what to gift them based on how long you've been friends
what to gift them based on how long you've been friends
the grayscale of platonic relationships
🕊️ Ceasefire Now in Gaza 🕊️
An annual subscription is on sale for $60 ($5/month) this week.
If you need a gift “on time”, check out The Molehill thread for reader-submitted ideas. And add yours :)
I thought long and hard about how to approach “gift guide” content this year. Because the vibes really shifted this year: gift guides are now more than ever a presumed part of anyone’s *online personal brand.* I think the product review/recommendation space is changing; we want personal recs from people we relate to or wish to emulate in some way. We’ve been moving away from the Wirecutter era, which is now just all Amazon affiliate links anyways…
And then there’s the lol moment of reading the “gifts for xyz person in your life” that tries so hard to be hyperniche but it’s all the same bathrobes and drunk elephant drops and stanley cups for [insert maternal-coded figure here]. If you don’t have a diptyque type mom then these gift guides just feel very useless and kind of alienating even??
Anyways. I present to you a gift guide for friends. It’s a riff on the “what to get him based on how long you’ve dating” genre of article. Because gifts communicate things. Feelings. Intentions. I think platonic relationships are just as complex and layered, so let’s break down what Types of Friends this guide will cover:
I also think most gift guides are wildly unrealistic for most budgets, considering the number of people on a typical gift list. Most of my picks are under $25.
Hair accessories and hand lotion is safe here cause you don’t know them that well yet. If we’re being honest, these are things they can regift to their other "coffee twice and dinner once” friend if it’s not their vibe. Caterpillar imagery foreshadows a potentially new friendship.
If you both added each other to CF, it’s a sign you want to show more of your authentic self to this person. Some *fancy* little things reflect that you are serious about this friendship.
If they’ve picked you up from your Kaiser appointment, they’re a REAL ONE. A bona fide sweetie and lover. You guys have an established comfort with each other and can talk about your GI problems and mental illnesses openly.
Congratulations, you found your ride or die. These things make their lives more comfortable and beautiful. Fingerless gloves so they can stay cozy while you text each other innermost thoughts that can never be shared publicly.
Things have changed but you want to honor what you once were to each other. Gourmet snacks and a neutral Baggu strike the a balance of “thinking of you from…afar.”
Things just aren’t the same anymore. Not necessarily a friendship breakup, but you no longer feel like you can be your full self around this person. Or maybe they turned into a raging narcissist but they’re still in your life. A bottle of translucent jelly nail polish to project your internal sense of *clarity* and (1) clip from this collection of Lepidoptera order insects. The idea is you buy the pack, give them one and split the other two as nicety gifts for cousins and such. JUST TELLING IT LIKE IT IS!
