I think hardly anybody does this, but for Gift Tax purposes, the IRS and courts have rulings saying that unless you are legally obligated to support that person (such as a minor), most anything is a Gift. For Gift Tax purposes, things like "support" and "dependent" are not factored in.
https://www.thetaxadviser.com/issues/2021/dec/indirect-gift-tax-considerations-2021/
That means that hypothetically, yes, Gift Tax returns may be required if you pay for items for someone that you are not legally obligated to support. But as I said, I don't know if anybody actually does that in real life.
As a side note, just because it is a "gift" for purposes of Gift Tax doesn't necessarily mean it is a gift for income tax purposes - it could be "support" for a dependent for income tax purposes.
