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The right subscription service for the right person is the ultimate “I see you” present, the kind of gift they’ll appreciate every time they log into the news service you gave them, or every time the box with a tasty meal or cool gadget arrives on their porch. Below are the best gift subscriptions for every type of person, from the snobby cinephile to the terminally online.
The best overall gift subscription: Custom monthly boxes from Bespoke Post
Bespoke Post is my pick for the best overall because it solves that perpetual holiday problem of what to get the person who’s impossible to shop for. Most gift box services are aimed at specific niches, but Bespoke Post casts a wider net by letting users choose exactly what comes in their box every month. One month they can get high-end coffee supplies. The next, outdoor gear. If nothing catches their eye, they can just skip a month. If you want to give someone a present they will truly never tire of, a subscription to Bespoke Post is for you.
If you’re looking for a gift for someone who is constantly doomscrolling, get them a subscription to the New York Times. Its old-school, objective reporting is the antidote to social media alarmism, and it also has good recipes and the best puzzles. An all-access subscription opens up the full New York Times archive going back to 1851, NYT Cooking, daily crosswords, and the 10,000-puzzle archive (including Wordle, Connections, Spelling Bee, and all of your other favorite time-wasters).
The best gift subscription for the lifetime learner: Lessons with the greats from MasterClass
If that person on your list is always trying to exercise their brain, a subscription to MasterClass is a lot cheaper than grad school. This educational streaming service covers a wide range of subjects, from science to acting to business, and includes extensive lectures from heavyweights in each field. They can take a deep dive into filmmaking with Martin Scorsese, take music lessons from Timbaland, or learn cooking from Gordon Ramsay. A subscription unlocks the entire library, so they can learn as much or as little as they choose.
The best gift subscription for a bookworm: Audiobooks from Libro.fm
Libro.fm lets users listen to audiobooks while supporting their local independent bookstore, instead of supporting a huge corporation that shall go unnamed. Libro’s content is free of the digital rights management of its main competitor, so users can listen to the books they own however they like instead of being locked into a proprietary player. Libro’s firm anti-AI-narration stance ensures you aren’t paying for robotic readers, and users can choose which independent bookstore to support through Libro’s profit-sharing model.
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The best gift subscription for the crafter: Monthly craft crates from Adults & Crafts
If you’re buying a gift for someone who likes to make things with their hands, the Adults and Crafts crate will keep them busy with a monthly project to work on. Each crate includes the tools, materials, and instructions for a bespoke craft object—everything from pressed flowers to a resin fruit tray or an enamel glass painting. Not only will they end up with a unique object, but each project is also a mini-lesson in crafting techniques.
The best gift subscription for the takeout-dependent: Ready-made chef-quality meals CookUnity
If someone you know is drowning in debt from paying for DoorDash and Uber Eats, get them a sub to CookUnity. It’s not one of those services that delivers ingredients and instructions; CookUnity provides restaurant-quality meals created by star chefs like Esther Choi and Marcus Samuelsson for around $11 each, and the only “cooking” required is a little microwaving.
The best gift subscription for a cinephile: Obscrure entertainment from Eternal Family
If you’re buying a gift for a film lover who thinks The Criterion Channel is too mainstream, hit them with a membership to Eternal Family, a streaming service that bills itself as the “hidden gem video store.” They don’t mean “hidden gems” that are actually widely known, like The Prestige or something. This is the uncut stuff, like Heino Pars’ achingly beautiful 1983 stop-motion film Valley of the Honey Makers (way better than Bee Movie) or In the Dust of the Stars, a visionary science fiction film made behind the Iron Curtain in Romania in 1976. Every option is a different strange delight you likely can’t watch anywhere else.
