Starsand Island Gift Guide: Every NPC's Loved & Liked Gifts
Last updated 2026-08-25 · Based on version 1.0 and community sources — items marked “TBC” are awaiting verification.
Short answer: you can give each NPC one gift per day; a favorite gift is worth roughly +15 affection, a liked gift +10, and a neutral one +5. If you don't know someone's taste yet, Pasture Grass and Celeste Berry are the safe universal picks — nearly everyone at least likes them. The tables below compile the community's most thoroughly verified gift data (the Steam gift guide by Whimsy & Runa, cross-checked against other sources), plus the official heart-event facts.
How Gifting and Affection Work
- One gift per NPC per day (reported by PCGamesN; single source, so treat as the practical rule (TBC)).
- Point tiers (reported by TheGamer, partially corroborated by PCGamesN): Favorite +15, Liked +10, Neutral +5, Disliked/Hated 0. Daily chat adds +5; bulletin board requests give +15 to +25; quests up to +50. These exact numbers come from third-party testing, not official docs (TBC).
- Heart events (official): 15 NPCs have 3❤ and 5❤ story events. The 3❤ event itself rewards 700 Coins + 50 Starsand + a further +60 affection; the 5❤ event rewards 2,000 Coins + 100 Starsand.
- Most gift data below was collected during Early Access; version 1.0 may have adjusted individual items.
Safe Gifts — and the Moonflower Myth
Two items are near-universal: Pasture Grass (liked by almost everyone; actually loved by Graminova, Marston, Matilda, and Sagewood) and Celeste Berry (liked by almost everyone; loved by Marston).
Gift Preferences: Romanceable NPCs
Condensed from the community-verified table (items the guide's authors marked unverified are omitted). "Avoid" lists disliked/hated items. Empty cells mean not yet tested, not "none."
| NPC | Loves | Likes (highlights) | Avoid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alex | Diamond | Light Blue Hydrangea, Moonflower, Honey, Premium Wood, various snacks | Planks, ingots; hates Pickled Water Spinach |
| Aurelis | Aurorite Ore | Most crops, eggs, and cooked dishes (Mirthshroom Soup, Grilled Fish…) | Ores/ingots; hates Soy Sauce, Strawberry Milk, Cooking Oil |
| Delphin | Hydrangeas (Blue, Light Blue), Sleep Lilies (Blue, Red, Yellow), Moonflower | Celeste Berry, Frost Fizz, Grilled Chicken Wings | Most fish; hates Fiddler Crab, Bug Bait, Scallop |
| Graminova | Farm crops & seeds across the board: Moonflower, Mirthshroom, Wheat, Pumpkin, Potato, seeds… | Celeste Berry, Hydrangeas, grilled dishes | Bamboo Shoot, Latiao, Soy Milk |
| Loren | Refined/crafted parts: Ingots (Copper–Gold), Magnet, Chip, batteries — plus Cappuccino and Iced Americano | Celeste Berry, Beef Jerky, Jelly | Copper Ore; hates Moonflower and Red Sleep Lily |
| Lunelle | Flannel, Linen, Leather, Fabrics (several colors) | Premium Wool, Moonflower, Celeste Berry, Wheat | Strawberry Milk |
| Neona | Iced Americano, Mocha, raw Ores (Copper–Aurorite), Runebird Fragment | Coconut Latte, Lamb Skewers, Moonflower | Copper Ingot; hates Mango Sago, Daiquiri, Frost Fizz |
| Pastelle | Animal feed of all kinds (Rabbit/Chicken/Duck/Pig/Cattle Feed…) | Celeste Berry, Baked Potato, Moonflower | Latiao, Softwood; hates Wishful Heart Cookies, Steamed Fish |
| Serena | Diamond, Sachets (Floral, Soothing, Warming) | Flowers, Dragon Fruit, Celeste Berry | Margarita; hates Curio Bowl |
| Solara | Strawberry Mousse, Tiramisu | Long list: Celeste Berry, Twilight Succulent, snacks, Watermelon Jam, Jelly… | Hates Mountain & Sea Skewers |
