Hey there, hi there Sherri! I'm so glad you came to planDisney with your question and I would be happy to answer it. I have to say you are giving the ultimate gift! I'm sure the recipients will be thrilled.
You absolutely can purchase
Park Hopper tickets for someone else as a gift. However, you are also correct that if you are purchasing through the Disneyland website you will need to pick a date for reservation. There is no workaround for that, but the reservations can be canceled and changed to their preferred dates after they are gifted. I suggest that you go ahead and purchase the tickets and then just explain to them when they are gifted that they currently have reservations, but can be changed to the date they want.
In order for you to make sure they have the most flexibility to choose the dates they want, I want to make sure you know that one-day tickets are Tier based, so be aware of that when making the selection and make sure you have picked a date that is Tier 6. This will allow them to choose any available date for that ticket. If a lower Tier ticket is purchased some dates will be blocked and they would have to upgrade the ticket if they wanted a higher tier ticket.
Once you have given them the tickets, they will be able to link these tickets to their
Disneyland account. Once the tickets are linked, they will be able to cancel the reservations you booked and choose new reservation dates from either the website or the
Disneyland app.
Sherri, thanks again for stopping by. We are here if you have any other questions!
Carrie