The perfect personalized Valentine’s Day gift is all about knowing and understanding the person you are getting a gift for. A thoughtful Valentine’s Day gift goes above and beyond generic gifts and enters the realm of intimacy and connection. We’ll walk you through a step-by-step process to come up with the perfect gift for your loved one, with many strategies to inspire you. This framework will have the most success for people you love and know well, but you can still use this process to level up your gifts for people you know less intimately, like acquaintances or coworkers. A thoughtful gift takes time and effort, but the receiver can feel the love and personalization, which makes it all the more special and enjoyable.
I. The Philosophy of Gift Giving & the Brainstorming Phase
First, we want to get into the headspace of gift-giving. To find the perfect gift, focus on the recipient’s passions rather than generic items. To unlock these ideas, use a Brainstorming Web. What do you know about the person? What images, words, or values come to mind?
Brainstorming Webs put the person in the center of the idea, and your associations and knowledge of their interests, hobbies, their favorite colors, career, and lifestyle branch out to help you find common themes and crossovers. You can create a brainstorming web with paper and pen, or by using an online platform like Milanote or Canva –these tools do a great job of incorporating both text and visuals for your brainstorming web. If you prefer a visual representation, you can create an image-based mood board on Pinterest or a saved folder on Instagram.
As you scroll or think about the person, you can add ideas. These don’t need to be literal gifts or objects, it can be images that evoke the feeling of that person. Someone you admire may remind you of the strength of a mountain or the reliability of the ocean tide. These themes can help you hone in on the philosophy of thoughtful gift-giving. The best personalized gifts for Valentine’s Day demonstrate a deep understanding of the person you’re buying the gift for. This is only the very beginning of your brainstorming, so no concept is too vague or intangible. Keep your web broad, which will help you connect the dots later.
II. Thoughtful Gift Giving Frameworks and Categories – the 5 Gift Rule and What Doesn’t Make a Good Present
The 5-Gift Rule covers five helpful categories as follows to get your ideas flowing:
- Something they want: A long-desired item you may have heard them talk about. Such as a piece of jewelry, a fun electronic, a board game, or any other item that is just-for-fun
- Something they need: A practical item like a new waterbottle, a sleek but functional raincoat, or umbrella.
- Something to wear: Clothing or accessories such as winter boots, a beautiful sweater, or soft pajamas.
- Something to read: the next book in their favorite series, or their favorite book in a special edition, a subscription to Everand for audiobooks, or a magazine on a hobby of theirs if they enjoy physical media.
- Something to experience: like going to a concert together, a gift certificate to a local spa.
If you needed to get a gift for each category, what would you pick? Identifying something from each category may help you hone in on the perfect personalized valentines day gift. I recently got a friend a day pass for sauna and cold plunge, which is a fun trendy gift! You can show how well you know them by picking even a practical item in their favorite color, or that suits their commute or would make them more comfortable day in and day out.
My only caveat is that for Valentine’s Day, something they need may not be the most romantic. I suggest that you don’t get your loved ones objects that are for the household, like a vacuum or lawnmower. Sometimes coming up with a reverse mind map –what would be a bad gift for them? Can help you find out what they would love. Are they someone who loves minimalism and a clutter-free home?
Instead of giving them more items, you can still spoil them with the gift of handmade, fresh, gourmet chocolate-covered caramels from Santa Ana Sweets –we even offer custom boxes if you’re looking to buy thoughtful Valentine’s gifts for 25 or more people, like your coworkers or extended family. Small business made candies make for an extra thoughtful gift to elevate the gift of sweets above mass-manufactured chocolate from the grocery store.
III. Gift Categories & Genres to Refine Your Choice
Let’s break out into some different categories of gifts, maybe one of these themes will help you think differently about a gift to make it more personal and thoughtful.
1. Personalized & Sentimental
Few gifts do better than something personalized and sentimental. Engravings on jewelry, watches, or keychains will have your loved one carrying you with them wherever they go. A beautiful, high-quality frame of your favorite wedding or honeymoon photo shows how much you value your love and experiences together. Photo gifts can also be excellent for family members. Parents and grandparents love to see your smiling faces together. Services like Shutterfly make it so easy to get high-quality prints or objects that display your favorite photos.
Beyond photos, you can now get custom artwork made out of your memories through services like Lime&Lou. It is so fun to see how creative you can get by turning a picture of you walking on the beach into a beautiful watercolor. However, let’s never forget that you don’t have to spend money to show you love someone. Love letters, poems or songs have lasted the test of time, but if that’s too sappy for your taste, you can always pull in inside jokes!
