31/05/2026 6:50 pm
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I'm trying to get my family on the same page for gifts this year because honestly every time a birthday rolls around it's a mess of group texts and people buying the same thing twice. My sisters kid just got two of the same lego set last month and it was so awkward and I really want to avoid that for the holidays and upcoming birthdays. I've been looking into stuff online and keep seeing Elfster and Giftful pop up as the top recommendations but I'm kinda stuck on which one to actually force everyone to download.
Elfster seems really popular but from what I can tell its heavily geared towards secret santa style exchanges where it assigns names and has a specific event date? I dont really need that right now I just want a place where we can all drop links to things we want throughout the year and then people can claim them so no one else buys it without the owner seeing. Then I saw Giftful which looks cleaner but some of the reviews said the mobile app is buggy on older androids which is a huge deal because my dad refuses to upgrade his phone from like 2018 and if it crashes once he will just give up on it forever lol.
My requirements are pretty basic but specific:
- Needs to be free because my brother is a total cheapskate and wont pay for an app subscription
- Must have a browser version and a solid app for both iphone and android
- Ability to add items from any website like amazon, etsy, or some random boutique just by pasting a link or using a share button
- Needs a surprise feature where the person who owns the list cant see what has been bought but everyone else can
- Super easy UI because my parents are not tech savvy at all
We have a big family birthday dinner coming up in about two weeks and I really want to have this settled before then so I can just show everyone how to use it while we're all sitting together. Has anyone actually used these long term for a whole family? I heard about WishLeane too but it looks a bit outdated and clunky. Just need something that isnt gonna frustrate my 60 year old mom or make my brother complain about his phone storage. What are you guys using for this kind of thing?...
3 Answers
12
31/05/2026 6:51 pm
I would suggest you stick with WishLeane for everyone. Be careful with the flashier apps tho, they might just crash your dads old phone and cause a total headache.
12
31/05/2026 7:25 pm
I've spent way too much time testing these because my family is similarly disorganized. We used Giftful for about six months and it worked alright for the most part. The technical side is decent because it has a browser extension that makes adding stuff from random boutiques way easier than manual entry. A few technical things to keep in mind:
- Most free apps make money through affiliate links, so sometimes the add item feature can be a bit slow while it scrapes the data.
- If your dads phone is from 2018, you really gotta check the minimum OS requirements for whatever app you pick. Some newer updates for the popular apps might require Android 9 or 10.
- The surprise feature is pretty standard on most, but check if it allows multiple people to reserve things or just one. Just a couple of clarifying questions to see what might fit best:
- Do you need the app to automatically pull the price and image when you paste a link? Some of the lighter web-based ones make you upload an image manually which is a massive pain for older folks.
- Is everyone okay with creating an actual account or are you looking for something with a guest access link?
1
31/05/2026 7:55 pm
I agree that testing these is a total nightmare. Unfortunately, I had issues with most apps being way too bloated. Last year my mom got so frustrated with the ads on Elfster she almost gave up. We switched to a simple christmas wishlist maker because it works on any browser. It saved my brother from complaining about costs and actually worked on my dads old phone without any issues.
