The best gifts for him that he actually wants in 2026
Buying something for somebody else isn't always simple, but as the best gifts for him will show you, shopping for a guy is as easy as you'll ever have it. Plenty of the things on this list may have even crossed your mind already: pyjamas, biscuits, booze… The crucial thing about this guide is that I (Jessie Atkinson) have spent over three years testing out products and quizzing the GQ team on what they love in order to find what exact versions of these classic sub-genres are worth your money. We've tried (and rated) the overwhelming majority of products here, or else have chosen from brands that have never failed us.
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Whether you're buying for your husband, boyfriend, mate, dad, or next-door neighbour, you ought to find something he'll love on this list. Because, unless you're looking for a tech gift, most coveted products have remained unchanged throughout the centuries: a lovely new shirt, a hamper of cheeses and meats, a leather notebook, a shoe, a watch.
GQ's favourites – in all of these categories and so many more – can be found in this guide to what to buy a guy as a present in 2026.
What do men like most as gifts? Shop GQ's top gifts for men in 2026…
Best overall gifts for him
Whether dormant or active, most people have a desire to present nicely to the world. That's why plenty of the things that find their way into the top of this guide's pyramid — and stay there, by virtue of their popularity — are clothing and grooming related. Otherwise, it's food and drink all the way.
Best birthday gifts for him
Treating someone you love could never be frivolous. Whether you pick up his favourite beers and crisps from the shop for a small token or you want to treat him to an opulent fragrance that you'll both love, the right birthday gift shouldn't feel too much. To make it even less of a headache, here are some products that the team and I have tried and loved recently.
Percival
Embroidered Negroni T-Shirt
When buying a T-shirt for him, I say it's always best to avoid logos, but an artful bit of stitching is an absolute yes. Percival's T-shirt section is your destination.
Cadbury
XL Dairy Milk
Just 850g of the best chocolate on Earth. Like Amelia Dimoldenberg once told us: “We have such good chocolate in the UK… I would say at chocolate, we’re the best ever. I know people say, ‘Oh, what about Switzerland?’ No.”
Wonderbly
Your Life in Newspaper Headlines
What happened on the day he was born, and what happened on subsequent birthdays? Peruse the front page in headlines from his day of birth via The Miror's archive, or for a book with a more serious bent, The Telegraph's.
Horace
&Horace
Affordable fragrances — really, truly affordable ones that cost less than £65 — are very few and far between. &Horace is that rare thing, and it also happens to be our fragrance expert Sophie Clark's new favourite spritz: crisp on first spray and intimate on the dry down.
A boyfriend is a tricky customer because, unlike a husband, there's no paperwork between him staying and leaving. I'm sure he loves you very much, but just to make sure… I'd buy him something that us folks at GQ have loved. As you can see, it doesn't necessarily even have to set you back very much at all.
MasterClass
Subscription
Of late, there's been a huge uptick in apps that help you learn something with all of that time you're spending on your phone. Masterclass remains the best, offering extremely in-depth seminars on every conceivable subject taught by experts as practised — and famous — as Aaron Sorkin, Bill Clinton and Lewis Hamilton.
Abercrombie & Fitch
Popover Hoodie
All brands and designers can stop making hoodies from now on because Abercrombie's popover in ‘Soft AF’ cotton-blend is the best one.
A husband should be for life, not just Christmas, so make sure your purchasing reflects this commitment. If you want to buy something for a joke, remember that he's still going to be there when the balloons are all burst and stowed in the bin. Perhaps best to buy something serious, too.
Sunspel
Classic T‑Shirt
The GQ team's favourite white tee comes via the Great British house of Sunspel. A pure cotton display of quiet luxury.
Love him, hate him, hero worship him, wish he'd stop living off your parents… whichever combination of feelings you harbour for your fraternal relation, you probably want to buy him a gift, at least so you can put on a show at his birthday dinner. That's where one of these unthreateningly priced things comes in — because even if you think he's the greatest, no one wants to spend £££ on a sibling.
Nike
V5 RNR
Our in-house sneaker expert Adam Cheung (whatever you do, do not ask him how many shoes he owns) tips the V5 RNR for greatness, calling it “a sneaker that everyone should own.” It's on sale this week, too…
Best affordable gifts for him
As my research for the best stocking fillers and the best secret Santa gifts has shown me: you can get an awful lot for under £30. In fact, some of my favourite and most-recommended things cost just £20. Take a look for yourself.
Selfridges
Selection of Tinned Fish
Not everyone's a cookies and cakes kinda guy. For example, if your pops is always ordering olives for the table or trying to find new ways to pickle things then tinned fish is a much better shout. I also love how decadent the packaging is on these affordable little favours.
Best food gifts for him
All aboard the 14:00 for the heart, calling at the stomach by way of chocolates, olive oils and hot sauces.
