What gitf do you give when your attending a birthday party? why?

When I have to give some gift I will think of certain things that is important and I will have to be sure that it his/her favorite. Like for an instance, I have a female friend likes pink color and she loves bag or clothes then I will buy for it. I have also a friend who likes cartoon character "Winnie the Pooh" and during her birthday I gave her a "Winnie the Pooh" stuff toy. I will give gift that depends or best suit to his/her likes.

I've never really been creative with picking out gifts for others.. I usually just tell them to give me a list, so I don't have to try to figure out what they'd like on my own. And if they give me a list of what they'd like, I'll pick a couple things off of it and get them for that person. Otherwise, I usually stick with gift cards or gift certificates to stores that I know they like.