How to Give Gifts in Stardew Valley

What Are Gifts in Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley’s unmentioned but obvious long-term mission is to establish relationships with the villagers in the game. This goes to the extent of even finding someone to marry.

As relationships are not made overnight and are not fortified without effort, frequent interactions with them are necessary. You have to help them–in form of quests–and talk to them however, you have to give the appropriate responses to them, or else, the relationship, not even starting, could burn down to the ground.

It is a widely-known fact that receiving something from another person makes you grow more fond of the giver. That being said, in Stardew Valley, giving gifts in Stardew Valley also help in increasing your friendship remarkably with people in the game. Knowing the way around the gift-giving mechanics of Stardew Valley impacts your experience in playing the game.

How to Give Gifts in Stardew Valley

The very act of handing a gift to your recipient is definitely as easy as it can get. Upon selecting and equipping (or it may be more appropriate to say that you have it in hand) the item you want to give, you just have to walk towards the character you would want to give a gift to. After reaching particular proximity with the character, you can hand it to them. Whenever you are about to give a gift, a wrapped gift will appear beside the recipient.

Once a townie received your gift, their responses could help you determine if they are pleased or not with the present you gave them. For you to find out more about what a certain villager would like and dislike, you can review their gift preferences by clicking them. You can also access the Gift Log wherein the gift preferences learned through the Secret Notes and conversations with their families and friends are listed. By taking note of what is up to their liking, you have a higher chance of leveling up your friendship sooner.

When to Give Gifts

In giving gifts in Stardew Valley to any of the villagers in Stardew Valley, it is wise to also consider what would be the best day for gifting. On a regular basis, you can give two gives in a week for each villager but not on the same day. Assuming that you have s spouse in the game already, you can give him/her a gift every day. 

There are special occasions that you should not miss giving gifts since the friendship points that you can gain multiply.

Birthday

One of the events in life that people would be glad to receive gifts the most is on their birthdays. The same goes for the townies of Stardew Valley. Gifting them on their birthdays multiplies the normal relationship point gain by 8. So, if you are determined to establish a good relationship with every villager, you might want to remember their birthdays and the gift they would love the most. If you are eyeing someone as your spouse, it would be a great opportunity to significantly take your relationship to the next level.

As a reminder, since the point will be multiplied by 8, you should be very careful not to pick a present they would despise. Else your relationship might go down the drain.

Feast of the Winter Star

On the 25th day of Winter which is also, almost, the end of the year, a secret gift-giving event is held in Pelican Town. As it is an event led by Mayor Lewis, he would be the one mailing you, the week before, who would be your gift recipient, providing you time to prepare for the gift. 

At this event, the friendship point gained will be multiplied by 5. And although it might be quite smaller on birthdays. Still, you should still become very vigilant about the gift you would give.

Types of Gifts

It was mentioned earlier that each villager differs in things they like and things they find a little…repulsing. The preferences, however, are ranked on how much they love or hate the items they receive.

Love

Loved gifts in Stardew Valley are the most preferred by a villager. Gifting them with the gifts that fall under their loved gifts grants you +80 points on your relationship meter. Having that said, it could greatly increase up to +640 on their birthdays and +400 during the Winter event.

Like

Following the Love Gifts are Like Gifts which upon gifting, adds 45 points to your friendship level. Therefore, on the Feast of the Winter Star, you could gain +225 points and +360 on their birthday.

Neutral

As the name itself implies, Neutral Gifts are those that are neither liked nor disliked by a villager. But, don’t be too discouraged since gifting them Neutral Gifts could still help you gain +20 friendship points; amounting to +100 and +160 points on the Winter 25th and birthdays, respectively. As the old saying goes, it is the thought that counts.

Dislike

Gifting was never bad but admit it, there are some things out there that you just wish you won’t ever receive…ever. That is also the case for Stardew residents. There are things, items, in the game that they would not be very happy to get from you–these are the Disliked Gifts. Giving them gifts they dislike diminishes your friendship level by -20. It could be a critical hit on your friendship level if you happen to give them their Disliked Gifts during the Winter Star and their birthdays.

Hate

The type of gifts you should be the wariest of are Hated Gifts since they could devastatingly decrease your friendship level with a villager by 40. And in that case, getting them these gifts, even with an honest mistake, during the Feast of Winter Star and their birthday could totally jeopardize your relationship with them; with -200 and -320 points respectively for the events.

Universal Gifts

In the case that you are a rookie player and still unfamiliar with the people in the game, there are go-to gifts, as well as gifts disliked by the majority–the Universal Gifts. Nevertheless, the Universal list of gifts might prove inaccurate since, as implied before, some villagers can have peculiar preferences. It is still best that you make yourself familiar with each character in the game.

Universal Loves

Universal Loves consists of items that almost every villager would love to receive from you. However, these items might be quite difficult to acquire. The list is comprised of the Golden Pumpkin, Magic Rock Candy, Pearl, Prismatic Shard, and Rabbit’s Foot.

Universal Likes

Since Universal Likes are worth a little over half of the friendship points gained from Universal Loves. Also, They are much easier to obtain. The list includes all Artisan Goods except Oil and Void Mayonnaise; all Cooking except for Fried Egg, Bread, Strange Bun, and Seafoam Pudding; Flowers except Poppy; Foraged Minerals except Quartz; Fruit Tree Fruits except Banana and Mango; all Gems except the Prismatic Shard; and all Vegetables except for Hops, Tea Leaves, Wheat, and Unmilled Rice. Life Elixir and Maple Syrup are also considered under the Universal Likes.

Universal Neutrals

On the other hand, items that will provide you with an unenthusiastic response from villagers includes Bread, Clam, Coral, Duck Feather, Fried Egg, Hops, Nautilus Shell, Rainbow Shell, Roe, Squid Ink, Sweet Gem Berry, Tea Leaves, Truffle, Wheat, and Wool.

Universal Dislikes

Gifts in Stardew Valley that are disliked by most of the villagers are Building Materials, Artifacts, Bombs, Crafted Floors and Paths, Fences, Fertilizer, Fish except for Clam, Carp, and Snails; Geode Materials, Seeds, Sprinklers, Tackle, and Metal Goods. The list still goes on with Cave Carrot, Driftwood, Field Snack, Jack-o-Lantern, Oak Resin, Oil, Pine Tar, Qi Fruit, Rice, Solar Essence, Spring Onion, Tea Set, Unmilled Rice, Vinegar, Void Egg, Void Essence, and Wheat Flour.

Universal Hates

The last type of universal gift that you could get for the villagers (but, advisably not) is the Universal Hates. The majority of the residents in Stardew would hate to receive are Baits, Fossils, Monster Loot. Except for Solar Essence and Void Essence, and all Trash.