# Write the gift idea down when it comes up, and see it again before the day Published: 2026-10-28 Updated: 2026-10-15 Source: https://groupthink.com/releases/gift-ideas/ ![](https://media.groupthink.com/uploads/2026/10/gift-ideas-featured.png) Video: https://media.groupthink.com/uploads/2026/10/gift-ideas-explainer-music.mp4 Maya Okonjo is good at hearing gift ideas and bad at remembering them. In August her sister Ada said she wanted to take a pottery class. In September a client, Theo Marchetti, mentioned he’d started roasting his own coffee. Both were perfect gifts. By December, Maya used to remember neither. The ideas aren’t the hard part. Keeping them somewhere you’ll see them before the day is. So this year Maya writes them down on the person’s page in Groupthink, the day they come up. ## Note an idea when it comes up Open **Relationships** and click the person. Their page has a **Gifts** section, below **Goals**. Click **Add gift idea**. Say what the gift is, like “A pottery class for two.” Under **Where it came up**, you can add where you heard it, like “Lunch with Ada in August.” That line helps later, when you’re trying to remember why it seemed like a good idea. Under **For**, pick **Birthday**, **Holidays**, **Anniversary**, or leave it on **Any occasion**. Click **Save idea**. The idea shows under **Ideas**, with where it came up and who it’s for. Add as many as you like. To delete one, hover over it and click the trash icon. If someone’s page is new and has nothing on it yet, you’ll see **Show all sections** near the top. Click it to get to **Gifts**. ## See it before the day Ideas you noted show up on **Today**, under **Coming up**, so they find you before the date instead of after it. A birthday or anniversary usually appears two weeks ahead. When you’ve noted an idea for that occasion, or for Any occasion, it appears three weeks ahead instead, which is more time to order something and have it arrive. Under the date, you’ll see **You noted:** and the idea, with where it came up. Maya has Ada’s birthday on file, November 2. On October 12 it showed up on Today, with “You noted: A pottery class for two” under it. Without the idea, the row wouldn’t have appeared until October 19. An idea for **Any occasion** shows under each of that person’s dates. An idea for **Birthday** shows only under their birthday. ## The holidays are about eight weeks out Groupthink doesn’t put a holiday row on Today for everyone you know. That would be a long list nobody reads. It puts one there for each person you’ve noted a holiday idea for. From late November, a **Holidays** row appears on Today for anyone with an idea for **Holidays** or **Any occasion**, and it counts down to December 25. You get it a month before the day. So the work to do now is small. When you hear something this fall, write it down on their page and set it to **Holidays**. Maya noted “A bag of beans from a roaster he hasn’t tried” on Theo’s page in September. It will be on her Today page at the end of November, next to his name. ## Mark it given When you give the gift, open the person’s page and click **Mark given** next to the idea. Click an idea on Today and you go straight to the **Gifts** section of their page. The idea moves to **Given**, dated today. Groupthink also logs it as a gift on their page, so it counts as being in touch with them. You don’t have to log it a second time. If you clicked it too soon, click **Not given yet**. The idea goes back to **Ideas** and the logged gift comes off their page. If a gift never started as an idea, you can still log it. Click **Log** on their page, write what you gave, and pick **Gift** under **How did it happen?** ## Record how it landed Under each given gift is a question: **How did it land?** Pick **Loved it**, **Liked it** or **Didn’t land**. It takes a second, and it pays off next year. Before Maya picks Ada’s next birthday gift, she can open the **Given** list and see what she gave last time and how it went. The steps are in the help center under [Gifts](https://groupthink.com/docs/relationship_intelligence#gifts). ## Start with one idea Groupthink is a memory for the people in your life and work. Gift ideas are some of the easiest things to lose, because you hear them months before you need them. If you already use Groupthink, think of one gift idea you’ve heard this fall, open that person’s page, and write it down. If you don’t have Groupthink yet, [sign up](https://app.groupthink.com/signup/) and start with the people you buy for.