Alex with his Gridball in Stardew Valley
Image by Destructoid

What does Alex like in Stardew Valley?

Become a pro gift-giver

Alex is the Jock of Stardew Valley and can usually be found lifting weights, or talking about how he’s going to make it big in the world of Gridball. If you’re looking to romance this sports-mad bachelor, you’ll need to learn the gifts he likes to receive. 

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Thankfully, he’s not too complicated. He’s not part of the exceptions for universally loved gifts, and the things he does love are pretty easy to make or find. 

Universal gifts

Love icon from Stardew Valley
Image by Destructoid

There are some gifts which, when given to a villager are pretty much guaranteed to increase your friendship points:

Universally loved gifts:

  • Stardrop Tea
    • Additional benefit of being able to give another, secondary gift
  • Golden Pumpkin
  • Magic Rock Candy
  • Pearl
  • Prismatic Shard (except Haley)
  • Rabbit’s Foot (except Penny)

Universally liked gifts:

  • All artisan goods (except for Oil and Void Mayonnaise)
  • All cooking (except Fried Egg, Bread, Strange Bun and Seafoam Pudding
  • All Flowers (except Poppy)
  • All foraged minerals (except Quartz, but some villagers still like it)
  • All fruit tree fruits (except Banana and Mango)
  • All gems
  • All Vegetables (except Hops, Tea Leaves, Wheat and Unmilled Rice)
  • Life Elixir
  • Maple Syrup
  • Pina Colada
  • Rainbow Shell
  • Treasure Chest

What does Alex like in Stardew Valley?

Alex in Stardew Valley
Image by Destructoid

I’m sure if you could give Alex a Gridball or a set of brand new weights, he’d immediately move into your farmhouse. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. 

Alex’s loved gifts

Thankfully (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) Alex has a very limited number of things that he loves to receive. On one hand, this makes it very easy to remember but on the other hand, it does mean you’ll need to give him these things repeatedly if you want to boost your relationship with him. Alex loves all universally loved gifts and:

GiftHow to get
Complete BreakfastCooked using the following recipe:
1 Fried Egg
1 Milk
1 Hashbrowns
1 Pancakes
Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be ThickFound by digging up artifact spots
Purchased from the bookseller from year 3 onwards for 20,000 Gold.

(It’s worth noting that this is by far the most commonly found book in my playthrough, so you should end up with a few dupes of this if you play enough)
Salmon DinnerCooked using the following recipe:
1 Salmon
1 Amaranth
1 Kale

Alex’s liked gifts

While the list of liked gifts for Alex isn’t any longer than his list of loved gifts, he does like any Egg (except Void Eggs). He also likes all of the universally liked gifts, as well as the following:

GiftHow to get
Dinosaur EggFound by digging up artifacts
Dropped from Dinosaurs in your Coop
Field SnackCooked using the following recipe:
1 Acorn
1 Maple Seed
1 Pine Cone
Parrot EggDropped from slain monsters

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Author
Image of Paula Vaynshteyn
Paula Vaynshteyn
With her first experience of gaming being on an Atari ST, Paula has been gaming for her entire life. She’s 7,000 hours deep into Final Fantasy XIV, spends more time on cozy games than she would care to admit, and is also your friendly resident Whovian. Juggling online adventuring with family life has its struggles, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.