The birthday cake

This only works if you’re part of the surprise party organizing team. When the team finally pulls together the details, but you literally have less than 24 hours before the event, the safest route is to volunteer to buy the cake. This is especially great if you have good taste for cakes or know the best cake stores. But even if you don’t, go-to cake flavors are chocolate, red velvet or ice cream cakes.

Wall clocks

Wall clocks have increasingly been seen as unnecessary room paraphernalia. Especially since we can check the time on our laptop or on our phones, who needs wall clocks? Well, if you’re talking about those typical, boring, painfully plain clocks, yes, you don’t need those. But if you spend a little more to buy a unique wall clock, it will actually make a great addition to the birthday boy or girl’s room. Of course, make sure that you know the clock will suit their room’s ambiance, or else it will look completely out of place.

Aromatic candles

Regardless of whether or not these candles actually possess healing properties, their fragrant scents that engulf the room is justification enough to get one for the birthday girl. Generally, the classic floral scents—lavender, ylang ylang, rose—are always safe bets. But if you know the birthday girl’s preferences, you could always get a more unique scent, like orange blossom. Or for an interesting twist to aromatic candles, there are also choices of booze-scented candles for the birthday boy.

Accessories

Female accessories, like bracelets, necklaces or earrings, are a little bit risky if you don’t know the birthday girl’s style or taste. Safe options include scarves, headbands and bracelet charms (assuming that she already has a bracelet from that brand). On the other hand, male accessories are more all-encompassing, ranging from ties, bowties, cufflinks or watches. The most important thing to consider will probably be choosing the style and color that suits the birthday boy.

(Read also: 5 beautiful coloring books to cure your boredom)

Photo frames

The best way to show that you cherish your memories with someone is giving them a place to keep those memories in the first place. But don’t just go for those boring typical rectangular frames. Find something that looks vintage, or maybe something modern, like glass photo cubes or foldable photo frames.

Body wash set

Go into a skincare shop and you’re good to go with a simple basket of body wash, lotion, shampoo, conditioner and fragrance oil from the latest collection. Birthday girls will love them not only because they are useful, but they will also love them for the aesthetics. Similarly, you could get the birthday boy a body wash set, but probably from a different store other than The Body Shop (think Adidas body care products), which you can easily repackage into a box, if they don’t already come in a set. 

Stationery

One of the oldest all-time favorite backup gifts, stationery sets are always a great idea because they’re highly practical. Whether you’re getting a limited edition pen or an elegant notebook, the birthday boy/girl can definitely put them to good use. (sab/kes)

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