What does one bring to this adult birthday party?

Post date: 2023-02-04 15:47:57

A medium-level family friend is hosting a birthday get-together. They are too opinionated, too frugal, too practical or too hippie/crunchy for the standard "mini luxury" grownup gifts. It's too late to track down the perfect book. What on earth do I bring?

This is a person who grows much of their own food ; in the past they have thanked me warmly for bringing sweets over, but visibly not eaten them. They don't wear fancy clothes or cosmetics, they don't have fancy decor, scents or houseplants in the house, they don't drink fancy cocktails or wine, they have a big family and are super busy so little self-care consumables would probably be seen as silly. Not really close enough to offer any kind of service (like babysitting) as a present, even if they needed it. They have niche taste in music and books that I'm not very familiar with, and anyway I don't have time to order anything elaborate.

Someone suggested buying an electric blanket for cuddling up with a book, which actually sounded like an OK idea. But beyond that, I'm at my wit's end. I'm not actually 100% sure whether a full-on birthday gift is called for on an occasion like this, but I surely can't show up with absolutely nothing. Any ideas?

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