I was recently contacted by someone looking to buy a Christmas present of wood for a relative who is a turner. It struck me that there are probably plenty of other people that are in the same position so I have put a slightly modified version of my reply here. I have included links to most of the products that I discuss. All the links are to Craft Supplies because they are one of the biggest suppliers in the UK but there are plenty of other places where you could get these products from possibly at a better price.

I will suggest a few ideas so that you can choose which is most suitable to both your budget and the skill level of the person who will be receiving the gift. I'll stick to bowl blanks because they are best suited to presents as they have an obvious use.

If you have no knowledge of buying wood I would suggest that you buy from http://www.craft-supplies.co.uk/. They aren't the cheapest and their website is a terrible mess but they are pretty reliable when it comes to having things in stock. It's worth giving them a call when buying wood though just to make sure it's available. Some of the slightly more exotic woods can have very sporadic supplies.

If the preson receiving the gift is relatively new to turning (up to 1 year) then I would advise going for a mixed bag of bowl blanks: http://www.craft-supplies.co.uk/cgi-bin/psProdCat.cgi/Packs===Of===Bowl===Blanks,2,,,A===B chances are he won't have turned all of the woods in the bag and the mixtures are a quick way to select a range of woods. The English selection is generally a nice gift and is good for making half a dozen or so small bowls. The actual mixed bag selection has to be checked out before ordering as it often has only two types of wood included.

If the person receiving the gift is more experienced that I would recommend more exotic woods. Most fairly new turners tend to steer clear of expensive / exotic woods because they are more difficult to turn well and they don't feel they can do justice to the wood.

Personally I like really Beech http://www.craft-supplies.co.uk/cgi-bin/psProdCat.cgi/Beech,2,,,A===B as it's fairly easy to turn and while it doesn't have the most pronounced grain it does have a very appealing flecking. As a bonus this is one of the few woods that you can pick up that is regularly spalted (has black streaks of fungus / mold running though it - sounds bad but it's actually quite amazing) http://www.craft-supplies.co.uk/cgi-bin/psProdCat.cgi/Spalted===Beech,2,,,A===B

Also falling in to the gift category are burrs. Burrs are basically hundreds of little knots that form a complex interconnected grain. A nice burr is a really special piece of wood and a pleasure to withhold. A word of caution though - they quite expensive and hard to turn due to the complex interlocked grain. Most trees will produce burrs. Elm generally produces a good burr http://www.craft-supplies.co.uk/cgi-bin/psProdCat.cgi/Elm===Burr,2,,,C===D===E but the other English hardwoods also tend to burr well.

There is a wood called Zebrano http://www.craft-supplies.co.uk/cgi-bin/psProdCat.cgi/Zebrano,2,,,T===Z which I have never turned but would certainly fulfil a requirement for an amazing grain.

Finally, if you can't choose some wood you could always go for a selection of fittings such as salt and pepper mill pieces, clock mechanisms, barometers, etc. They make a good starting point for a project.