My niece always has a list of her likes in her birthday party invitation (online). It'll say something like, "I love all things pink and sparkly, Barbie, dogs, etc." And then everybody always ends up getting her the same thing. The first time I went to her birthday I listened to the list and got her a Barbie that has a puppy thinking she would love it because it had two things from her list, and of course like three people got her the same thing. Now I usually get her something from Michaels because all kids seem to love arts and crafts.

I understand the list because if people don't know the kid that well it could be helpful. But I think I'll just have a list in my head ready in case somebody asks so she doesn't get tons of duplicates.