You are not buying for Priya the human being with a dog and a Marathi mother and a coffee habit; you are buying for Priya the finance lead who sits two desks away and is leaving on Thursday, and the gift will be opened in a meeting room with eleven other people watching. Almost every […]

What do you actually give a couple getting married in Dubai when you barely know one half of them? Give something the two of them will use together in the home they are about to share, bought from somewhere inside the UAE, and hand it over in person or through someone who will see them.

What do I actually get them, and how close are we? That is the question, and the second half of it answers the first. Birthday gift ideas in Dubai are not a shortlist problem. The same bottle of something, the same desk object, the same box of dates reads as generous, forgettable or faintly alarming

For most UAE National Day gifts, the answer is a UAE-made edible or a locally designed scarf, bought from a producer that holds stock in the country — and bought several days before 2 December, because anything you order late is subject to someone else's dispatch schedule rather than your own. That is the short

What do you actually get a woman in Dubai without getting it wrong? You get her something she can open in front of other people without either of you having to explain it. That single test resolves most of what you are stuck on: it rules out perfume for a colleague, it rules out the

Before you buy anything, check whether the man you are buying for works somewhere with a gifts policy. Majid Al Futtaim's published rules on gifts and hospitality require ordinary business gifts to be proportionate to the occasion and the recipient's position, and not lavish. That is one employer's rule, and it is the kind of

Most people buy one Diwali gift and then buy it fourteen times — the same box of mithai for the mother-in-law, the team lead, the neighbour who invited you up for puja, and the friend you have known since Bangalore. That is the mistake, and the question of what to give family and friends in

Best Gifts for Your Best Friend’s Marriage: Thoughtful Ideas They’ll Actually Remember The best wedding gifts are rarely the biggest ones. They’re the ones that make your best friend pause, smile, and say, “You really know us.” If you’re searching for the best gifts for your best friend’s marriage, the sweet spot is usually something