Christmas Gift Ideas for Couples: Why We Buy One Christmas Gift Together
Our first Christmas together, Kevin and I did what I think a lot of couples do when they are still figuring out how they want to celebrate the holidays. We bought each other several gifts, partly because there were things we wanted to give each other and partly because it seemed like Christmas was supposed to involve a certain amount of shopping and a certain number of packages under the tree. We enjoyed giving them to each other, of course, but once Christmas was over we both admitted that the whole process had felt like more than we really wanted it to be.
Gift giving has never been a major love language for either of us, and neither one of us gets much pleasure from shopping simply for the sake of having more things to open. Kevin also works long hours through the holiday season as a FedEx driver, so December is already an especially full month for him. The idea of spending what little free time we have trying to come up with enough presents to make Christmas feel abundant just never felt particularly natural to us.
By our second Christmas, we decided to try something different. Instead of buying several things, we would each choose one really nice gift for the other person and let that be enough.
One Really Good Gift
That year, I decided I wanted to buy Kevin a really good pair of sunglasses. I looked at Ray-Bans first, but nothing felt quite special enough for what I had in mind, and somewhere along the way I ended up buying him a pair of Versace sunglasses that cost considerably more than I had originally planned to spend.
The only problem was that for the next couple of months, while those sunglasses were hidden away waiting for Christmas, Kevin kept casually mentioning how terrible he was at keeping up with nice sunglasses. He had lost them before, left them places and generally considered himself someone who should probably stick to inexpensive pairs. Every time he brought it up, I thought about the $350 sunglasses sitting somewhere in our apartment and wondered whether I had made a terrible decision.
Thankfully, I hadn’t. He loved them, and all these years later he still has them. I actually think there may be something to be said for owning one thing you really love and knowing it is worth taking care of.
That same Christmas, Kevin gave me a beautiful Coach bag. Instead of trying to create a pile of presents, we had each chosen one thing that felt special, and neither of us missed having more to open. It felt simpler, but it also felt more thoughtful, and by the following Christmas we were ready to take the idea one step further.
When We Started Buying One Gift Together
For our third Christmas, we decided to combine the money and buy one really good thing for the two of us. Our first shared Christmas gift was an Ooni pizza oven, and although we weren’t intentionally trying to create a tradition, that is essentially what happened.
Since then, most of our Christmas gifts have been things for our home or kitchen that we know we will both enjoy. One year it was a Blackstone, another year we chose a wine refrigerator along with a really beautiful set of steak knives, and last year we bought our HexClad knife set. This year, we are going in on a clear ice maker, which probably tells you almost everything you need to know about the way we spend our time at home.
None of those things sounds especially romantic in the traditional sense, but I actually love that about them. The pizza oven became pizza nights, the Blackstone became another way to cook dinner together, and the wine refrigerator and good knives became part of Date Nite and entertaining at home. These gifts have a way of working themselves into our life together long after Christmas is over, which makes them feel much more meaningful to us than buying something simply because December arrived.
We have always said that if there comes a year when there isn’t anything we particularly want together, we can go right back to buying one nice gift for each other. There isn’t a rule that says we have to choose a shared gift every year. We simply found a way of giving that suits us, and we have kept returning to it because it still feels right.
Fewer Things, Better Things
I wouldn’t describe us as anti-gift, and this isn’t necessarily a philosophy about spending less money at Christmas. Some years, the one thing we choose together may cost as much as several smaller gifts would have. The difference is that we are spending the money on something we genuinely want rather than trying to reach an invisible quota of how much should be sitting underneath the tree.
Living in a small home has probably reinforced that for me too. Everything we bring into our apartment eventually needs somewhere to live, so I have become much more thoughtful about whether something actually adds value to our life. I would rather make room for one thing we love than accumulate several things we never really needed simply because they were fun to wrap.
Somewhere along the way, that philosophy started showing up in the way we give to other people as well. With my dad and brother, we will often go in together on one really good gift instead of everyone buying several smaller things. It certainly makes shopping easier, but more importantly, I think it often results in a better gift because we can put our money toward something we know the person will genuinely enjoy.
Our Favorite Christmas Gift Ideas for Couples
Over the years, the gifts we’ve loved most have been the ones that became part of our everyday life together. Some were practical upgrades we probably would have put off buying, while others simply gave us another way to enjoy being at home together. Below are a few of the gifts we’ve actually given each other, followed by a handful of Christmas gift ideas for couples that we think would be fun to go in on together.
Gifts We’ve Actually Given Each Other
These are some of the gifts that have made their way through our Christmases over the years. A few were gifts for each other, while most eventually became gifts for the two of us.
The first year we switched to one nice gift each, I gave Kevin the Versace sunglasses I was convinced he was eventually going to lose. He still has them all these years later, which has made the story even better with time.
