A gift for someone with a fireplace

A gift for someone with an open fireplace is best when they use it every night they light a fire. In ascending price order: fire starters around twenty euros, a long lighter around fifteen, leather gloves around thirty, and a complete fireplace set for fifty to a hundred and twenty-five.

Everything above can be found in fireplace accessories. The price range runs from ten euros to a hundred and twenty-five, so there's something for every budget.

What's better to avoid: ornamental fireplace tool sets that only look nice, and scented wax cubes. Those end up in a cupboard after one use.

Anyone with a fireplace usually lights it a few times a week during the season. Every time it's the same ritual: fetch wood, light it, add more, clear the ash.

It's at these moments you notice whether your gear holds up. A lighter that keeps your hand out of the fireplace, gloves that can handle the heat, a basket that doesn't sag.

Ornamental pieces only get noticed on day one. That's why the value in this kind of gift lies in what someone picks up, not in what they look at.

Torn between two options? Choose whatever ends up in their hands more often.

There's a practical side too. Fireplace gear wears out or runs out, so you rarely go wrong with a gift in this category: a second pair of gloves or an extra box of fire starters won't end up sitting in a drawer.

And it's a gift tied to the season. Someone who receives something for the fireplace in November will use it that same week, and that makes more of an impression than something that only gets used in summer.

Around fifteen euros. The Felt Log Basket (60 litres) sits next to the fireplace and lets the wood dry further. Unassuming, but it earns its keep every evening.

Around twenty. Fire Starters 2 kg (200 pieces): a box that lasts a whole season, and works far better than paper.

Around thirty. The Heat-Resistant Leather Gloves, because adding logs with bare hands is the most common reason people wait for the fire to die down.

Around fifty to a hundred and twenty-five. The Fireplace Basic Set or the more extensive Fireplace Premium Set, which also includes the cast iron log splitter.

Someone who's just got a fireplace. A complete set. They don't have anything yet, so everything at once is most welcome.

Someone who's been lighting fires for years. Gloves or the log splitter. Exactly the things people keep putting off buying for themselves.

Not sure what they already have? Fire starters. They run out, so duplicates are never a problem here.

There are kids in the house. Magic Fire Powder (500G): a sachet in the fire turns the flames green and blue. It's more a moment than a gift, but it works.

Small budget, still want something nice. A long lighter from the fireplace lighters range.

Check whether there's something they definitely don't have yet. For most people that's the splitter or the gloves, since a lighter and a box of fire starters are usually already around.

Also pay attention to glove size. Leather fireplace gloves often run large, which is more of an advantage than a problem here: you want to be able to take them off quickly.

If you're giving this to someone with a wood stove rather than an open fireplace, the length of the lighter matters less. With a stove you light from closer up, as the door keeps the heat away.

And keep the box. With this kind of gift, it's not unusual for someone to have already been given one, and exchanging it unopened is a lot easier.

An ornamental fireplace tool set with four polished handles. They're usually too light to actually poke the fire with, so they end up there purely for show.

Scented wax cubes and perfumed fire starters. Anyone with a real fireplace wants to smell wood, not cinnamon.

Wood itself, unless you know exactly what they burn. A bag of damp wood is a burden, not a gift, and they won't find out until it starts hissing.

And decorative bellows. Nice on the wall, but nobody uses them; with the upside-down stacking method you don't even need air, as we explain in how to light an open fireplace using the Swiss method.

The rule of thumb is simple: give what he picks up, not what he looks at. Gloves, firelighters, a lighter that works outdoors too.

Want something bigger? A complete set is the logical choice, since it includes everything someone needs for one evening.