Welcome to planDisney, Terence, and Merriest Greetings to you!
I find your idea of gifting Disneyland Resort theme park tickets to be so special and generous, and your recipient is lucky to have you in their life! I have a couple of ideas on how to make this most magical gift a reality for you this holiday season.
First, you can absolutely make a purchase for theme park tickets to be gifted to a loved one. As you proceed through the payment and checkout process, just select the option "This order will be a gift," and then you can follow the prompts to enter the recipient's information. By using this process, I do believe that you'd be required to enter the anticipated dates of your Guest's visit and secure their theme park reservations since the system secures both steps in the same purchase process. However, once your gift recipient is ready to plan their vacation, they can simply link the tickets to their Disney account and modify the existing park reservations associated with their tickets to a new set of dates that work best for them. One caveat to note here is that 1-day theme park tickets are dated and priced by Tier. This means that if your gift recipient would like to modify the date of the visit you originally selected at the time of purchase, they would need to select an eligible date that corresponds to the same Tier (or lower). If their new, preferred date is blocked out on the original ticket, then they would need to call Guest Services to request an upgrade to a higher Tier.
I know some of these ticketing details can be a little tricky to navigate, especially if you aren't sure when your Guest might like to plan their visit. So, I have another suggestion for you. You could price out the estimated cost of the ticket you would like to purchase for your loved one and then select a Disney Gift Card in that amount, up to $500 per gift card (subject to change). Disney Gift Cards may be purchased on shopDisney.com and delivered either electronically by email or by mail, shipping to any U.S. address. They also have some very fun, holiday-themed designs right now, perfect for the season!
I hope this has been helpful, Terence. If I can lend any other recommendations, or if your gift recipient has any questions about how to access their theme park tickets or link them to their Disney account, I welcome both of you to send me another question (or two!) I'd love to help.
In the meantime, I wish you a wonderful holiday season with endless magical memories.
Warm wishes,
Tishra