Gift guides

What to buy for the people who are hard to buy for, and the reasoning behind each suggestion.

• Christmas gifts for grandparents who have everything

  By this stage of life most people have the objects they need. What they usually do not have is more of their family — which is what the best gifts here are made of.

• Christmas gifts for teenagers who say they want nothing

  Teenagers are hard to buy for because they have specific taste and no interest in explaining it. Here is how to get it right without guessing.

• Christmas Gifts for Your Wife

  Why the obvious categories disappoint, what to do instead, and how to use the one advantage you have that nobody else does.

• Christmas Gifts for Your Husband

  For the man who says he does not want anything, and means it slightly less than he thinks.

• Christmas Gifts for Coworkers

  What to buy somebody you like but do not know well, on a budget somebody else set, without making it strange.

• Stocking stuffers under $15 that are not filler

  A stocking is a series of very small decisions. Here is how to make them count, by age, without spending the afternoon in a discount aisle.

• Christmas gifts for mom that are not another candle

  She will say she does not need anything and she will mean it slightly less than dad does. A guide to noticing what she actually uses.

• What to give a teacher at Christmas

  Teachers receive a great deal of the same thing. Here is what is actually useful, and why the note matters more than the gift.

• Christmas gifts under $25 that do not feel like it

  A small budget is not the constraint people think it is. The trick is to buy a good version of a small thing rather than a poor version of a big one.

• Christmas gifts for dad when he says he does not need anything

  He means it, which is exactly why it is hard. A guide to the gifts that get used rather than shelved.