Presents/Gifts (:

[Snowy.Winter]

So, there comes a time where you have to get your other half a present. Maybe for their birthday, for Christmas,for Valentine's or maybe even for Easter.
So how do you work out what to get them?

Do you ask them what they want? Do you get them to give a list of things they'd like and you pick a few
from the list? Do you think about what they like and take a guess at what they'd like?

Share how you decide what to get your other half.

[crzycoookies]

I listen closely to everything he says, watch him closely when I'm with him, and look at what he brings on trips ;p. And then there are times when I get him a gift, and I say it's for him, but it's really for me. For example.. When I was in Miami with him, he almost bought a snake skin pocket knife but I wouldn't let him because I love snakes. So for his birthday I got him a pocket knife with his last name etched on it. I also made him a bracelet that matched mine, simply so I could feel like my own bracelet was extra special because he had the other part of it ;p I'm pretty sure he didn't actually want a bracelet. And a lot of times he will be carrying around a deck of cards.. well, I found somewhere that actually puts your picture on a deck of cards. Like on the back of them. So it's kinda lame but I'm thinking about putting his fave picture of us, or a picture of him when he was up here, on a deck of cards as a gift. I love getting him things that are personalized. I try not to let him know what he's getting. It's really mean but I love seeing him go crazy over the fact that it's a surprise.
P.S. Another example of a gift for him when it's really for me.. I'm totally getting matching pillow cases for V-Day. One says soul and the other says mate, and you get your names put on them. I doubt he'll want that too bad but I feel like I absolutely need it. Haha.

[garnet]

Ugh. Rane is almost impossible. I ask what he wants, the answer is always either 'nothing' or 'i'm sure i'll love anything you send.' I've actually gotten really pissed off at his unwillingness to help me out just a tiny bit, ESPECIALLY before we met, because that sure wasn't easy.
Now, I just pick what I think would be good. He's not big on *stuff* ... so I try to make it either useful (like for his birthday I got him a webcam), or meaningful (such as a little mini scrapbook after he left from our first time together). He never talks about wanting anything. It's just so irritating. I HOPE YOU'RE READING THIS RANE! GRRRRRRRR! I should start to send you socks until you learn to give proper answers/hints!

[Gurl]

Ugh. Rane is almost impossible. I ask what he wants, the answer is always either 'nothing' or 'i'm sure i'll love anything you send.' I've actually gotten really pissed off at his unwillingness to help me out just a tiny bit, ESPECIALLY before we met, because that sure wasn't easy.
Now, I just pick what I think would be good. He's not big on *stuff* ... so I try to make it either useful (like for his birthday I got him a webcam), or meaningful (such as a little mini scrapbook after he left from our first time together). He never talks about wanting anything. It's just so irritating. I HOPE YOU'RE READING THIS RANE! GRRRRRRRR! I should start to send you socks until you learn to give proper answers/hints!

ROFLMFAO @ socks!! He sounds like a few of my ex's...but at least they talked about things they wanted to get for themselves at times!

As for how I pick...Eh, I just think of something I want to get or make for him. Sometimes I pick things I know he wants (like the DVD of Coraline...when it first came out on DVD he was upset he'd not have the money to get it, and I said that if I had the money to get it for him before he beat me to it, then I'd grab it for him.) I guess I could try more practical gifts, but those aren't as much fun LOL

[Laura]

I actually usually just see something and think "that is perfect!". I never have any idea what to buy, so I just don't think about it. I wander round and buy a load of bits and pieces. :-)

[Snowy.Winter]

I hate buying things for myself but I love buying things for my other half.
I'm always seeing things I'd love to buy for me, for example like comics and Me To You bears (:
I'm so bad for it!

[Jackie]

I basically just try to remember everything he likes/says he wants/needs. If he ever sends me a link to something he thinks is really cool, I'll bookmark the page so that I have a general idea of what kinds of things he likes. Also, I made sure to pay close attention to everything he used when I was with him in December. I don't think it's too difficult to shop for him, especially when I'm always seeing something at the stores that I know he would love.

[Naori]

I create special pieces out of photo and crafts for him at times.. ive gotten lazy.. but maybe Ill make something for valentine's day..
ahaha...

hmm.. yeah but i got him lots of stuff that he mentioned he liked.. ie. Cars (the movie) toys.. i got him clothes and like etc...

=D

[Bluestars]

I think that my boyfriend is very easy to buy presents for since I know him so well! I mainly just listen to what he says. For example, when we were in the car one day, he said he loves Bob Dylan. I asked him if he had any of his cds, and he said no, so I knew what to get him! He also said that he wanted a Saints license plate for his car, so I bought it for him in the store when we saw one.

I give him things that I know he is interested in. I know he likes Star Wars, music, journalism, and dvds, so those things are easy to pick out. However, the best gifts in my opinion are the ones that have a special meaning for the two of you! I gave him an astronomy booklet since we saw a shooting star together. I gave him Coraline on dvd because we are reading the book together. I also make him crafty things that say I love you

He has a hard time coming up with ideas to get me though >.< I don't know why! You can always get a girl jewelry!

