--- title: The Best and Worst Holiday Gifts You Can Give description: Wondering how to give the best holiday gifts? These are the do's and don'ts of gift-giving, according to science canonical: https://time.com/5060375/best-holiday-gifts-science/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-13T15:23:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:32:16.997Z article:section: Health og:title: The Best (and Worst) Holiday Gifts, According to Science og:description: Some tips that will be sure to please og:url: https://time.com/5060375/best-holiday-gifts-science/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2136bed9a19720b3/6988f516656a3ff35bbd2d96/xmas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 6000 og:image:height: 3375 og:image:alt: High Angle View Of Wrapped Christmas Present On Red Background og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Best (and Worst) Holiday Gifts, According to Science twitter:description: Some tips that will be sure to please twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2136bed9a19720b3/6988f516656a3ff35bbd2d96/xmas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Best (and Worst) Holiday Gifts, According to Science > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Dec 13, 2017 3:23 PM UTC  Josette Taylor / EyeEm—Getty Images/EyeEm  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Dec 13, 2017 3:23 PM UTC ‘Tis the season—of scrambling to finish your holiday shopping before the big day. If you’re still looking for some last-minute holiday gifts, there’s a better way to find inspiration than scouring gift guides and mall displays. Here are four types of gifts that, according to science, you should give this year —and three you shouldn’t. ## Don’t: Splurge on something flashy. It may feel like a faux pas to pick a holiday gift from the clearance section, but research suggests it’s the item—not the price tag—that matters most. While gift-givers tend to think their choices will land better if they’re expensive, research published in the [_Journal of Experimental Social Psychology_](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103108002175) didn’t back that up. In fact, there was no clear correlation between present price and recipient satisfaction. ## Don’t: Give gifts on their behalf. Making a charitable donation in a friend or family member’s name may seem like the perfect holiday gift: Your spending goes to a worthy cause, and the recipient gets a gift they feel good about. A [2015 study published in the journal _Organizational Behavior and Human Decisions_](http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/doing+good%5F88625fed-e055-43f1-9fde-eebd70257153.pdf)_,_ however, poked a hole in that theory. While close friends or family members may appreciate a socially responsible holiday gift, researchers found that casual acquaintances often feel slighted by them, potentially because the selection focuses “on the symbolic meaning of the gift,” rather than on the recipient herself. ## Don’t: Dress up a bad gift. If you know a holiday gift is underwhelming, it may be tempting to overcompensate with big bows or fancy wrapping paper—but [data from the Association for Consumer Research](http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/v38/acr%5Fv38%5F16167.pdf) says that strategy may backfire. When people got a gift that they liked, the researchers found, attractive trappings slightly enhanced the experience. But when the gift itself was unsatisfactory—a science documentary, for the purposes of the study—wrapping actually worsened the recipients’ perception of the gift, likely because their expectations didn’t match reality. ## Do: Give people gifts that they want. A [study published in the _Journal of Experimental Social Psychology_](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103111000801#s0020) found that gift-givers overestimate the impact of a surprise gift. In fact, the study found that people tend to appreciate getting things they specifically asked for more than unsolicited presents. Make your life easy and stick to their holiday wish list. ## Do: Pick a gift card. Gift cards may seem like an impersonal or lazy holiday gift, but surveys have found that they’re actually a popular pick among gift recipients. A [survey conducted by the National Retail Federation](https://nrf.com/media/press-releases/early-promos-great-deals-put-traditional-gift-card-buyers-gift-wrapping-mode), for example, found that they were the most requested gift of 2015\. Want to keep it even simpler? [Other research has found](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103111000801#s0020) that people are perfectly happy to receive cash as a gift. ## Do: Give gifts that reflect your audience—and yourself. A [series of studies published in the _Journal of Experimental Social Psychology_](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103115000372) two years ago found, logically, that recipients prefer holiday gifts that reflect their own interests and hobbies. Interestingly, however, the researchers also found that “givers and receivers report greater feelings of closeness to their gift partner when the gift reflects the giver.” [Sharing a favorite book](http://time.com/5029600/top-10-non-fiction-books-2017/), garment or keepsake with a loved one, then, may make the strongest impact in the long run. ## Do: Give gifts that will last. Everyday items, like kitchen gadgets or wardrobe staples, may not feel like slam-dunk gifts, but [a study published last year in _Current Directions in Psychological Science_](http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0963721416656937) found that people actually prefer presents they can use for months and years to come, rather than something that makes a statement right when it’s unwrapped. **Correction, Dec. 13:** _A previous version of this story mischaracterized the Association for Consumer Research. 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