"Impossible to shop for" sounds like one problem, but it is usually one of four. Each one needs a different answer, so it helps to know which one you have. None of the answers is another list of gift ideas.
What do you buy someone who is hard to buy for?
First, work out which of the four problems you have. They already own everything, you barely know them, you want the gift to really mean something, or they have asked for nothing. Each has a different answer, and none of them is "spend more". In all four cases, start from the person, not a type of product.
Here are the four problems, and where each one leads.
They already have everything
This is the problem people mean most often. Someone who can buy whatever they like has already bought most of what they want. So one more nice thing gets a polite reaction and little more. They do not need more things.
For four approaches that work, read gifts for someone who has everything.
What they do not have is a small, slightly unexpected thing that is clearly right for them, and that they would never buy for themselves. Finding it is a question of taste, not budget. Our gift matching is built for this problem. Start from who they are, and let the unusual, well-chosen gift come to the top.
You don't know them well enough
A colleague. Your partner's mum, whom you have met twice. A Secret Santa name pulled from a hat. Here the problem is the opposite. You have too little information, not too much.
To choose a gift from three or four facts, read how to buy a gift for someone you barely know.
You usually know more than you think, such as their age, their job, or one thing they mentioned once. A few true facts are enough to rule out the half of all gifts that would be wrong for them, and to start narrowing down. You do not need to know someone well to give a thoughtful gift. You need a sensible place to start, and then you react to the gifts you see.
You want the gift to really mean something
Sometimes the person is not hard to buy for at all. You just care a lot about this gift, and a gift that is only "fine" is not good enough. It might be a big birthday, a thank-you that needs to say a lot, or a person you love. The pressure comes from you, not from them.
The gift that works here is not the most expensive or impressive one. It is the one that shows you paid attention. It says "I know you", not "I spent a lot". Our matching aims for the same thing. It puts a close fit with the person before a big reaction when the gift is unwrapped.
They say they don't want anything
"Honestly, don't get me anything." If you take those words literally, there is nowhere to go. But they rarely mean nothing at all. They usually mean no clutter, no fuss, and please do not spend a lot on me.
So give something small and personal, not something big and generic. Choose something low-key and well made that fits them closely. It should be something they would enjoy but would never buy for themselves. A modest gift matched to the person can say more than an expensive gift that does not suit them.
What all four problems have in common
All four are the same problem in different forms. In each case, the search started from the gift. "Impossible" almost always means the search began with a list, a product category or a search box. The search then tried to match the result to a person it did not suit. Do it the other way round. Start from who they are, tell us the little you know, and let us find the gifts that fit them.