[folclor]

Well, I ask him what he wants, he says he doesn't want anything, so I make him something. ^^ And then he gets perturbed because he hasn't sent me anything at all and he feels bad because he hasn't. ^^;; I'm apparently 'not allowed' to send him anything else until he sends me something first. o.O

[Chelsea&Kris]

Well, Kris always like manga, and a bunch of random stuff. He used to always talk about wanting to have a whole wall of cork, so I got him a pack of four tiny peices of cork and made him pushpins with pictures of things he liked on the end and he seemed to like it pretty well. For Valentines I'm thinking about getting him some hugs and kisses, and a stuffed bear that I'm goign to sleep with. Possibly make him a CD with all the first letters of the songs or artists spelling out 'I LOVE YOU KRIS'... But I don't know if I'll get it done in time. Finding songs that mean something (not necessarily love songs, but songs that relate to our relationship as a whole) is really hard XD Haha.

[Taija]

My boyfriend is always saying "you don't need to buy anything" so asking him doesn't help much. :P But I've never found it too hard to buy him gifts anyway, I know kind of things he likes and I keep my ears open if he says he's in need of something. And if I really can't think of anything, I can always buy him Finnish-y stuff.

Also, for our first anniversary I made him a huge scrapbook with pictures and all kinds of funny memories of us.

[Jennifer&Georgex3]

Gosh, I love buying things for George. Anything I see, I want to get him.
He is definitely pampered by me and, you know what, I love pampering him. It's something that I enjoy and what I work for. I don't see anyone else going out of their way for him after he goes out of his way for them. He does so much for me, so I show my affection by buying him lunch or sending him sweet things. That's life. Haha.

For Valentine's Day this year,
George isn't getting as much as he got for Christmas (for I practically bought him the world, which was next on my list, but I could not find a coupon for it) but he is getting more personal gifts that are very "lovely dovey" and personal. Think about your relationship as a whole. Because it is Valentine's Day, really express your love. It's the day to do it. Pictures, videos, cds, or even dvds. It's not about the price, but about the thought and the effort you put into it. As much as boys might seem 'to manly' for crafts and cut out hearts, they just LOVE them. They love cute letters and cards. Really, no joke.

If you are thinking about birthday gifts,
Get something that is useful. Useful for your relationship or in his/her everyday life. If he enjoys playing golf, let's say, get him a monogrammed golf towel to clean his clubs with. If he enjoys pictures and playing on the computer, why not a mouse pad that you can slip pictures of you both in? Maybe he likes drinking coffee, get him a personalized coffee mug. [Boldloft has great mugs and glasses that are for both of you! These are also cute: https://edge.shop.com/ccimg.shop.com/230000/237500/237517/products/-!Romantic%20Husband%20and%20Wife%20Personalized%20 Coffee%20Mugs--143171683.jpg
I would love to get mugs for George and I because we love hot chocolate.

If anyone is in gift or craft ideas,
I may start blogging about craft and gift ideas! [Even about online-date ideas.]

I wish you the best of luck!

[Tanja]

Ugh. Rane is almost impossible. I ask what he wants, the answer is always either 'nothing' or 'i'm sure i'll love anything you send.' I've actually gotten really pissed off at his unwillingness to help me out just a tiny bit, ESPECIALLY before we met, because that sure wasn't easy.
Now, I just pick what I think would be good. He's not big on *stuff* ... so I try to make it either useful (like for his birthday I got him a webcam), or meaningful (such as a little mini scrapbook after he left from our first time together). He never talks about wanting anything. It's just so irritating. I HOPE YOU'RE READING THIS RANE! GRRRRRRRR! I should start to send you socks until you learn to give proper answers/hints!

Have to rant, Andy's the same lol. But not just with presents, with everything. No matter what I ask him the answer is always one of these 3: "I don't know" or "Whatever you want" or "I don't mind". Drives me INSANE sometimes lol. And when I ask him what he'd like for xmas or his birthday he always says he doesn't want anything. Everyone wants something! Why can't men just say what they want? :|

He's gonna rant about me after this I'm sure

[Andy]

Have to rant, Andy's the same lol. But not just with presents, with everything. No matter what I ask him the answer is always one of these 3: "I don't know" or "Whatever you want" or "I don't mind". Drives me INSANE sometimes lol. And when I ask him what he'd like for xmas or his birthday he always says he doesn't want anything. Everyone wants something! Why can't men just say what they want? :|

Jesus, where did that come from!

He's gonna rant about me after this I'm sure

Nah, I wouldn't do that...

But seeing as I just happen to be passing by...

For the record, I'm better than I used to be! Yeah I admit I'm a bit like that about some things, but that's just the way I am. I see some people get really worked up about some things that just don't really matter, I'm a bit more laid back and easy going, if everyone else's happy, I'm happy. Don't get me wrong, I'll say when there's something I aint happy about or something I REALLY want, but apart from that...

And as for presents, yeah I'll admit I'm terrible to buy for lol, but that's cause I'm not particularly materialistic. I've got a brother who is the polar opposite to me in almost every way. He's selfish, greedy and lazy, and he wants EVERYTHING. He's been like that his whole life and we've never been too close, I think that maybe I've subconciously tried to be different from him and that's probably why I am how I am tbh.

There's nothing wrong with wanting things, but I don't buy things for the sake of buying it. I'm pretty careful with money and I'll only get something for myself if I really want it and if I'll really use it, whereas my brother wants a new phone every 6 months, now he wants a new iPod too...

So that's why I'm not too big on wanting things I guess lol.

So it's not a man thing babe, it's a me thing


As for my rant about my sweetheart... I couldn't possibly, she's perfect :o