Aspies For Freedom

Hello all. My question may sound weird even to Aspies, not to say NTs. I am absolutely unable to chose presents for people. Aged 19, I never gave some presents even to the closest relatives, becuase I just can't figure out what they want! Even such a things as flowers for the 8th of March has never came from me because I don't know which flowers to chose! I even don't know what I want myself when it comes to birthdays or any other holidays (my parents are always "struggling" with finding a present for me but they always find a good one). So understandable I don't know what to give as a present to somebody else. Since the very childhood I asked my parents how to chose presents. They say: "if you don't know what a person wants, give some meaningless thing, it will be anyway better than no present at all". But the thing is, I'm afraid that such a "meaningless thing" will be inappropriate.  Still, I just feel kind of guilty for never giving presents to someone (and receiving presents everytime I "have to"). But I can't do it. Maybe someone can explain ?to me how?

What about 7th of March? Is this a new Chrismas?

Women's day in some countries. But the question is not about it, I meant presents in general.

For Women's day, try bringing coffee (or champaign, or flowers) to bed. Try as many women as you can, and it will be a real women's day for you

Hehe.. but still, what about the initial question? How to chose presents without knowng what the person wants - and how to figure out what a person wants without asking directly?

I think, flowers are always good. Do not give any clothes or cosmetics, and parfum is very subjective. If you give a box of chocolates, she can think that you want to be invited for tea. She just cannot put it in her bag and leave with it.
Some people have this ability to listen to their friends words, when they express their preferences and small desires, and then use their knowledge in order to make small nice surprise. This ability makes them very good gift givers.
To your mom, I guess the best thing would be to free her form house shores. Also, she is the woman to whom you can buy pricey things, like jewerly, if you can afford it. Or, you can buy a nice scarf or a bag ot her, she will love them.
You can buy necessary personal staff for your relatives, and flowers and neutral souvenirs for your not so close friends.

When you buy flowers don't go in not knowing what you want, if in doubt ask. Find a local florists and tell them what budget you have (for valentines day I stipulated £25 and they did me a nice selection of roses, decorated and wrapped for £20) and also tell them who it's for and maybe the age of the person, if you want something well known or something a bt different. A florist will know what works for what occasion.

I am not great at buying presents, I tend to go way over budget and would rather know what someone wants, surprises are nice but sometimes getting something you want is better.

I ask them what they want.

Hmm that is probably the best solution. i don't liek it when people say surprise me but i also have to think about them, I liek surprises and getting something i did not expect whereas they might want something they asked for or the sam ething again, say they liked a certain item or collected it for example.

I like potted plants because they last longer than flowers (except velvet or plastic flowers which can be nice under some circumstances).