Complete Stardew Valley Gifts Guide: Hearts, Marriage & Best Presents

01How the Friendship Heart System Works

Every villager in Pelican Town has a hidden friendship score measured in points. 250 points equal one heart, and most non-marriageable residents cap at 10 hearts (2,500 points). Marriage candidates cap at 8 hearts until you give them a Bouquet, which lifts the ceiling to 10 hearts; after marriage the cap rises to 14 hearts.

Friendship decays passively if you ignore a villager. Regular villagers lose approximately 2 points per day when you do not talk to them. Once you are dating someone (bouquet given), that increases to 10 points per day, and married spouses who feel neglected lose 20 points per day — so keep talking to your partner after the wedding.

You are allowed to give each villager two gifts per week (Sunday through Saturday), with one bonus gift permitted on their birthday regardless of the weekly total. Stardrop Tea is a special exception: it delivers 250 friendship points (one full heart) and can be given on top of the weekly limit. Talking to a villager daily also adds small amounts of friendship, and completing bundle or quest requests gives an additional boost.

Item quality adds a bonus on top: Silver quality is worth 10% more points, Gold quality 25% more, and Iridium quality 50% more. A Gold-quality loved gift on a birthday can deliver well over 800 friendship points in a single exchange.

02Universally Loved Gifts (Safe Choices for Any Villager)

Several items are loved by nearly every resident in the valley, making them reliable picks when you are unsure of a villager's individual preferences. Note that a handful of characters have personal exceptions — check individual preferences before spending a Prismatic Shard.

• Prismatic Shard — loved by everyone. Rare but decisive if you have a spare.
• Pearl — obtainable from the Night Market submarine or Mermaid Show chest; loved universally.
• Golden Pumpkin — reward from the Spirit's Eve festival maze; loved universally since patch 1.4.
• Magic Rock Candy — purchasable from the Desert Trader for three Prismatic Shards; universally loved.
• Rabbit's Foot — the most practical renewable universal love item. Rabbits raised in a Big Coop will occasionally produce it. Haley and Penny are the main exceptions who do not love it.

For cheaper day-to-day gifting, flowers (Tulip, Sunflower, Fairy Rose, etc.) are universally liked by almost everyone — useful when you just need steady point accumulation and do not want to spend rare items. Sebastian and Clint are among the few villagers who are not fond of flowers, so check before gifting.

03Best Gifts for Each Marriage Candidate

Each of the twelve marriageable villagers has personal loved gifts beyond the universal ones. Knowing these lets you give twice-weekly gifts that land as "Loved" for maximum point gain, and saves your rare universal gifts for birthdays or emergencies.

A practical strategy: keep a small stockpile of each candidate's cheapest loved gift (for example, Amethysts from the mines for Abigail and Emily, or Coffee brewed at home for Harvey) and give those on regular weeks. Reserve diamonds and Iridium Bars for birthday strikes, where the 8× multiplier turns a single gift into a friendship rocket.

04Road to Romance: Bouquet at 8 Hearts

To begin a romantic relationship with a marriage candidate, you first need to reach 8 friendship hearts with them. Once you hit that threshold, the Bouquet becomes available for purchase at Pierre's General Store for 200g. You can buy and give bouquets to multiple candidates simultaneously — the game does not restrict you to one partner at dating stage — but be aware that dating all six of one gender triggers a group heart event where your partners give you a chilly reception for a week.

Giving a Bouquet awards 25 friendship points and changes the recipient's status on your Social tab to "Boyfriend" or "Girlfriend." More importantly, it unfreezes the friendship cap, allowing the relationship to climb from 8 toward 10 hearts. Without the Bouquet, friendship with marriage candidates will stall at 8 hearts no matter how many gifts you give.

Keep gifting twice weekly after giving the Bouquet — and do not skip daily conversations, because the decay penalty increases to 10 points per day once you are dating. The four-heart gap from 8 to 10 needs 1,000 friendship points, which takes roughly six to eight weeks of consistent gifting with loved items.

05Marriage Steps: Mermaid's Pendant and the Wedding

Once your chosen candidate reaches 10 friendship hearts, Lewis will send you a letter acknowledging the relationship. Before you can propose, three additional requirements must be met:

• Farmhouse upgrade — visit Robin at the Carpenter Shop and purchase at least the first house upgrade (10,000g + 450 Wood). This adds a kitchen and, importantly, a second bedroom required for a spouse.
• Wooden bridge repaired — donate 300 Wood to the Community Center (Bridge Bundle, Crafts Room) or via the Joja route to repair the planks on the east beach, giving you access to the tidal pools area.
• A rainy day — the Old Mariner only appears at the east tidal pool area when it is raining. You cannot buy the pendant on sunny days or in winter (it does not rain in winter on the standard farm).

When all conditions are met and it is raining, walk to the far right of the beach past the repaired bridge. The Old Mariner will be standing at the tidal pools. Purchase the Mermaid's Pendant for 5,000g. This one-of-a-kind item is your engagement ring.

Give the Mermaid's Pendant to your chosen partner. They will accept and the wedding ceremony takes place three days later, in the morning before you leave the farmhouse. After the ceremony, your spouse moves into the farmhouse, gains their own personalised room addition, and begins contributing to farm life — cooking meals, tending crops, filling pet bowls, and occasionally leaving gifts near the fridge. Keeping your spouse's friendship high (through daily conversation and occasional gifts) unlocks further heart events and keeps the friendship from decaying.

06Quick Tips to Maximise Friendship Fast

• Never miss a birthday. A loved birthday gift at 8× points is worth roughly eight normal gift sessions. Check the calendar in the village square or your farmhouse and plan ahead.
• Talk every day you see a villager, even if you cannot gift. Conversation adds a small amount of friendship and halts the daily decay for that day.
• Feast of the Winter Star — the secret gift recipient gets 5× points. Find out who drew your name early and give them a loved item.
• Stardrop Tea is craftable from Stardrop Tea leaves (Pierre sells the recipe) and bypasses the weekly two-gift limit, making it the best overflow gift for villagers you are pushing hard.
• Complete Help Wanted board requests for extra friendship boosts — these do not count against the weekly gift cap.
• Quality matters. Farm Iridium-quality crops or forage to squeeze an extra 50% points out of every liked or loved gift.