They have everything. Except this.

Anything they wanted, they have already bought. What they can't buy is their own story, made into something beautiful. This starts with a day from their life: a wedding, a birth, the day a business opened, the day they moved to the house by the sea.

We find the catalogued galaxy that was directly overhead at that moment and frame its telescope photograph with the place, the date and a line from you. It is the only piece of its kind, because it is about their day.

• The day they married, or the night they met.
• The birth of a child or grandchild.
• A first day: of a business, a retirement, a new home.
• Their own birthday, with the hour if anyone knows it.

For someone who has everything, the surprise is part of the gift, so asking 'what time were you born?' gives the game away. Ask a sibling or a parent, look on a Scottish birth certificate, which records the time, or check a wedding invitation or order of service for the hour of the ceremony.

If the time cannot be found, choose a moment you know: the start of the wedding, the evening of a party, or noon on the day. The artwork states the moment honestly, so it never claims a precision you did not have.