Giving a galaxy projector as a gift

Children between roughly four and twelve are the obvious answer, and it is obvious because it is true — a ceiling full of stars is a genuinely large thing to a small person, and being allowed to choose the scene is most of the appeal.

Less obviously, it works for adults who have recently moved somewhere they are trying to make feel like theirs, for students in a rented room they cannot decorate, and for anyone whose bedroom is also where they wind down. The common factor is a room somebody spends evenings in and cannot otherwise change.

Look at their ceiling, if you can do it without giving the game away. A flat, pale, matte ceiling is ideal; a heavily textured one scatters the light and the projection never looks sharp.

This is not a reason not to give it — a wall works just as well as a ceiling — but it is worth knowing, because it changes the advice you give them when they open it. "Point it at the wall opposite the bed" is a useful sentence to be able to say.

For a gift, more disc themes is the safer choice. You are picking on behalf of somebody whose taste you cannot fully predict, and a larger set means something in it will be exactly right. Ten is the version that is hard to get wrong.

The projector-only option is a fine gift if you know they already own discs. It is a poor gift otherwise, because it arrives as a device with one scene, and the variety is the part people enjoy.

It comes in black and white. This matters more than you might expect, because unlike most gadgets it lives on a shelf in a bedroom rather than behind a television, and it is visible during the day when it is off.

White disappears into a pale room; black reads as a piece of equipment. If you have no idea which suits their room, black is the more forgiving choice against furniture, and white against a pale wall.

The single most useful thing you can tell someone unwrapping a projector is that the room has to be dark and the surface has to be flat. Most first impressions are formed in a lit living room on Christmas afternoon, which is the worst possible test.

Suggest they try it that night, in the bedroom, with the curtains closed. The difference between that and the living room is the difference between a shrug and the reaction you were hoping for.

Check the delivery timing on the product page against when you actually need it, and check the returns terms, which are published on the shop. Both are worth thirty seconds if the gift has a date attached to it.

If you are shipping it directly to the recipient rather than to yourself, remember you will not get to check the contents first — order early enough that there is time to sort anything out.