There’s always a saying, an exaggerated expression of exasperation, that has annoyed me: “What do you get for the man who has everything?”
The fundamental flaw in this question is that it ignores a very important fact: He who has everything is probably rich, and you should never feel it all. that Understand what they get. If you tell me you agonize over what to get a rich man, I ask you to reevaluate your priorities. Rich people have enough money to buy whatever they want.
But since rich people, and people celebrate birthdays, holidays and milestones with gifts, there will sometimes be a rare occasion when someone needs to give them a gift. And resentment moves from imaginary frustration to real resentment.
That’s when people, mostly wealthy, call giftaryA bespoke gifting concierge that helps clients choose the perfect gift for the world’s richest, famous and loved ones.
Giftery is the creation of Alice Nach and Mean Polly. They came to me highly recommended by a few celebrity personal assistants. Whether the recipient is an avid golfer or a newborn Napo child, Nach & Polly will find just the thing. I spoke with Notch about the difference between good and bad gifts, what they’ve learned from giving gifts to the hardest people to buy for, how we — the rules — translate into the gifts we give this holiday season, and of course, the most absurd celebrity requests they’ve made. have ever taken.
Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Alex Abad-Santos: I asked a friend of mine who works as a celebrity personal assistant to ask her colleagues and they all recommended Gifterie. And now I’m here to ask you, the experts, what to get people — like celebrities — who have everything.
Alice Dance: As a company we’re used to dealing with a variety of requests, whether it’s very specific, like, “Blake Lively is having another baby. We have to send something he doesn’t have,” from [working with] Amazon, when they’re launching a new series and they want to send all their press and talent something fun.
When it comes to celebrity gifting or high-end clients who really have it all, we always say it’s more about feeling special — [showing] That’s what you think of it. Because they have a thousand scarves or they have thousands of different baby toys. Whether it’s engraving a baby’s name on a gift or sewing someone’s initials onto something, things like these seem to make a bigger impact with the recipient than other Hermès scarves.
Which again, is beautiful. Who doesn’t want to get it?
If anyone reads this, I won’t turn down a Hermes scarf.
Of course, neither do I. But the key to successful gift giving is to personalize it. That doesn’t mean it has to have their name on it, but just knowing the recipient well enough to say, “Okay, this person really loves X.”
That could be golf, or travel, or something like, “We know they’re going on a huge press tour,” so we want to get them something to carry their stuff. This is something you can keep at home — think about the conversations you’ve had with this person and what they’re talking about. It’s just so much more thoughtful.
How much do you need to know about the recipient to feel confident that you can give a good gift? You’re getting great gifts for people you may never meet.
We have some clients that we work with constantly, and they just email us and they’ll say, so—usually, an actor or a director or someone who works on one of their shows—has a birthday or a baby, and we want to send something.
Whether the budget is $150 or $5,000, our team will dig in and do a little deep internet dive on these people, and see if we can find something they like or are interested in. We’ll do a little digging and find out, like, “Okay, this person seems to really like backpacking.” And we’d recommend things outside.
We’re really trying to find what’s cool, what brands are trendy, quality brands in a variety of categories.
It’s not necessarily that we need to know a certain amount of information about the people we’re giving gifts to, the more we know, the better, right? If you receive a thoughtful gift, it’s because someone really thought of you and took the time to think, “What would this person like?”
I think what you’re getting at – and perhaps this is the key to all gift giving – it just comes down to thoughtfulness. Showing someone you care about them.
Our website has this quote: “Happiness comes not from what you get, but from what you give.” This is basically our motto. Whether they’re going through something rough or they’re celebrating an amazing milestone, giving people something that has thought behind it and brings them joy is always the best part.
When it comes from someone else, it’s an extra level of excitement that someone else got it for you. You didn’t buy it for yourself; Someone took the time to think about you. It’s just a beautiful feeling.
If you receive a thoughtful gift, it’s because someone really thought of you and took the time to think, “What would this person like?”
I know we’re talking high-end clients and the very wealthy, but do you need a big budget to get people thoughtful gifts?
It’s not how much something costs, but how much thought you put into it and made it feel special.
Presentation is also a big factor. How we wrap gifts — adding dried flowers, the type of ribbon you use, the paper, etc. — we think about taking it to another level rather than just sticking it in a box. We get a lot of feedback from recipients that the gift was so beautifully wrapped that they didn’t even want to open it. And then opening it up and finding something so beautiful inside is also a really nice touch.
So for people giving gifts who don’t have a big celebrity budget, you can still wrap it up really nicely and make it feel classy and special. You can get Michael’s stuff. It doesn’t have to be from fancy places online. And when you get a gift like that, it feels like someone put extra thought into it.
Are there any gift ideas people should avoid?
ice cream
But that’s a nice gift!
Have you tried shipping it? We did it, but it’s a nightmare and very stressful. I would avoid anything super perishable. That would definitely be number one. If you know you’re not going to make it overnight, if it’s something that can’t be offered locally, then I’d probably skip the meal.
Are there polarizing foods that are no-gos? raisins? I hate raisins.
No, we don’t usually include raisins. I mean, how to say this? Perhaps avoid the cheese which is … you know … stronger. But really, avoid perishables.
With very breakable gifts, make sure they are padded and properly packaged One of the worst things to do is send someone a gift and have something appear broken.
Just save your money. People will love a card or gift card, if you don’t put a lot of thought into it.
Is there such a thing as a bad gift?
I just think being generic just shows you didn’t put any thought into it. You know what I mean?
Just save your money. People will love a card or gift card, if you don’t put a lot of thought into it.
Do you have a gift for someone who is notoriously difficult to buy for?
Sometimes when it’s something to celebrate, like someone winning an Emmy – it can be a difficult gift. For gifts like this, we’ll do a nice bottle of champagne and we’ll engrave “Congratulations on your Emmy win” with their name or date on the bottle. It’s something they can drink, but they can put it on a shelf and always look at it as another trophy. It’s a thoughtful way to enhance a bottle of champagne or their favorite wine.
If you know they like a particular whiskey, or a nice bottle of champagne, or a really expensive bottle of wine, and it’s for the person who has everything – it always feels good because you’re getting them something they love, they must have at some point. will drink it.
What is the most difficult request you have ever received?
Okay, so no naming.
I totally want to name you names but I understand.
We got a request from an assistant at a record label: “Coming like this. They are really big. We really need a welcome or thank you gift basket for them. Can you spend X amount and put all these things together?”
We said sure, and we could do something nice — a basket of wine, cheese, And this is all fresh produce. And the assistant was like, “Can you get it here by 2 p.m.?” And this was like 10:30 in the morning.
From the valley to Santa Monica is not easy. It’s about a 45-minute drive at 2 o’clock, and longer with traffic. We visited all of our favorite stores, curating this fantastic gift, but were running out of time to get the place.
The assistant kept texting and emailing us, asking when we were going to be there. And he meets Min on the side of the 405, not like the actual freeway – they exit and leave the freeway – but they meet halfway and he delivers the gift. Time constraints made this the craziest request. We were like chickens trying to cut off their heads.
We never want to say no to anything—we do every once in a while—but sometimes we’re like, “Oh, that would be so fun.”
Getting something special every time seems incredibly stressful. I only have five friends and I’m already worried about Christmas. But you turned that pressure into a business.
It’s exciting because every day we’re working on different things. We love answering odd requests and difficult calls. We love something really random and unique. We love figuring it all out.
We come up with unique ideas, be it for one person or 100 people. Because if it’s the same thing, we’ll have an automated website and people will pick from it and that’s it.
A website full of generic non-perishable cheese boards.
exactly
