Gifts by Who You're Shopping For

The strongest way to buy a grilling gift is to start from the person. “What does a griller want?” is too broad to answer well; “what does my dad, who grills every Sunday but still uses a bent spatula, want?” almost answers itself. These guides are organized around who you’re shopping for, because the right gift for a total beginner is the wrong gift for a pitmaster, and vice versa.

Match the gift to where they are

A beginner needs the fundamentals that make food better immediately — a thermometer, gloves, a starter tool set — not an expensive gadget they don’t yet have a use for. Gifts for beginner grillers is built around what actually helps, minus the overkill.

A grill master or pitmaster owns the basics ten times over, so the winning gift is an upgrade or a novelty: a wireless smart probe, a flat-top griddle that opens a new style of cooking, a salt block, a specialty tool. Gifts for grill masters focuses on the things that still surprise someone who has everything.

Dad, a husband or a boyfriend is the most common brief of all, and the honest answer is the same as for any griller: buy for how he cooks. Our gifts for dad and gifts for him guides span a twenty-dollar essential up to the grill of his dreams. And if he’s into low-and-slow rather than hot-and-fast, the gifts for meat smokers guide is a different shortlist entirely.

If you’re torn between the three most common briefs, our BBQ gift guide by recipient puts dad, the pitmaster and the beginner side by side — with a short diagnostic for working out which one you’re actually shopping for, and three picks under each heading.

And if the grill itself is already covered — he owns the cooker, you just want to add to it — our BBQ accessories for men guide sticks strictly to the bolt-on gear: heat protection, cleaning, fire management, temperature, smoke and carving, with nothing on it that needs you to know his grill model.

When you’re not sure how they cook

If you genuinely don’t know their setup, buy the universally useful things: a good instant-read thermometer works for every griller alive, heat gloves are always welcome, and a recognized-brand tool set is a safe bet. These “can’t-go-wrong” picks show up across every recipient guide for exactly that reason.

Not sure how much to spend? Cross over to the gifts by budget guides, where everything is sorted by price. Buying for a specific date? The occasions guides cover Father’s Day, Christmas, birthdays and stocking stuffers. Every pick, on every one of these pages, shows its live price and a buy link up front.