BlogHer - What is the best gift for a guy? - Comments

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sassymonkey — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 15:07:25 -0600

I love the internet. I big puffy heart it. I found out yesterday via a local livejournal community that a local theatre that has been around since the 1930s is doing renovations and among other things they are selling off their old seats. So today, not telling the boy where we were going, I lead him to the theatre where I purchased him a set of three seats, complete with movie theatre grunge (they will be thoroughly scrubbed) and little brass plagues on the arm-rest. They were a steal at $20. While I hated not being able to surprise him with them on Christmas day there was no way I was going to be able to a. obtain them without his help and b. hide them. He just got a Christmas surprise early. He's thrilled.

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

Sometimes are easier than others

sassymonkey — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 21:14:00 -0600

I was at a store a few months ago and they had Beatles Monopoly. Since I couldn't figure out how to hide it until his birthday I gave it to him early. Since then? Nada. lol

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

Cool!

sassymonkey — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 21:07:42 -0600

I bet that your boyfriend would think that was a great gift.

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

Everyone needs something to open

sassymonkey — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 21:06:29 -0600

As someone who has gone Christmases without gifts (like the year my gifts were stolen), trust me, everyone should have something to open.

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

Oh dear!

sassymonkey — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 20:48:42 -0600

I didn't know that you had lost your job. I'm so sorry.

It doesn't take a lot to make Christmas special, trust me. Recognize one of his favourite traditions. Start a new one. Go sledding. Bake sugar cookies. Make him something handmade.

Thinking good thoughts for you on the job front.

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

Oh he really is

sassymonkey — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 20:39:44 -0600

All thumbs that is. It's rather endearing. I buy books for most people and I don't have the librarian excuse. ;)

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

Excellent idea

sassymonkey — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 20:38:14 -0600

If he's still using it 7 years later that was a great gift. :)

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

That's a good point

sassymonkey — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 20:20:57 -0600

"I know he just wants to know that I value and cherish him."

My guy read this post...I'm not sure what else I'd put in the letter. ;)

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

Gift panic

Liz Rizzo — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 09:20:57 -0600

Last year was the first time I had to buy for a guy in a long time and I just about had a nervous breakdown in the store!

Great post. :)

Liz Rizzo

I blog at Everyday Goddess.

I think my boyfriend is one

fleuris — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 22:52:20 -0600

I think my boyfriend is one of the hardest people to buy things for. Anything he wants, he'll buy for himself, and most of the things he likes are high-end electronics (i.e. expensive!) He has a birthday coming up and then Christmas.... and he mentioned something about wanting to make his own beer (although he rarely drinks) so I might get him that.

A gift of the heart vs the pocket book

fragrantfuture — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 21:30:45 -0600

I think you bring up a problem many women face. For me, it had allot to do with my own personal Christmas experiences growing up. Mom got jewelry, perfume and clothes; dad received tools, ties andshaving sets. I think this is why I hate receiving jewelry, perfume and clothes and why I have such a hard time finding the right gift for my guy.

My guy is not into to tools or ties, so that’s two choices down. You can only give a shaving set ever so often.

For me, its become picking up on the little things... the sidecomments or the brief moments of clarity when he actually mentions what hewants if you can decipher the message.

You said he isn’t keen on receiving gifts. Then honestly, don’t buy him one. He is giving you a wonderful gift in the form of a meaningful experience. I think you can return the favor through doing something as apposed to buying something for him.

Sure you can cook dinner... but in most relationships that’s agiven. Does he have a favorite movie you can make a night of? Does he like walks, ice skating, theater, a certain activity that you can make an event out of? What about a weekend away in a nice hotel for New Years, or a trip to another town to see a band he likes?

I think we tend to worry or over complicate something that can be simple if we just think on it for a moment. I know he will love whatever you do, because it isnt the gift that will matter to him, it will be the person giving it to him.

Wishing you aWonderful Day,
Corinne Brueckner
Gourmet Candle Store : www.corinnescandles.com
My Candle Business Blog: http://wickychicky.wordpress.com

p.s. Ill be dying to know, so update us! :)

I totally relate!

Kailana — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:02:18 -0600

Okay, so I finally signed up for one of these accounts so I can actually comment! Yay! Anyway, what a perfect timing for this post. Late last night me and my guy (I call him the charming comedian on my blog...) were talking about Christmas. I was complaining about how much this Christmas is not inspiring me this year because I usually just go through the motions for the holidays. But, this year I lost my job like a month before Christmas... It's really depressing! Anyway, then he started talking about how he feels at the holidays and it made me sad listening to him. He could share stories with you, that's for sure! So, now I want to make this Christmas special, but I am not even sure if I am doing Christmas at all this year. So, it is a depressing holiday season... Anyway, even if I manage to find a job between now and Christmas, I never know what to get anyone! What a terrible time of year for this and it was totally unexpected... bah

It so true though

KatieBeez — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 02:41:54 -0600

I understand why you wouldn't but it would probably really make him happy. Really.

I don't think the coupons are very good in practice (though fun to open up for sure).

A thing I've learned after living with my bf for a couple of
years, they get to know all of your laundry as well as you know it.

So this year, which I couldn't post b/c my boyfriend reads my personal blog, is that I'm going to buy something pretty and sexy that no one but us sees (if you get my drift) and let him open this while we're alone - saying I'll give him some special attention while wearing them. We always do a couple small gifts we exchange privately just because.

