If you’re looking to show your love or affection through a gift, you should know research shows those gifts that involve sharing an experience generate stronger feelings of happiness and appreciation for a longer period of time than a material item.

“Experiences stay with us longer than material purchases, whether good or bad. They simply have more lasting power over our happiness,” say researchers writing in the Journal of Consumer Research. A shared weekend getaway or tickets to a beloved’s favorite theater will leave your recipient feeling happier and more appreciative than any material item, even jewelry.

Yet, see a terrible play or have a lousy restaurant meal, and it could all backfire. In this case, “it is tougher to recover from picking the wrong experience than from picking the wrong thing,” says Julie Irwin, associate professor of marketing at Washington University and co-author of the study.

How well you know your recipient seems to be the key in determining whether to give an experience or an object. “If you have a good reason to suspect that the purchase will turn out well (it’s his favorite restaurant or sports team event), then experiences are the way to go toward creating an enduring feeling of happiness," Irwin says.