Claiming wishes on a wishlist solves a key problem: multiple people won’t give the same gift. It’s especially convenient when preparing for holidays, as multiple friends choose gifts independently.
When you claim a friend’s wish, other users visiting that friend’s profile will see it’s already claimed. The friend receives a notification about the new reservation, but does not see the author of the reservation. They also do not know which gift was reserved. For added anonymity, the notification of a new wish reservation always comes to the user with a delay of several hours. This way, the surprise remains a surprise.
However, please note that if desired, the user can find out exactly which gifts are reserved in their wishlist — to do this, they can “cheat” and open a link to their profile from another account or through a browser in “incognito” mode.