It's something about acknowledging and encouraging that part of your relationship that makes guys really happy.

I second the thankyou letter idea!

kazari — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:50:51 -0600

Magazine subscriptions have been popular around here, as well as event tickets.

This year i'm kinda stumped as well.

My sister has a dependable standby for boyfriends. She buys sexy lingerie for her, for him. But not exactly fun to open in front of his mother : )

With five sons, you'd think I'd know

grannysu — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:46:47 -0600

Granny Sue Stories from the Mountains and Beyond www.grannysu.blogspot.com susannaholstein@yahoo.com

but every year it's a struggle. Tools usually rate high on their lists, but if your guy is all thumbs, maybe that's not a good idea. Is he into cars? music? golf? reading? computers? techy stuff? cooking? gardening? His interests might help guide you to the right gifts. I've been buying books for almost all my family the past few years and they love it. But then I'm a librarian, so it's kinda natural...but if your guy is a reader, books can be a really good gift, and can offer opportunties to share an activity--like stargazing, cooking, learning to garden, explore a state or city he likes, etc.

(I think it might be fun to do the coupon thing even if his mom is there. He's not her little boy anymore! I'd love it if any of my sons' wives did it--I'd be right proud of them!)

What is the best gift for a guy?

sassymonkey — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:37:42 -0600

What is the best gift for a guy? I don't think I even know anymore. You see, I haven't bought gifts for a guy in a long time. I haven't seriously dated someone during the holidays in years. My siblings and I stopped buying gifts for each other eons ago when there got to be too many spouses and children (big families - it gets expensive fast). Among my friends and I, including my male friends, our currency is food not gifts. While I'm sure that my boyfriend would be thrilled to find brownies under the tree that's not really what I had in mind for Christmas. So what the heck is the best is the best gift for a guy?

I used to do ok with the gift giving thing but unfortunately I didn't rock the relationship thing. Let's review, it'll be fun! My high school/first semester of university boyfriend was kind of the artsy type (or at least so he liked to think) and I bought him some cool street art and got it framed. He dumped me the day after I got home for Christmas break so needless to say he did not get that gift. The next guy I dated got rather boring but nice gifts as I was rather trigger shy. He was on the receiving end of CDs, movies, shirts - nothing that you wouldn't buy your brother. I felt a little more confident about Drummerboy (or at least pretended to) and got back on the cool gift giving wagon with a limited edition Black Sabbath LP, a Black Sabbath CD signed by all the original members and then as a joint gift from his sister and I, a big white Yamaha drum set. My confidence was totally misplaced when we broke up a few months later - a week before my twenty-fifth birthday. The next time I was seeing someone during the holidays it wasn't serious and we knew it wasn't going to last so I happily gifted him a copy of Natalie D'Arbeloff's The Joy of Letting Women Down. (I know what you are thinking but he loved it and we didn't stop seeing each other for another month.)

Now I find myself in a totally different situation. I'm living with a guy and we've totally renovated our lives for each other. I've relocated to a new city, he's moved back into the city after living in the suburbs and is enjoying his first stint as a pet owner (my cat even likes him which nothing short of a miracle). He's someone that does not receive gifts well. He prefers giving them to getting them. Since this is our first Christmas and we're having to buy everything from the stockings to go on the mantle, to the tree stand, to the angel that will sit on top, we've set a $100 limit for our gifts to each other (not including stocking stuffers).

He's already giving me a wonderful gift. You see, I haven't really celebrated Christmas since 2000. That was the last year I travelled home to have Christmas with my family. In the years since then I've largely "faked the joy" as a friend of mine is fond of saying. I sent out Christmas cards. I've spent Christmas with friends, I've spent it with Drummerboy's family (lovely family, however not mine), and I've spent the last several alone. I haven't had a tree aside from my version of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree, which I couldn't even be bothered to set up last year.

This year will be different. We're going to see a performance of The Nutcracker. There will stockings hung by our electric fireplace with care, filled up slowly and stealthily during the days prior to Christmas. There will be a tree standing in front of the window smelling all tree-like (hopefully standing anyway, the cat has never seen one before). There will be carefully selected Christmas carols playing, which means that as Jewel's Christmas album has been banned on the grounds of being too depressing and Randy Travis's are still under negotiation. There will be a Christmas turkey with all the trimmings. I'll be baking up a storm much to everyone's satisfaction. Christmas day will be spent lounging around in our jammies watching movies, eating far too much than is good for us and if we're really feeling energetic some Wii bowling. No doing things on other people's schedules, no leaving the house, no of anything that we don't feel like doing.

He is giving me something that can't be wrapped and that doesn't come in a box. He's giving me the gift of Christmas itself.

I would really like to get him something that means even a quarter as much in return so yeah, I'm basically screwed. I'll settle for getting him something that he likes, and hopefully something that will surprise him. Of course, I have no clue what that is yet but I still have time, right? Right????

I'm not the only one wavering on the "what to buy" fence. I'm in good company with these bloggers.
Mrs Micah ponders what to get her husband for Christmas.
K.C. is looking for some boyfriend gift giving advice.
Confession Mama is stressed about what to get her husband for Christmas.
Cup of Joe hasn't posted her gift guides for 2008 but check out her 2007 Boyfriend Gift Guide.
Maybe I'll find some ideas on the Boyfriend Gift Guide Blog?

Contributing Editor Sassymonkey blogs at Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads. Yes, her boyfriend probably will read this blog post. He reads everything.