Pomora
Adopt an Olive Tree
This is a delightfully personal gift without any of the bespoke initials that so many people find fussy: instead, the intimacy of this food gift comes from the fact that each bottle of olive oil comes from a single tree. He'll receive a picture of that specific tree, too. Cute!
Best high-end gifts for him
Spending big can either be completely literal, or relative to the thing you're buying. You could always drop over a grand on a designer backpack, but there's just as much — if not more — value in spending that money on something he'll use all the time, like an Oura ring or a perfect pair of boxer shorts.
CDLP
Boxer briefs (black)
A pair of boxer briefs is a familiar enough gift to spike his nostalgia, but a fancy pair by CDLP takes this adolescent staple into the stratosphere: think of it as buying him a bottle of Creed instead of a Lynx gift set.
Father's Day or not, you'll be hard-pressed to find a paternal greetings card that covers subjects beyond football and pints of lager. Luckily, there's much more scope when it comes to the gift itself.
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More of our favourite gifts for him…
Arket
Midweight T-shirt
The white T-shirt Olympics are a very serious thing indeed at GQ HQ, and while we love a bit of Tencel lyocell from CDLP, you just can't beat the midweight cotton design from Arket if you're looking for something more affordable.
Desmond & Dempsey
Jag Dressing Gown
Mine and my fiancé's favourite towelling robes come in both spots (Jag, pictured here) and stripes (Sansindo) — we have one of each as a fun way to do his ‘n’ hers.
Why you can trust GQ
British GQ has been functioning as a magazine that advises men on what to buy and how to wear it since 1989. Our American forebears have been doing it even longer than that – since 1931, to be exact. In that time, we've gathered a very solid understanding of what men want, what they like, and sometimes what they're too scared or lazy to buy for themselves. It makes us almost as qualified to talk about gifts as we are about menswear – and that's saying something. The GQ Recommends team is populated by writers who take this pedigree seriously: we spend our days scouring the market, both irl and online, to find which of the bazillion products and experiences you can buy are actually worth the dough. Most importantly, we have used most of the products, and all of the brands, that we feature in our guides. In the case of our gift guides, everything has been consulted in person, gifted to one of our loved ones, or selected from a cherished list of brands that we trust.
How I chose the best gifts for men
I, senior commerce writer and shopping expert Jessie Atkinson, have been working on the British GQ gift guides for over three years. In that time, I have tested, lived with, and interrogated friends and family guinea pigs on literally hundreds of products and experiences. I take pains to select gifts that either I have personally tried, that trusted associates and editors have personally tried, or from brands that all of us trust implicitly. It's no different in the making of this guide.
I particularly rate Ichendorf's glassware and Arket's T-shirts, while the editors of GQ love CDLP's boxer briefs and Casio watches. Further, the sneakers that feature in this guide have been recommended by our in-house shoe enthusiast Adam Cheung.
Team British GQ choose the best gifts for him
Former Features Editor Oliver Franklin-Wallis thinks you should consider your giftee's medicine cabinet. “Skincare: we all need it. But spending buckets on moisturiser in this economy can feel like an indulgence — which makes it the perfect gift. This offering by former GQ Grooming Award winner Youth To The People is my favourite, and comes packed with feel-good ingredients like hyaluronic acid and, er, kale, so you know it’s good for you.”
Audience Development Manager Hannah Enderby also suggests buying something that everyone would love but would never pay for themselves: “Anything that’s not essential is an easy, luxurious win.”
Contributing Writer Jack King is for a cheaper solution: "Gifts don’t have to be Xbox expensive. My go-to for a cheap, meaningful laugh? A novelty mug that says: ‘I love it when you send me that meme’. My brother bought me a Princess Diana mug two Christmasses ago and I still drink my morning coffee out of it every day."
Mike Christensen, Lifestyle Director, suggests an old faithful: “Activating the inner hoodie guy within everyone is my new favourite thing to do: he’s alive in all of us."
What should I buy a guy as a present?
If you know the man you're buying for, this could be either be really easy (you know him well) or a really challenging (there's more pressure to get it right). My main piece of advice is to keep a running list of things that he likes or has mentioned in passing over time. If it's a little late in the day to use this strategy, I also advise picturing your giftee opening his present: visualising his response can really help you make the decision.
If you don't know your giftee all that well, I also have some strong suggestions of gifts that, based on the positive reception they received at GQ, most people will probably appreciate. A box of cocktails from Nio Cocktails is genuinely smashing, Abercrombie's popover hoodie tops our best hoodies guide, and the embroidered T-shirts from Percival make nifty little gifts. I also wholeheartedly recommend Not Another Bill's personalisation service, which runs the gamut but is at its best with this monogrammed garment bag.
Best gifts for dads | Best high-end gifts | Best gifts for boyfriends | Best gifts for friends | Best hampers | Best gifts for husbands | Best gifts for brothers | Best gifts for teens | Best food gifts | Best subscription gifts | Best unusual gifts for men | Best travel gifts
