New Year gift for your boyfriend: what to give if you are together on the 31st, and what to send if you are notNew Year gift for your boyfriend: what to give if you are together on the 31st, and what to send if you are not

Two kinds of New Year's Eve, two kinds of gift

Most couples in India do not spend the 31st the same way every year. Sometimes you are at the same party, sometimes he is home with his parents in another city, sometimes you are both in the same PG town but stuck with flatmates. The gift should match the night you will actually have.

If you will be apart: send something that reaches his room before the 31st and that he can use while you are on a video call at midnight. Our pick is Vanilla Reverie, Rs 549, our only scented candle: warm vanilla in an amber glass jar with a black screw lid and gold flakes. It ships well, it looks grown-up on a hostel shelf, and the lid keeps dust off between evenings.

If you will be together: the gift can be smaller, and the evening does the rest. A navy Spiral Pillar Candle at Rs 179 for his desk, plus a box of Heart Tealights, Rs 349 for 10, to light for your own countdown before or after the party.

Raajkosh hand-pours all of these in pure soy wax in Jalandhar. Apart from the vanilla jar, our pieces have no fragrance as standard.

Is he a candle person? A quick check

Not every boyfriend wants a candle, and a gift he will not use is money gone. A candle suits him if:

• he already has fairy lights, posters or plants in his room, and cares how it looks;
• he reads, studies or works late at a desk;
• he has said a room "smells like a hostel" and meant it.

It probably does not suit him if he lives with strict landlords who ban flames, shares a room with three people, or has never once bought anything for his room. In that case, give him one of the ideas further down and keep the candle for yourself.

Picks by how long you have been together

Below Rs 999 an order pays Rs 79 shipping. Add the spiral set of 5 to Vanilla Reverie (Rs 1,348) and it ships free.

Sending it to a PG, hostel or his parents' house

• Check who receives parcels. Many PGs leave parcels at the gate. If his parents receive it, a plain outer box and a note from you is fine; a heart-covered one may raise questions he would rather answer himself.
• Use the gift note. You can add gift packaging and a gift note on the product page. Keep it short and about the year ahead: "First of many New Years" works better than a paragraph.
• Tell him it is coming, or tell his flatmate. A parcel that sits unclaimed at a hostel desk on the 31st is the most common way this goes wrong.
• A name or a date on the tag is a custom piece, by enquiry on our custom orders page. Ask in early December.

What else girlfriends give for New Year

• A planner or a journal for the year, with a note on the first page.
• Headphones, a power bank or a phone stand. Useful for the man who lives on calls.
• Clothes: a hoodie, a jacket or a good pair of socks for January.
• A plan: tickets for the first match, gig or film of the year.
• His favourite food, ordered to his PG at midnight if you are apart.
• Woody, smoky or sporty scents. Our one scented jar is vanilla. If he prefers those notes, look at brands that make scented candles for men.

Before you order for 31 December

New Year's Eve is a Thursday this time and New Year's Day a Friday, a week after Christmas, so December courier lanes are busy. We dispatch in 24 to 48 hours; delivery takes 2 to 7 days after dispatch, anywhere in India. Order in early or mid December and check the estimate for his pincode on the product page. We do not promise a delivery date.

Prepaid only, by UPI, card, net banking or wallet through Razorpay; no cash on delivery. Request a return within 24 hours of delivery; damage reported in that window is replaced or refunded.

If he lights the tealights or the jar in a small room, keep them on a heat-proof surface away from curtains and bedding, never leave them unattended, and keep each burn to 3 to 4 hours.