How do you choose gifts people will actually want?

Everyone heads out shopping hoping they’ll find a gift their loved one will cherish. But how do you keep your gift from falling short of their expectations?

As shopping time dwindles, KIRO Radio’s Tom & Curley took a moment to consider the merits of a recent article from New York Magazine that claimed to have “7 Science Backed Ways to Give Less-Bad Gifts.”

The first tip on the list was: “Just give them what they asked for.” Tom Tangney is not a fan of this suggestion. He says his daughters have started providing list, and he doesn’t like to fill out those requests.

“I feel it diminishes Christmas if my daughter, Kate, gives me a list, ‘Here are 19 things, pick whatever you want out of these 19 things.’ It sort of diminishes the whole thrust behind gift giving,” says Tom.

But co-host John Curley assumes ignoring the list and going off-book makes it more likely Tom will miss the mark.

Tom says that can happen, but he gets a lot of his gift ideas by really paying attention all year long.

“If you’re good, you listen all year and kind of make mental notes and then you can surprise her,” says Tom. “I think part of Christmas is the surprise. That to me is key.”

Another one of the tips, however, did ring true for Tom. They write that you should be sure to mention the thought behind the gift you give. He says that can be of great help, especially in his favored free-wheeling type of gift giving.

“They said that if you give somebody a weird gift, but you explain why you got them that weird gift, why you thought it would be appropriate for them, people were much more open to it,” says Tom, who agrees and says he often explains the reasoning behind some of his more off-the-wall gifts. “They think, ‘Well there’s so much thought that goes into it.'”

Curley likes to keep things simple with a technique that lines up with one the science-backed solutions from NY Mag: “Don’t be afraid to buy the same present for several people on your list.”

Curley buys everyone the same thing: “I give chickens, cows, and goats.”

In a good financial year, Curley will give everyone cows, which run $75 through his charity gift site of choice, Oxfam. In a leaner year, he says he’ll give chickens. He says he also includes a note explaining how the person proved a blessing in his life that year.

Check out all the full list of ways to give “less-bad gifts” at NY Magazine.