Can you do this without becoming their friend or going to the gift center?

If you click on an item in yout inventory and select Send to Buddy you can not only send it to your friends, you can also type the name of the user in the bottom field and send it.

Oh! i'm retarded lol thanks !

no your not.

- i feel like it cuz i've been sending a lot of gifts to friends and i never saw that send to a non buddy thing lol