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Each of the marriage candidates in Stardew Valley is unique, with Alex serving the role of the athletic guy-next-door type. However, get to know him and he’ll open up to you, showing that he’s actually a vulnerable guy with a soft and kind heart, as well as a storied past.
If you’re looking to level your friendship up, here are all of the gifts that Alex prefers, including the universal gifts in the game.
Loved Gifts
At the start of a playthrough, you might have trouble finding some gifts that Alex will love. This is because he loves fewer different items than the other marriage candidates, and they aren’t readily available.
Aside from the universal loves (covered below), Alex loves two things: Complete Breakfast and Salmon Dinner. You’ll receive 80 friendship points for giving him these dishes. You can get 8x the points if you give him a loved gift on his birthday, which is Summer 13.
The Complete Breakfast is Fried Egg, Hashbrowns, Pancakes, and some milk . You’ll receive the recipe by watching the Queen of Sauce on Spring 21 in Year 2 (or the following Wednesday).
The Salmon Dinner is made by cooking salmon, some amaranth, and some kale.
Since you won’t be able to cook until you get a kitchen, you’ll need to hope that those two dishes show up in Gus’s rotating stock. Otherwise, be sure to gift Alex the things he likes instead.
Liked Gifts
Since so many of Alex’s loved gifts are the hard-to-obtain universal loves or dishes you have to cook, it’s easier in the early-game to rely on giving him liked gifts. You’ll receive 45 friendship points with Alex for gifting him these items.
Our Other Stardew Valley Guides
Alex likes all of the universal likes, without exception.
However, luckily, he also likes all eggs except Void Eggs. Since a Coop is usually one of the first buildings many people build, getting some eggs from your chickens to give to Alex can help win his favor.
Universal Gifts in Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley’s characters have some common tastes, considered the “universal loves” and “universal likes.” These are gifts that almost everyone loves or likes, with few exceptions.
The universal loves include the following: Magic Rock Candy, Prismatic Shards, Golden Pumpkins, pearls, and rabbit’s feet. However, these can be very hard to obtain, so stick to the two cooked dishes Alex loves instead, perhaps. For the universal likes, the list is long. It includes Life Elixir, maple syrup, most artisan goods, most fruit tree fruits, most gems, most vegetables, most flowers, and most of the foraged minerals you can find.
It also includes most cooked dishes. But, Alex’s only exceptions to this list are the two cooked dishes that he loves instead, Complete Breakfast and Salmon Dinner.
