The Late-Romantic dot com Gift Guide – A Friend Who’s in a Different Financial Situation To You

We all have friends we navigate tricky waters with – maybe they’re coupled up and their finances are entangled with somebody else’s, maybe they have a better-paid job than you, or are freelance and their income is intermittent, but we all have somebody in our lives for whom buying a wrongly-priced gift will send the wrong message; somebody we care about but don’t want to chat financials with due to awkwardness.

• A night out together. This could be gig tickets, a box at the theatre or a ‘coupon’ for dinner and drinks at somewhere of your choosing (from a Spoons to a bottomless brunch, just name it on the homemade voucher), but the idea that the gift is for you to do together alleviates the financial pressure because it’s half for you and therefore you’re not too good or better than it. This is a person you want in your life, so you choose the place and they can choose the date and you can ignore finances for one day.
• A hamper of nice things. The joy of homemade hampers is you can disguise the cost of things – whether you’re treating your friend to fancy wine or filling it with Lidl charcuterie, the joy of the hamper is you anticipating the things they’ll like.
• A night IN together… think facepacks, a DVD, magazines, fluffy slippers, Waitrose’s finest pizzas and some treats to munch as you gossip. Think good old fashioned sleepover territory (and, dudes, you are not immune to this – a little skincare on a war movies night with the bros will be a good laugh, and everybody wants baby-soft skin)
• Something for them to enjoy with somebody else: a bottle of wine and two steaks, theatre vouchers, a food tour of their city. They can choose to do it with you, with their spouse, with another friend. Make it clear you just want them to have a nice time and take some time for themselves.
• THE BOOK: A cookbook, something like this, or this – the idea is you’re encouraging somebody to spend time on themselves. You could throw in one of the more unusual ingredients in an Ottolenghi or buy some nice Tupperware so that they can batch cook, but cooking is a pleasure that can be bent to your price point and you can both cook the same recipes with different ingredients if you want.