Stardew Valley – Reliable Gift Guide

So you have your waifu’s gifts memorized. Great! What about everyone else? This guide delves into what to plant to make everyone happy.

Foreward

All credit goes to Ryvaken Tadrya!

It’s relatively easy to find the best gifts for one person with a little research. Set aside a few crops, mine a few gems, whatever it takes it’s usually straightforward to hit that twice a week limit for that one special lady in your life.

It’s much harder to plan out how to turn your farm into a friendship factory.

This guide isn’t for telling you how to get hearts as fast as possible with each villager. Our goal is much grander, if more gradual. We won’t have the luxury of gold-starred loves on every gift. Our goal is to make sure that on Saturday, there are two liked-or-better gifts checked off for everyone in the Valley.

We will NOT bother with gifts that are hard to come by, limited, or otherwise unhelpful. Yes, everyone loves a Golden Pumpkin, but that doesn’t exactly HELP when the vast majority of the time you won’t HAVE one. Similarly, rare gems aren’t worth mentioning. We want goods that require nothing but the farm. We want easily acquired gifts that can be mass produced for consistent results.

Year-round

This section lists farmable gifts that are liked or better by nearly everyone and are achievable at any time. Sounds too good to be true? Most of the options here have a heavy cost to make in any kind of volume. Treat them as reserve options, especially in winter.

Raw Materials

Everything in this list comes out of the farm as-is, no processing needed.

• Rabbit’s Foot – Fill a couple deluxe coops with rabbits and give their feet away. Works on everyone but Penny, who you’ll need to cover separately. Technically sustainable, but the pricetag is absurd. This tactic is best left to an established farmer who neglected friendship bonuses until after becoming richer than Joja.
• Fruit Trees – Everyone likes or loves every tree fruit. There’s no way to go wrong with these.
• Maple Syrup – Slow but reliable. Misses only Maru.

Artisan Goods

Everything in this list needs to be processed some way. That slows things down, but not impossibly.

• Cheese – Available each day from cows or goats, with frequent gold stars. In the late game, you can go even higher, but it’s not worth it. Misses four, though: Harvey, Jas, Sebastian, and Vincent.
• Cloth – Expensive even by these standards. Misses Jas, Sebastian, and Vincent.
• Honey – The flower used doesn’t matter. Misses Jas, Maru, Sebastian, and Vincent. But see Mead.
• Mayonnaise – Chicken and duck are the same for giving, but chicken has gold star varieties. Misses Caroline, Jas, Sam, Sebastian, and Vincent.
• Mead – Liked or better by everyone but Penny, who likes the honey. Pretty fast in the keg, too. On a note, how is THIS the only Artisan Good that hits Jas and Vincent?!
• Jelly – Relatively fast to produce, but it misses Jas, Sebastian, and Vincent.
• Juice – There are better uses for a keg, but this is liked by enough to be worth it. Misses Jas, Sebastian, and Vincent.
• Pickles – Special mention, pickles miss Jas, Sebastian, and Vincent too, but also miss Maru, Sam, and Shane. A bad option for reliable gifts.
• Wine – Special mention, wine misses Jas, Sebastian, and Vincent too, but also Penny. Not a bad option, but not as reliable or as fast as Jelly.

Cooking

Everything in this list needs access to the kitchen of an upgraded farmhouse. This is probably the biggest overhead, but it’s reliable in its own way.

• Omelet – At a cost of one milk and one egg, you can make this recipe multiple times a day with a coop and barn. Sebastian, Krobus, and Willy will need special handling.
• Salad – Leek, Dandelion, and Vinegar. Wild Seeds will keep you well-stocked on the first two. Can also be purchased at the saloon for 220g. Since the vinegar itself costs 200g, buying is better than crafting. Misses Krobus and Willy.
• Chocolate Cake – Wheat Flour, Sugar, and Egg. You can make it all yourself or buy the ingredients from Pierre. Recipe comes late in year 1 Willy and Krobus don’t want a slice.
• Sashimi – An early recipe from Linus made with any fish, even crab pots and beach forage. Misses Emily, Evelyn, Kent, Krobus, and SOMEHOW Willy.
• Algae Soup – An early recipe from Clint made with four otherwise useless green algae. Free likes for the fisherman, but misses Krobus, Kent, Penny, and Willy.
• Pale Broth – When the algae turns white, two of them become this. Liked by everyone but Krobus, Penny, and Willy. Still, fishermen have a huge advantage in churning out three broadly liked food with their junkiest catches.
• Chowder – Clam and milk are both easily procured each day, and everyone but Krobus wants it.

Spring

Raw Materials

Everything in this list comes out of the farm as-is, no processing needed.

• Blue Jazz – Slow. Misses Clint, George, and Sebastian.
• Green Bean – Repeat harvests every three days. You miss five though: Abby, Haley, Jas, Sam, and Vincent. But see Bean Hotpot under Cooking. This one crop may be all you’ll need.
• Tulip – A little faster than the Jazz, still misses Clint, George, and Sebastian.