2. Experience & Hobby-Based
Ok, hear me out, what if the gift you get your loved one is fun for you too?! Do you have a shared favorite musician or cuisine? Your loved ones want to spend time with you! If eating tacos every Tuesday is your tradition, what if you mix it up and buy a couple’s cooking class package where you learn to prepare the perfect carne asada and margaritas? If you’ve always talked about going to see Hamilton on Broadway but can’t manage the trip to New York City, can you see if the traveling show is coming to a city near you? Gifts like these show not only that you’re paying attention to what they love and that you care to think outside the box, they also give you the gift of time together.
3. Food, Wellness, & Cozy Gifts
I have a good friend who said her favorite gift is something cozy. February can be one of the coldest and snowiest months in the northern hemisphere. Sometimes, something that can help you snuggle up is the perfect gift. This is where plush blankets to replace the worn-out fleece throw, soft, high-quality socks, and robes or pajamas make a perfect gift for the introvert or homebody in your life. On top of that, you can help them treat themselves with skincare products like face masks and luxurious lotions or massage tools. These kinds of gifts always help you feel pampered. And nothing quite says treat like the luxurious Santa Ana Sweets caramels to add to a gift basket for that upscale indulgence.
4. Just for Kids
Personalized Valentine’s Day gifts for kids can be so fun to pick out. Kids are creative, and the child you know may love supplies for making Valentine’s cards or jewelry together with a DIY craft kit. Books and toys that help them explore their imagination can be the most thoughtful gifts, especially when you think about what they love. Kids who are very active may want to try a rock climbing or dance class. Remembering their niche hobbies or interests is a great way to show how much you care.
IV: Love Languages as a Gift Guide
Have you heard of the five love languages? This can be a great place to bring your ideas together. Maybe you’ve talked to your partner about their love language, maybe by reading about them, you’ll get a sense of what they most appreciate. We all experience and appreciate love a little differently, and the love languages can help translate your love to your partner. Here I’ll break down what they mean and provide examples of how they can inspire a great Valentine’s Day gift.
Words of Affirmation – your person feels most loved when you tell them how you feel. Saying “I love you”, and complimenting or thanking them regularly makes them feel appreciated and special. Those who resonate with words of affirmation as a love language enjoy letters, cards, when you say “this is our song” when you play what you danced to at your wedding. Someone whose love language is Words of Affirmation may really appreciate a chance to get to know one another better through discussion topics like those provided in this game. Not only does this show you want to talk to them, hear them, and praise them, it also ties into our next love language, quality time.
Quality Time -the lover of quality time knows time is finite, and feels your attention as love. Someone who wants quality time together can be a great candidate for season passes to a local sports team you both like, cooking or dance classes, board games or really anything that draws the two of you together in a way that is thoughtful. True quality time involves bonding over shared interests and meaningful connection.
Receiving Gifts -Personalized Valentine’s Day gifts are right up this person’s alley! Those who feel the love when they receive a gift love that you put foresight, care and planning into your gift for them. A gift can show just how well you know and love them by picking out something that appeals to their personality and interests. A themed gift basket that has many mini-gifts is often very popular with those who love to receive. They don’t have to be splashy to make a big impact. This person wants a gift that is ready on time for Valentine’s Day and very heartfelt to feel extra loved.
Acts of Service -What can you do for this person? Can you make them a beautiful dinner (including the dishes!), or get their car detailed? The act of service lover can really enjoy the unexpected. A little extra thought into what would make their life easier, more beautiful and more comfortable. Elevated options include planting their favorite fruit tree in your yard and caring for it all year long, painting their bedroom the beautiful color they always wanted it to be, or even as large-scale as installing a skylight that shines on their favorite reading chair. You can show your love by doing.
Physical Touch -Massage (by you or a professional), a trip to the hot springs, a shared bubble bath, and any physical affection hold the heart of the person with this love language. Your partner wants to be physically close to you, and may love a salsa dance class, or trying out any couples’ physical adventure like acro-yoga. For the loved one who likes to stay closer to home, you can build a fire in the backyard with hot cocoa and lawn chairs pulled close to watch the flames and hold hands.
Love languages are often in combination, so imagining all the times your loved one lit up is a great place to start.
Bring it all Together!
I hope brainstorming together by remembering what you love about someone helped you come up with the perfect personalized Valentine’s Day gift. Categorizing gift ideas, thinking of their hobbies, and unique attributes will give you gift ideas for years to come! A blend of classic romance (flowers, jewelry, luxurious chocolate-covered caramels) and thoughtful gestures always make the most appreciated gift. By really thinking about your love for someone and what makes them special, they will feel extra spoiled this Valentine’s Day.
If you need more ideas for the perfect Valentine’s Day gift you can get more ideas with our article 20 Fun and Romantic Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas
