Gift card ideas for couples that they can enjoy together

Most couples would honestly rather choose their own gift, and most guests would rather not slip a bare envelope across the table at the afters. A gift card sits nicely in between. It's the polite version of cash: they still get to choose, and it still looks like a present on the day.

For a couple you don't know inside out, start with the All-in-1 Choice Gift Card. It runs from €10 to €500, and the two of them decide together where it goes: new bed linen, a good set of pans, a dinner out once the thank-you cards are finally written. At an Irish wedding, most people like to have something to put on the gift table, so this one also comes as a physical card in gift packaging with your message. If you'd rather keep it simple, the digital version is sent by email within minutes.

Setting up a first home together? An IKEA Gift Card covers the bookshelves, the wardrobe and the kitchen bits nobody thinks of until they need a colander. A Homesense Gift Card is for the finishing touches: cushions, a throw, a mirror for the hall.

A wedding gift doesn't need to be unusual. It needs to be used. That already puts you ahead of the third toaster.

An engagement is a different kind of moment. The budget is usually smaller, the mood is more relaxed, and the best gift is something that gets the two of them out of the house to celebrate.

For an engagement, dinner is hard to argue with. A Milano Gift Card means pizza, a bottle of red and a quiet table for two before the wedding planning takes over their lives. For the couple who'd rather keep it casual, a Nando's gift card covers a relaxed evening of chicken and sides with no dress code.

If they're the adventurous type, the BucketlistGift Gift Card lets them pick an experience together, from something outdoors and slightly terrifying to a much gentler day out. Either way, it's a story they'll have for the speeches.

An engagement gift doesn't need to be complicated. A night out or a day to remember is personal enough to feel special, and small enough that it doesn't look like the wedding gift turning up early.

Plenty of people look up the traditional material for each year: paper for the first, gold for the fiftieth, and something different for every year in between, the fourth included. It's a lovely tradition. It can also leave you searching the shops for a paper anniversary gift anyone would actually want.

So keep the tradition in the message and put the gift into something they'll enjoy. For a first wedding anniversary, a night away works beautifully. With HotelCheque, they choose the hotel and the weekend themselves, the long weekend away they've been promising themselves since the honeymoon.

For a 50th, a day out often means more than another ornament for the cabinet. The Global Experiences Card lets them pick something they'd never have booked for themselves, and gives the whole family something to ask about at the next Sunday dinner.

Paper, gold or anything in between, if you can't quite read the couple, the All-in-1 Choice Gift Card leaves the choice with them.
 

They've bought the house, the couch and the fancy coffee machine. The drawers are full and the attic is fuller. So what now?

Give them time instead of things. Time together is the one thing couples who have everything never seem to have enough of. The TripGift Gift Card lets them put together a whole trip in one place, from the flights to the hotel to the hire car for the road trip. The ToursGift Gift Card is for the city break crowd: a guided walking tour, a food tour or a day of museums and galleries.

For a couple who has everything, experiences win because they can't already own them. And a trip is the one they'll still be talking about long after a new set of wine glasses has been forgotten.

One card for two people at Christmas can look a bit like a shared bill. It doesn't have to.

Write one message to both of them and put a plan in it. "Dinner in January, and we're babysitting." Suddenly it's not a card, it's a night out they'll actually take. The Merry Christmas Gift Card works well for this, with a festive design and the choice left to them.

For more ideas, have a look through our Christmas gift cards and pick the one that suits them both. Two people, one gift, zero arguments about who gets it!