A star for someone who has everything

Name a star for someone special on the Intergalactic Star Database.

Some people are impossible to buy for because they buy things for themselves as soon as they want them. What they rarely have is something somebody else thought up. A star is registered under a name that you choose, so it can't already be in their cupboard.

Why it gets past the usual problem

The difficulty with this person isn't money. It's that anything you can find in a shop, they could have found too, and probably in a better version. So the useful question is what they couldn't have got for themselves. A few things about a star answer it.

• The name is yours. You could not buy this gift off a shelf, because the most important part of it is what you decide to call it. They would hardly name one after themselves.
• It doesn't add to the pile. The whole thing is four documents and a page on a website. There is nothing to dust, service, return or find a home for, which matters more than you might think to someone whose cupboards are already full.
• It gives them something to do. Finding a particular star with binoculars on a dark night is an unusual way to spend an evening, even for someone who has done most things.
• It keeps. From November 2026 each star has a page of its own on this website, with a live sky map and documents that can be printed again.
• It says you listened. Someone with everything has usually had plenty of expensive presents. Fewer people will have remembered the name of the boat they sailed in 1984, or what their father used to call them.

What to call it, for someone hard to impress

A plain name on a certificate is fine for most people. For this one, the wording is the present, so spend longer on it. You have up to 60 characters, and we print them exactly as you type them. Ask their oldest friend or their sister what they would suggest: the best material usually comes from someone who has known them for a long time.

• Own up to the difficulty: "For the Man Who Has Everything Else".
• Refer to something only you know: a holiday, a nickname from thirty years ago, or the name of the first car.
• Put it in writing: "Janet Is Always Right", for anyone who has been saying so for years.
• Mark an achievement: "Sir Geoffrey of the Allotment", for a first prize at the village show.
• Be simply affectionate: the full name, for someone who is more moved by plain things than they let on.

The certificate preview will show you exactly how it looks, and our guide to what to call your star goes through the options at more length.

Where it works best, and where it doesn't

A star is a good answer for retirement presents, big birthdays, ruby and golden anniversaries, and the Christmas present for the relative who claims to want nothing. See our pages on birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries and grandparents for ideas on each.

There are also some people it won't suit, and it's better to think about that now.

• A keen amateur astronomer will know that official star names are decided by the International Astronomical Union, which doesn't recognise names from any commercial registry. If they would enjoy the joke and the co-ordinates, go ahead. If it would irritate them, choose something else.
• Someone who needs a physical object may feel a pack of paper is slight. A frame for the certificate helps a good deal, as does giving it alongside a pair of binoculars.
• Someone expecting to spot it from the back door should know that most of our stars are just beyond what the eye can see on its own. Binoculars and a dark sky are part of the deal. How bright they are.

What they get, and how to give it

Every star we register is a real one. From November 2026 each new star is chosen from the Hipparcos catalogue and listed with its catalogue number, position and constellation, then entered in the Intergalactic Star Database with its own Database Number. No star is given to two people in our registry. We have been doing this since 2004, and more than a quarter of a million stars have been registered with us.

The posted gift pack is £13.99 with UK delivery included: a Certificate of Registry, a Star Area Co-ordinates Sheet, a welcome letter and a fold-out star chart, in a full-colour gift envelope. Royal Mail usually has packs on their way within 24 hours. The print-at-home star is £8.99 and ready as soon as you've paid, on ordinary A4 paper or card.

For a family that likes to do things together, up to ten stars can go in one order, each with its own name, registered side by side in the same small patch of sky. Stars this close together are too faint to see by eye, and a telescope will show them, which might be just the challenge for someone who has everything apart from a telescope. A single star, by contrast, is the one to choose if you would like them to go out and find it with binoculars.

Questions about gifts for people who have everything