at all'. On the way home I popped into my godmother's house just to say hi and noticed birthday cards on the windowsill. Shit, I thought, I forgot! Then I had an idea - "Here, this is for you" said I, thrusting the posh looking box towards her. She had tears in her eyes minutes later, and ever since it's been displayed on her mantle piece.
I once forgot my sister's birthday and just went to the closest store to quickly find whatever I could so I could post it in time for it to get there the next day. I figured, she likes self-sufficiency and making her own stuff, so when I spotted a 'make your own ginger ale' kit, I thought hey, that's our baby! So i got home, put it in a box along with a jar of our recently homemade jam with a label I knocked up on the PC in five minutes calling it "Kate's Happy Birthday Jam", and the next day I had a phone call from my sister, in tears and calling it "The most thoughtful present ever!"
That's blagging it.
I often see people in shops and at market stalls, browsing and fawning over stuff that I would personally sweep up and take to the tip. I take in the general ambience of these people and compare it to others I know and make mental notes... hmm, so Yvonne is the kind of person who'd really appreciate a tacky picture of a horse with a soppy slogan underneath...
But usually what I do is think of the first thing that pops into my mind about that person - okay, the first
flattering thing - then go to a store where people like them tend to go, and I look around for stuff that just puts me in mind of them. I guess it's a typical Ne way of going about things - just look around and the ether will provide you with the answers.
If you can give me an idea Xander of who it is you're buying a gift for, I could help you brainstorm. That's the thing I do when I really want to put more thought into it. I'll say to a friend who knows the person, "what should I get for them?" and usually the stuff they suggest is crap, but that helps me narrow it down and my reasons I think of for why their suggestions are crap help me to figure out a good suggestion.