The only way you can romance a character in Stardew Valley is by giving them gifts. The more gifts you give someone, the more friendship points you will get with them.
Relationships in Stardew Valley are defined by hearts, which visually show your total friendship points. You can have any number of hearts from 0 to 10 with most normal NPCs and can even get as high as 14 with your spouse.
Recommended Read: What Gifts Does Haley Like in Stardew Valley?
Sam is one of the romanceable characters in Stardew Valley, and giving him the right gifts will make the romance process much easier. Since you can only give two gifts per week, you should be careful what you give.
Sam doesn’t like or love a lot of gifts/items in Stardew Valley. Still, the best item that you can give him, which you will easily procure using money, is Joja Cola.
Table of Contents
- How Friendship Works and Why You Should Give Gifts
- What Gifts Does Sam Like and Love in Stardew Valley
- Best Gift to Give Sam in Stardew Valley
How Friendship Works and Why You Should Give Gifts
You must give gifts to NPCs in Stardew Valley if you want to become friends with them.
Some people will love some things while others will hate them. You will receive a varying number of friendship points depending on how they respond to the gift.
In Stardew Valley, 10 friendship hearts are the usual cap for each villager. The limit with Sam is 10 hearts while he is single, and it rises to 14 after marriage.
To acquire hearts with Sam, you must first gain friendship points with him. In Stardew Valley, each heart is worth 250 friendship points. These points will gradually deplete over time.
The best way to befriend someone is to give them gifts they love. This will increase your relationship with them by 80 friendship points.
If you don’t have those items, you can also give them liked items, which will increase the relationship by 45 friendship points.
As long as you don’t give them disliked or hated items, you will only improve your relationship with NPCs by giving gifts. Since you only lose 2 points a day with them, the liked gifts will usually be enough.
What Gifts Does Sam Like and Love in Stardew Valley
Some items in Stardew Valley are universally loved by all NPCs, including Sam.
These gifts are the Golden Pumpkin, Magic Rock Candy, Pearl, Prismatic Shard, and Rabbit’s Foot.
Here is a list of the gifts that Sam likes and loves in Stardew Valley, excluding the universally loved items, and how to get them:
| GIFT | SOURCE | OPINION |
|---|---|---|
| Cactus Fruit | Foraging – Desert | Love |
| Maple Bar | Cooking – TV, 14 Summer, Year 2 | Love |
| Pizza | Cooking – TV, 7 Spring, Year 2 / The Stardrop Saloon for 150 g Purchase – Stardrop Saloon (300 g) | Love |
| Tigerseye | Mining | Love |
| All Eggs (-Void Eggs) | Farming – Chickens, Ducks | Like |
| Joja Cola | Purchase – Stardrop Saloon / JojaMart for 75 g | Like |
Best Gift to Give Sam in Stardew Valley
The best gift that you can get and give Sam in Stardew Valley is Joja Cola. Though it is only a “liked” gift, it is extremely easy to get since you just need to purchase it.
The price is also extremely low, and you only have to give him two of them a week, only losing you 150 g. Compared to the other items on the list, this is the best thing you can give him in the early game.
When you have more money and you don’t want to go through the process slowly, you might consider buying Pizza from the Stardrop Saloon since you will have to pay 300 g for one instead of 75 g for a Joja Cola.
In theory, this investment is not really worth it since you can just have patience.
But, if you want to quickly marry this man, then buying him Pizza and gifting it twice a week will get the job done in no time.
If you like cooking, you can also try to make the Pizza. However, this can be quite an effort since you need Wheat Flour, Tomatoes, and Cheese to make it.
Players who don’t want to spend money on gifts can also give him Cactus Fruit, which is readily available in the Calico Desert.
However, you need to spend a lot of money to unlock the location, so you choose which investment is worth the gold.
That’s everything you need to know about what gifts Sam likes in Stardew Valley!
Have any input or suggestions for this guide? Let us know in the comment section below.
