If you're in your mid-twenties, you may be like me and have a lot of friends getting married and are consequently invited to a lot of weddings. Because of that, I came up with a pretty good opener that works in just about any situation:

"Hey guys, don't mean to bother you...but I've been invited to like 4 weddings in the next few months and I have no idea what to get or how much money to give."

Women love talking about weddings. They'll go into the proper amount to give, the amount necessary if you bring a date, how a registry works, etc. Just field tested this on an HB 9 and was able to lock in on the set for a good 15 minutes (no number close though). Let me know what you think.

-Esperanto