Stardew Valley Gift Guide: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet

When playing Stardew Valley, there’s a lot to do such as farming, mining, and even slaying monsters. While Pelican Town has layers of lore for you to uncover, interacting and fostering relationships with the town’s residents can give you a more in-depth experience with the game’s story. The best way you can cultivate these relationships with the game’s villagers is by giving gifts.

Gift-giving in Stardew Valley is a major mechanic that allows you to progress your relationships with different characters. But do know that you can’t just give any gift to all the villagers. Just like real-life people, the townsfolk have specific preferences for the gifts they’ll positively respond to.

In line with that, we’ve prepared this extensive guide on the game’s gifts. From understanding the mechanics of gift-giving to familiarizing yourself with the different types of gifts that an individual villager will appreciate, and even learning how to give a gift, we’ve got all that covered right here.

What are Stardew Valley Gifts?

So first off, gifts in Stardew Valley are items you as the player can give to the various residents in Pelican Town. Giving gifts can help you build relationships with the villagers, with some you can even romance over time.

You can give only one gift each day to an individual villager. Moreover, you can give a maximum of two gifts to a single villager in a week. This can be monitored through the game’s Social menu interface.

Take note that giving specific “love” or “like” gifts can significantly boost your friendship points with a villager, generating a positive in-game conversation. While giving “dislike” or “hate” gifts will lower this, generating a hate dialogue bubble in-game when talking to a villager. You’ll have to single out what are the interests, personalities, and other preferences of your villagers, especially the ones you want to romance in the future during your playthrough.

Another feature of the gift-giving mechanic is that when you reach certain friendship levels with some villagers, you’ll unlock special content with them. These usually range from dialogue, to rewards, cutscenes, and more. This makes investing in friendship points quite crucial in the playing experience within the Stardew Valley community since you’ll be able to uncover further the background of your fellow villagers.

Universal Gifts

As you come across different items in Stardew Valley during your playing sessions, you’ll find that some of these items are received well by most villagers and other items not so much. Universal gifts are simply items that most villagers in the game will universally love, like, dislike, or hate. These types of gifts won’t take into account the individual preferences of the individual villagers.

However, there are still some exceptions with specific universal gifts, depending on the character. It becomes important to regularly check the preferences of the villagers you plan to give. This will make it easier for you to give the right gifts and you’ll be able to avoid wasting items on the wrong villagers.

You can check out the list of universal gifts below and their different categories:

Universal Love Gifts

Worth +80 friendship points, these gifts are items almost all villagers in Stardew Valley will love.

• Pearl
• Golden Pumpkin
• Prismatic Shard
• Rabbit’s Foot
• Magic Rock Candy

Universal Like Gifts

For Universal Like gifts, these are worth +45 friendship points.

• All Artisan Goods (except for Oil and Void Mayonnaise)
• All Cooking Items (except for Fried Egg, Bread, Strange Bun, and Seafoam Pudding)
• All Flowers (except Poppy)
• All Foraged Minerals
• All Fruit Tree Fruits (except for Mango and Banana which villagers have particular preferences for)
• All Gems
• All Vegetables (except Hops, Tea Leaves, Wheat, and Unmilled Rice)
• Maple Syrup
• Life Elixir

Universal Neutral Gifts

When receiving a Neutral Gift, villagers are nonchalant when you give these. They’re worth +20 friendship points.

• Bread
• Fried Egg
• Clam
• Coral
• Duck Feather
• Hops
• Nautilus Shell
• Rainbow Shell
• Roe
• Sweet Gem berry
• Squid Ink
• Tea Leaves
• Truffle
• Wheat
• Wool

Universal Dislike Gifts

If you’re considering lowering the friendship points with some villagers, dislike gifts are the way to go. Universal dislike gifts are worth -20 friendship points.

• All Building Materials
• All Bombs
• All Crafted Floors
• All Crafted Paths
• All
• Fences
• All Fertilizer
• All Fish except Clam, Carp, and Snails
• All Geodes
• All Seeds
• All Sprinklers
• Metal Goods
• Driftwood
• Oil
• Rice
• Pine Tar
• Vinegar
• Void Egg
• Wheat Flour

Universal Hate Gifts

While for Universal Hate gifts, these will significantly lower your friendship level by -40 friendship points. It’s best you learn about the hate gifts to not ruin any friendships.

