While last week we tackled the nitty gritty of what you shouldn’t get your significant or not-so-significant other, this week I’m going to be digging my claws into what you might actually get half a smile for.
■ An experience she’ll never forget – Okay, I want to start by stressing the fact that while a lot of couples like doing things together, it would be nice to actually buy the gift with her preferences in mind, rather than yours. An example of this is illustrated below:
A friend of mine is scared of heights and was dating an adrenaline junkie (opposites attract and all that jazz). For her birthday, said boyfriend decided to surprise her with a romantic trip to Sicily. However, on arriving and travelling to an undisclosed location for part two of the surprise, it transpired that he had organised some kind of couple’s bungee jump.
Suffice to say my friend had a full-blown, ear-shattering meltdown and basically refused to speak to him for the rest of the trip. His one repeated answer: “You said that you wanted to try something new.”
■ Buy her something that she actually wants – almost all the women I know drop subtle (or not so subtle) hints about what they want, the trick is to actually listen.
While I never recommend just going out and buying a woman a bag, shoes or clothes for that matter, if she has pointed out something to you (or printed out a photo of what she wants and attached the address and price to it), then there’s no reason for you not to go for it.
That said, I am not in any way, shape or form implying that you get her a pink bag just because her favourite colour is pink. In fact, scratch that thought altogether. Unless she explicitly gives you the make, model and colour of a bag, just don’t buy it. I don’t care if her favourite colour is pink and she likes bags, this is pretty much like saying that just because you like football, you’ll obviously want to support Manchester United. Um, no.
■ Jewellery – As clichéd as this sounds, I have yet to see a woman complain that she got jewellery for Christmas (unless you decided on some monstrosity that won’t even garner a kind remark from your own mother). I also want to dispel the myth that jewellery has to be expensive to make an impact as this is simply not true.
Apart from the fact that a very pretty, dainty silver ring won’t set you back more than €40 unless you go down the designer route, a lot of shops sell lovely little unique pieces that she will actually want to keep wearing. If your imagination isn’t going through a particularly fertile period, just buy her a simple pair of pearl studs. Classic is always timeless.
Finally, if there are any doubts casting shadows over your mind, just ask her mother, sister of friend what they think. It’s far better to lose a little face with someone close to her than to have to deal with her disappointed/angry/disgusted face on the actual day. Happy shopping!