That same Christmas, Kevin gave me a beautiful Coach bag. It was the year we first realized that one gift that felt special suited us much better than trying to come up with several things simply because it was Christmas.
Our Ooni was the first Christmas gift we bought together, and it is still one of the best examples of the kind of gift we love. It gave us something new to do together rather than simply giving us another thing to own.
The Blackstone was another shared gift that quickly became part of our life at home. We tend to gravitate toward things that make cooking together more fun or give us another reason to turn an ordinary meal into a little occasion.
One year we chose a wine refrigerator along with a beautiful set of steak knives. Both fit naturally into the way we already spend time together, especially because so much of our home life revolves around Date Nite, cooking and having people over.
Last year we bought our HexClad knife set, which is exactly the kind of upgrade I think makes a great shared Christmas gift. It is something we use constantly but probably would have kept putting off buying on an ordinary day.
For the cocktail enthusiast, Klaris makes the kind of large, crystal-clear ice that instantly makes a drink feel more special. Their Klaris Mini is the compact option at $299 and makes four 2-inch cubes per day, while the Original Klaris is $549, makes eight cubes per day and gives you the additional Collins-cube option. I’d link both versions so readers can choose based on space, budget and how much ice they actually need.
Gifts We Think Would Be Fun to Give
There are also plenty of things we haven’t personally chosen as Christmas gifts that fit the same philosophy. For us, the best shared gifts tend to be things that make everyday life a little better, support something you already enjoy doing together, or feel special enough that you might not ordinarily buy them for yourself.
An Opal Nugget Ice Maker
For the person who believes ice can make or break a drink, an Opal would be a very fun gift. The newer Opal Mini has a 30% smaller footprint and still produces up to 36 pounds of nugget ice a day, while the larger Opal models make sense if counter space is less of a concern or you want more capacity.
We have become completely devoted to our bamboo bedding, and good sheets are exactly the kind of upgrade that can feel extravagant when you first buy them and completely reasonable once you realize you use them every night.
A Dyson Airwrap or Shark FlexStyle
This one may technically be more for one person than the household, but I still think it fits the spirit of this kind of gift giving. If one of you has been eyeing a styling tool but hasn’t wanted to spend the money on it, Christmas can be a good excuse to finally make the splurge. The Dyson Airwrap is the higher-end option, while the Shark FlexStyle offers a similar idea at a lower price point, so either could make a really fun gift depending on your budget.
A Really Good Coffee Setup
If coffee is already part of your everyday ritual, upgrading the grinder, coffee maker, or espresso machine you use every morning could make a particularly satisfying shared gift. I love gifts like this because they continue to make ordinary days feel a little nicer, and we love our Breville Pro Espresso Machine.
A Cordless Vacuum
One of my favorite gifts Kevin has ever given me was actually a cordless vacuum for my birthday. It wasn’t expensive or glamorous, but it made a household task I dislike so much easier that I still consider it one of his best gifts. Sometimes a really good gift is simply something that removes a little friction from someone’s life. And now that Kevin knows firsthand how conveneient a cordless vacuum is, maybe we'll upgrade to Dyson when our cheap one dies.
A Piece of Original Artwork
I love the idea of choosing one original piece of art together and letting that be the Christmas gift. It becomes part of your home, and years later it may still carry the memory of the Christmas when you chose it.
A really good Dutch oven, a pan you have been wanting or another piece of cookware you expect to own for years fits perfectly into this kind of giving. These are often the things we keep telling ourselves we will buy eventually, which makes Christmas a nice reason to finally do it.
We Still Like Having Something to Open
Even when our main gift is something we have chosen together, we will usually give each other one smaller surprise as well. We still like having something we don’t know about waiting under the tree, but there isn’t much pressure around what that needs to be. It might be something useful, a small luxury or something one of us mentioned wanting months earlier, and that is usually more than enough to keep a little bit of mystery in Christmas.
Over the years, I think we have simply gotten more comfortable giving ourselves permission to do Christmas in the way that actually suits us. We don’t need a particular number of gifts under the tree, and we don’t need a rigid rule about buying only one thing either. We can choose the gift that feels right for that particular year and trust that it is enough.
Most of the shared gifts we have chosen over the years are still part of our life. We are still making pizzas, cooking dinner, opening wine, chopping vegetables and finding new reasons to gather around the table, and I think that is ultimately why this way of giving has lasted.
For us, that has turned out to be much more valuable than having more things to unwrap on Christmas morning.
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About Kevin & Kate
We’re Kevin and Kate, and we believe some of the best parts of life happen at home, around the table, with something good to eat and a cocktail worth making again.
Our weekly Date Nite menus are designed to make cooking together easier and more intentional, while our cocktail collection is full of drinks we’ve created, tested, and come back to in our own home.
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