• All Artifacts
• All Bait
• All Trash except Driftwood
• Carp
• Copper Ore
• Dragon Tooth
• Explosive Ammo
• Hay
• Iron Ore
• Poppy
• Red Mushroom
• Sap
• Seaweed
• Slime Eggs
• Snail
• Sugar
• Void Mayonnaise
• Warp Totems

Who among the villagers can receive gifts in Stardew Valley?

As you now know the different universal gifts in Stardew Valley, you need to familiarize yourself with the different villagers you can give gifts. There are villagers wherein over time, you can romance and possibly marry, leading to a more developed storyline with them. In contrast, there are also villagers who you can’t consider as a marriage candidate but still cultivate a friendship with.

Each of these characters has different loved gifts, liked gifts, neutral gifts, disliked gifts, and hate gifts.

Marriage Characters

For the marriage candidates, there are 12 characters you can choose from to possibly marry. While you can increase the friendship points of all of these characters, be careful when your relationship with them develops romantically because this can affect how potential lovers perceive you. These are the list of marriage candidates and the best gifts you can give them per gift type.

For male marriage candidates, you have the following:

	Name	Loved Gifts	Liked Gifts	Neutral Gifts	Disliked Gifts	Hated Gifts
	Alex	Complete Breakfast, Salmon Dinner	All Eggs except the Void Egg, Field Snack	All Fruit except Fruit Tree Fruit and Salmonberries, All Milk, Daffodils, Dandelions, Leeks	All Books, Salmonberry, Wild Horseradish	Holly, Quartz
	Elliott	Squid Ink, Crab Cakes, Pomegranate	All Books, Octopus, Squid	All Eggs except the Void Egg, All Fish except the Cap, Sea Cucumber, and Snails	All Milk, Daffodil, Dandelion, Ginger, Hazelnut, Holly, Leek, Pizza	Amaranth, Quartz, Salmonberry
	Harvey	Coffee, Super Meal, Pickles, Truffle Oil, Wine	All Fruit except the Salmonberry and Spice Berry, Daffodil, Dandelion, Ginger, Goat Milk, Holly, Leek, Quartz, Spring Onion	All Eggs except the Duck Egg and Void Egg, Milk	Bread, Cheese, Cookie, Ice Cream, Pancakes, Rice Pudding	Coral, Nautilus Shell, Salmonberry Spiceberry, Rainbow Shell
	Sam	Cactus Fruit, Pizza, Maple bar	All eggs except Void Egg, Joja Cola	All Fruit except Cactus Fruit, Fruit Tree Fruits, and Salmonberry, All Milk	All Vegetables, All mushrooms, Daffodil, Dandelion, Holly, Leek, Quartz, Salmonberry, Seaweed, Wild Horseradish, Winter Root	Coal, Copper Bar, Gold Bar, Gold Ore, Iridium Bar, Iron Bar, Mayonnaise, Pickles
	Sebastian	Frog Egg, Frozen Tear, Obsidian, Sashimi, Void Egg	Quartz, Combat Quarterly, Flounder, Monster Compendium	All Fish except Carp, All Fruit except Fruit Tree Fruits and Salmonberry, All Milk	All Flowers except Poppy, Daffodil, Dandelion, Ginder, Hazeln ut, Leek, Salmonberry	All Artisan Goods (except Coffee, Green Tea, and Oil), Complete Breakfast, Farmer’s Lunch, Omelet
	Shane	Beer, Hot Pepper, Pizza	All Eggs except Voig Egg, All Fruit	All Milk, Strange Bun,	All Mushrooms, Daffodil, Dandelion, Ginger, Leek, Snow Yam, Winter Root	Pickles, Quartz

For female marriage candidates, these are your choices:

