I love the gifts and pranks to alter the party's approval, either up or down. Like, give Sten the Butterfly Sword and approval drops, -50, but give Alistair a Grey Warden puppet and he flips out happy,+50. And then the dialogues will trigger when you get the approval high enough, just not all the actions can take place if they are quest dependent. Like you can sleep with Zevran quicker this way, but not get the rose from Alistair, even through approval is through the roof, b/c you have to see Goldanna first, or get on Morrigan's good side quickly by giving her the Alistair (Voodoo) Doll. They're really fun to mess with, IMHO.