Whole mother's side was raised Catholic, schooled Catholic, etc, none of my numerous aunts and uncles are anymore and none had more than 3 kids.

In any event, where family relations and female gift giving are concerned you have to learn to take advantage of available resources. I've gotten quite good at it these days but when I was younger and had to shop for a woman I don't know, or even knew, and was single I'd simply go stand in a store more likely to cater in that general direction and turn on a beacon. It is simple, I allowed myself to exude the traits of confusion, pleasantness, and respectability, before long an alpha female would arrive and ask me what the problem is. I would explain the problem, I am shopping for a gift for a woman I don't know and am single, and thus effectively helpless and set adrift on a sea of consumer choice. The alpha female would interrogate me for all relevant information then inform me what to buy. Sometimes they'd seek to rectify the single issue as well. If I was dating someone, then this process was unnecessary, and additionally I needn't worry about picking restaurants or attire, which is still a concern even though I've gotten good with gifts.

These days however I mostly don't shop for people I don't know well, and I am pretty good at getting gifts for people I know. When I must get the obligatory gift for the significant other of a friend, I occasionally use the method described above. Or get a joint gift for both of them, particularly easy with housewarmings. A trick I've used before is to arrange the conversation so that my friend worries over what to get his significant other, turns to me for advice, I look thoughtful and say I need to ponder it, then I talk to her, explain how he doesn't know what to get her and is asking for advice, pump her for ideas, relay them to him, then purchase one of the other items hinted at. People are much more open about what they want when they don't think they're talking to the potential gift giver, and this particularly method usually results in a hat trick, as he thanks me for saving his butt, I gain credit in the girlfriend's eyes as the preferred friend and thus am never on the black list of friends she hates him hanging out with, and I achieve my goal of having to put absolutely zero thought into getting the right gift for someone who is a complete stranger to me.