	Name	Loved Gifts	Liked Gifts	Neutral Gifts	Disliked Gifts	Hated Gifts
	Abigail	Amethyst, Pumpkin, Banana Pudding, Chocolate Cake, Monster Compendium	Ancient Sword, Basilisk Paw, Combat Quarterly, Quartz	All Milk, All Fruit except Fruit Tree Fruit, Daffofil, Dandelion, Ginger, Leek	All Eggs, All Vegetables (except Hops, Tea Leaves, and Wheat), Sugar	Clay, Holly
	Emily	Amethyst, Cloth, Emerald, Topaz, Rool	Daffodil, Quartz	All Eggs except Void Egg, All Fruit except Tree Fruit and Salmonberry, Dandelion, Ginger, Leek	Ice Cream, Salmonberry, Rice Pudding	Fish Taco, Holly, Maki Roll, Salmon Dinner, Sashimi
	Haley	Coconut, Fruit Salad, Sunflower	Daffodil	–	All eggs, All milkDandelion, Ginger, Holly, Leek, Quartz	All Fish, Clay, Prismatic Shard, Wild Horseradish
	Leah	Salad, Stir Fry, Vegetable Medley, Wine	All Fruit, All Milk, Daffodil, Dandelion, Driftwood, Ginger, Holly, Leek, Spring Onion, Wild Horseradish	–	All Gems except Diamond and Prismatic Shard, Fried Egg, Seaweed, Survival Burger, Tortilla, Cookie	Bread, Hashbrowns, Pizza, Void Egg
	Maru	Battery Pack, cauliflower, Diamond, Gold bar, Iridium bar, Strawberry, Rhubarb Pie	Quartz, Radioactive Ore, Pine Tar, Copper Bar, Iron Bar	All Eggs except Void Egg, All Milk, Daffodil, Dandelion, Ginger, Hazelnut, Leek	Blackberry, Common Mushroom, Maple Syrup, Salmonberry	Holly, Honey, Pickles
	Penny	Diamond, Emerald, Melon, Poppy	All Artifacts, All Milk, Dandelion, Leek	All eggs except Void Egg, Daffodil, Ginger, Hazelnut	Purple Mushroom, Quartz, Red Mushroom, Salmonberry, Wool	Beer, grape, holly, Hops, Mead, Rabbit’s Foot, Wine

Non-marriage Characters

Besides the 12 bachelors and bachelorettes in the game, there are several villagers you can befriend and learn more about their backstories. You won’t have to invest much into these characters in comparison to the marriage candidates:

• Caroline
• Clint
• Demetrius
• Dwarf
• Evelyn
• George
• Gus
• Jas
• Jodi
• Kent
• Krobus
• Leo
• Mayor Lewis
• Linus
• Marnie
• Pam
• Pierre
• Robin
• Sandy
• Vincent
• Willie
• The Wizard

How do you give gifts in Stardew Valley?

Gifting the different characters in Stardew Valley is pretty easy. You can give them a gift by simply interacting with your chosen villager.

First off, prepare your gifts. Check your in-game inventory to ensure you have the right gift you’ll give.

This also avoids the hassle of going back and forth to your farm and looking for your chosen villager.

Next, interact with your chosen villager. This is done by walking up to a villager and right-clicking on the villager (on PC) while holding the item you intend to gift to them.

You’ll then be able to see the reaction of the villager on-screen. He or she will show reactions if they love, like, dislike, hate, or are neutral about the gift you’ve given them. The example below shows Alex’s reaction when giving him a neutral gift like the Leek.

Another example is when giving a love gift like an Amethyst to Emily to which she responds positively.

It helps to pay attention to the dialogue and emotional reactions of your villagers.

Why should you give gifts in Stardew Valley?

Giving gifts in Stardew Valley can give you several benefits that will improve your gameplay and overall experience.

Develop your relationships with the villagers

As mentioned earlier, giving gifts in-game is essential if you want to develop your relationships with the villagers and know more about their game backstories. You get to have a better insight into a character’s personality through gift-giving.

Additionally, cultivating your relationships with the villagers can also increase the sense of community of your character with the residents of Pelican Town. You’ll feel more engaged by having higher friendship points with these characters. Plus, you’ll have a more meaningful experience playing the game through this.