Cooking

Everything in this list needs access to the kitchen of an upgraded farmhouse. This is probably the biggest overhead, but it’s reliable in its own way.

• Bean Hotpot – Just two greenbeans and a recipe from Clint. The recipe comes earlier than it should because of a bug. Only problem is that the greenbeans were better gifts on their own to most people. Hits everyone but Krobus and Willy.

Artisan Goods

Everything in this list needs to be processed some way. That slows things down, but not impossibly.

Coffee – Tea is for wimps and we all know it. Misses Jas and Vincent, because they’re too young to appreciate it. Continues into Summer.

Summer

Raw Materials

Everything in this list comes out of the farm as-is, no processing needed.

• Corn – Repeat harvests and a long growing period leads to a big harvest. Misses Abigail, Haley, Jas, Sam,Vincent, and Pierre, but see Tortilla below. Continues into Autumn.
• Summer Spangle – Slow. Misses Clint, George, and Sebastian.
• Sunflower – Providing its own seeds is a nice touch. Misses Clint, George, and Sebastian. Continues into Autumn.
• Sweet Pea – Abundant from seeds and forage. Misses Clint, George, and Sebastian.

Cooking

Everything in this list needs access to the kitchen of an upgraded farmhouse. This is probably the biggest overhead, but it’s reliable in its own way.

• Pepper Poppers – Hot Pepper plus cheese isn’t too hard to pull off. Hits everyone but Krobus and Willy.
• Tortilla – Just one piece of corn becomes liked by everyone but Krobus, Leah, Willy, Kent, and Pierre. Pierre is the only one who dislikes Corn and tortillas. Continues into Autumn.

Artisan Goods

Everything in this list needs to be processed some way. That slows things down, but not impossibly.

• Beer – Both wheat and beer are fast to make. Misses Jas, Penny, Sebastian, and Vincent. Continues into Autumn.
• Coffee – Tea is for wimps and we all know it. Misses Jas and Vincent, because they’re too young to appreciate it. Continued from Spring.
• Pale Ale – Hops take a long time to get going but harvest every day, and the keg process is as fast as beer. Still misses Jas, Penny, Sebastian, and Vincent.

Autumn

Raw Materials

Everything in this list comes out of the farm as-is, no processing needed.

• Corn – Repeat harvests and a long growing period leads to a big harvest. Misses Abigail, Haley, Jas, Sam,Vincent, and Pierre, but see Tortilla below. Continued from Summer.
• Fairy Rose – Hideously slow. Misses Clint, George, and Sebastian.
• Pumpkin – Expensive and slow. Misses Haley, Jas, Sam, and Vincent.
• Sunflower – Providing its own seeds is a nice touch. Misses Clint, George, and Sebastian. Continued from Summer.

Cooking

Everything in this list needs access to the kitchen of an upgraded farmhouse. This is probably the biggest overhead, but it’s reliable in its own way.

• Cranberry Candy – It’s actually cranapple juice, but whatever. Misses Krobus and Willy and something you should give EVERYONE just because YOU CAN. Cranberry is awesome.
• Tortilla – Just one piece of corn becomes liked by everyone but Krobus, Leah, Willy, Kent, and Pierre. Pierre is the only one who dislikes Corn and tortillas. Continued from Summer.

Artisan Goods

Everything in this list needs to be processed some way. That slows things down, but not impossibly.

• Beer – Both wheat and beer are fast to make. Misses Jas, Penny, Sebastian, and Vincent. Continued from Summer.

Winter

Raw Materials

Everything in this list comes out of the farm as-is, no processing needed.

• Crocus – This is as close as you get to a good gift from winter foraging. Misses Clint, George, and Sebastian.

…so you have a deep pantry, right? You’re gonna need it.

A Simple Plan

Plant Green Beans, lots of them. Your best go to Clint until he gets 3 hearts and teaches you the Bean Hotpot. This also gets you Algae Soup, so the second best goes to Linus until he teaches you Sashimi. In summer, replace the green beans with corn. Give away the stars, stock up the rest, sell enough to build the farm up.

Your major buys are a kitchen, a coop, and a barn. With those three you can put out cheese, mayo, and omelettes to hit everyone but Sebastian.

Your major gifts will be Green Beans and Corn. Against the specific people those miss, you can cook them into Bean Hotpot and Tortilla, but it will probably be better to go fishing. Sashimi and Algae Soup are easy dishes in any season and they hit everyone Green Beans and Corn miss.

A Simpler Plan

There are 33 people to give gifts to. That’s 66 gifts a week, or just over 9 gifts a day. Ten fruit trees in the greenhouse gets the job done.

A Realistic Ending Note

Unless you cheat the clock, ruin your economy, or drive yourself mad, gifting every villager twice a week is a little crazy. Rather, the idea is that this is a list of easy to mass produce things where you can pick up a handful from your farm, go into town, and just give them to people you were walking past anyway.