Biology and social science research has studied gift-giving, but the former has been more concerned with courtship and the latter has come from either a cultural-relativistic perspective or a handicap principle perspective. We argue that our understanding of gift-giving in humans can be enhanced by examining animal models as long as the model-species shares the appropriate behavior: monogamy. Thus, the gibbon might be a more appropriate model. Monogamy encourages pairs to expend effort in mate-retention. In Study 1 (N = 120), we show that gift-giving in courtship is localized to long-term mates: most strongly in men. In Study 2 (N = 100), we demonstrate that gift-giving is a tactic used by men to both court and retain mates: most commonly for retention. In line with traditional models of helping, women planned to provide gifts to friends and family more than men. We also demonstrate that sociosexuality predicts planned expenditure on gifts to different individuals and that these correlations are moderated by the sex of the participant.