Unlock in-game rewards and secret content

Besides the expansive story Stardew Valley offers, investing in friendship points through gift-giving can give you some cool perks. Giving gifts is a way for you to unlock in-game rewards and secret content. This includes heart events which are cutscenes that reveal more about the personalities of the characters and special dialogue.

More than that, you can obtain items, crafting recipes, upgraded tools for your farm life, and more. There are also some relationships with some villagers that give you shortcuts and discounts. This will certainly make playing the game more rewarding and efficient for you in the long run.

Improving gameplay mechanics

Similarly, your gameplay becomes more convenient upon increasing your friendship status with the villagers. You’ll be able to unlock farming tips, special resources, and even assistance with farm chores.

Your farm life in Stardew Valley can become more efficient and less repetitive, giving you more leeway to explore the game further. With that in mind, you’ll have a more optimized resource-gathering system, and improved quality of life in-game.

The Best Gifts to Give in Stardew Valley

While it’s a challenge to please each villager in Stardew Valley and memorize their preferences, you can always opt to give them universal gifts. This is the most convenient way to increase your friendship points. Here are some of the gifts you can easily obtain during early playthroughs to level up your friendship points with the villagers.

Rabbit’s Foot

The Rabbit’s Foot is an item you can get from rabbits. You can also purchase this from Travelling Cart or pick them up from Serpents when you’re in the Skull Cavern.

Most villagers will love this item as a gift. The only exception to this is Penny who hates this item.

Amethyst

Found in Amethyst Nodes and Gem Nodes within the Mines, Amethyst is quite a common Mineral you can find. Besides the Mines, you can get this gem from Panning in bodies of water, opening up treasure chests, and sometimes it even appears around Pelican Town within trash cans.

This gem is considered to be a universal like gift with some characters such as Abigail, Clint, Dward, and Emily loving this item. In contrast, Leah, Linus, and Pierre dislike the Amethyst.

Salmonberry

If you aren’t the type to regularly head into the Mines, you may consider foraging for Salmonberries. These are often found during Spring which is perfect for early-game gifting.

Take note, however, that only a few villagers receive the Salmonberryquite well. This includes Demetrius, Jodi, Kent, Leah, Linus, Pam, Robin, Sandy, and Shane.

If you process the Salmonberry into other products in the latter parts of your playing session you can gift Salmonberry Wine and Salmonberry Jelly which is universally liked and loved by most villagers.

Fried Egg

Consider also giving some Fried Eggs to the villagers. While it’s a neutral gift, only Leah will dislike the Fried Egg.

The only catch to obtaining this item is having your Farmhouse upgraded or with the Cookout Kit. You may find Fried Eggs in Garbage Cans or sold in some places like the Stardrop Saloon or during the Desert Festival.

Bread

Another neutral gift you can give is Bread. You can bake this within an upgraded Farmhouse or Cookout Kit too. Another good thing to know about investing in Bread is that it’s also profitable when you use Wheat Flour produced by the Mill.

The majority of the villagers will react neutrally to this item, with only Harvey and Leah disliking and hating Bread respectively.

Fruit Tree Fruits

Then we have Fruit Tree Fruits. Investing in a fruit tree may take some time, but the return for this is worth it. It’s best to plant these ahead of time so you can properly time your harvests.

All villagers will like fruits at a minimum. There are some exceptions though with Mango and Banana which are categorized as neutral gifts. But for the rest of the fruit tree fruits, you’ll easily be able to give any kind of fruit as a gift.

Tips for Gift-giving in Stardew Valley

While it may be your immediate thought to give gifts to everyone as a trial-and-error path for you to find out every villager’s preferences, this will become time-consuming. It helps to invest in a couple of villagers that pique your interest, especially those who you want to know more about during your playthrough.

Moreover, plan your gifting schedule. As each villager can receive up to two gifts in a week, you’ll have to strategize with the resources you have and events currently happening in Pelican Town. Prioritize the relationships you want to invest in in-game and the rewards you aim to get.

Overall, gift-giving in Stardew Valley combines the efforts of knowing the preferences of your villagers and managing your resources. Being consistent in gift-giving may ensure you get an increased friendship progress with the residents of Pelican Town. But do remember that you can still take your time with the game and get to know each villager at your own pace.