| Stella | Black Tea Macaron | Moonflower, Hydrangeas, Sleep Lilies, BC Milk, Honey | Bugs: Mantis, Swallowtail Butterfly, Celeb Moth |
| Sylvain | Moonflower, Twilight Succulent, Hydrangeas (Blue, Light Blue), Sleep Lilies (Blue, Red, Yellow) | Celeste Berry, Grilled Mushrooms, Mirage Sunflower | Char Siu Bao |
| Youfang | Fresh Bamboo Shoot, Bamboo, Bamboo Leaf | Celeste Berry, Hydrangeas (Blue, Purple), Moonflower | Soup Dumplings, Grilled Chicken Wings |
| Zephyria | Moonlit Forest gatherables: Moonflower, Spirit Fruit, Midnight Herb, Twilight Succulent… | Lamb Skewers, Aurorite Ore, Mirthshroom Soup | — (none tested yet) |
| Zerine | Raw ores & stone: Stone, Ores (Copper–Aurorite), Quartzite, Piggy Bank, Runebird Fragment | Celeste Berry, Moonflower, Strawberry Milk, Plain Noodles | Processed goods: Stone Brick, Copper Ingot, Softwood |
Handy patterns the testers noticed: Graminova loves anything he could have farmed, Pastelle loves feed, Loren loves anything refined or assembled, Zerine loves raw ore but dislikes it once you smelt it, and Zephyria loves whatever grows in the Moonlit Forest.
Gift Preferences: Other Residents
| NPC | Loves | Notes / avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Bruce | Bugs (butterflies, dragonflies, fireflies, cicadas…) plus Moonflower, Midnight Herb | The island's one bug lover |
| Charlene | Moonflower, Diamond, Sleep Lilies | |
| Garrick | Solid State Battery | Dislikes Negroni, Beef Jerky; hates Copper Ore |
| Hattie | Farm seeds (Wheat, Cabbage, Pineapple Seeds…) | Hates Coconut Drink |
| Marston | Celeste Berry, Dragon Fruit, Moonflower, Coconut, Pasture Grass, Sleep Lilies | Hates Latiao |
| Matilda | Moonflower, Pasture Grass, Yellow Sleep Lily, Wintermelon | Hates Mushroom Soup, Plain Noodles |
| Momo | Toys & jams: dolls, plushies, Yo-Yo, Mini 4WD, fruit jams | |
| Regis | Hearty cooked dishes: Plain Noodles, skewers, Grilled Chicken Wings, Fish Head Tofu Soup | |
| Sagewood | Cucumber, Peanut, Moonflower, Pasture Grass, Pickled Cabbage, Sleep Lilies | Dislikes Plain Noodles |
| Ginger | Plushies and dolls | Hates Bug Bait |
| Gust | Actual furniture (Stump Stool, tables, chairs, Matcha Double Bed…) | Hates Copper Ore, Runebird Fragment |
| Nia | Flowers: Moonflower, Hydrangeas, Sleep Lilies | Dislikes Aurorite Ore |
| Fang | Peppers and bugs | Dislikes Bamboo |
Animals can be gifted too: cats and dogs mostly love Carnivore Pet Food (and meat or fish), herbivores like Zippy the squirrel love Peanuts and Dragon Fruit, and the panda Booboo has a special mechanic — feed 25 Fresh Bamboo Shoots at once and he leads you to a reward crate behind the panda house.
Sugar Painting: the +30 Special Gift
Once you reach 2 hearts with an NPC, you can take a photo together, then bring the photo to the stall lady near Soluna Cafe and pay 100 coins for a custom Sugar Painting of that character (one per day; if she says "this one is a bit hard to draw," retake the photo). Given to the right character, it's worth up to +30 affection — but reactions vary, and testers documented an apparent bug where some characters say "Adored" yet grant no points (observed pre-1.0; current status (TBC)). Verified best responder: Aurelis (+30). Loren gives +10; Neona, Serena, and Stella +5; Alex is neutral.
What We Deliberately Left Out
To keep this page trustworthy: the rumored birthday 3x bonus has no surviving source (the one article claiming it is dead) and no confirmed heart-point thresholds exist in any first-hand source, so neither appears here. Where the community sources conflict (e.g., one site claims Zerine loves Copper Sheet; testers found she dislikes it), we follow the tested data.