There’s an art to buying gifts, and often a purchase says more about the person buying it than the person who it’s intended for. Many a marriage has been interrupted by that one idiotic, ill conceived gift bought by a man for his woman. For the clueless, I’d like to offer 4 gifts or 4 types of gifts that you should by and large avoid when it comes to Christmas and birthdays.
When I was a kid my Mom told me never buy a woman pots and pans and now that I’m a 31 and married, I’m going to repeat this advice to the whole world: never buy a woman pots and pans! The gift is somewhere between boring and insulting, suggesting that she spend more time in the kitchen – oh, yay! What a thoughtful present. You might ask but what if she is a professional chef or loves to cook? In that case she should already have awesome pots and pans.
Secondly I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest something that might not be exactly true but it’s for the betterment of mankind, specifically all those men who will be bad at doing it. I’m talking about buying clothes as gifts. If you think you might be able to buy your wife a nice dress or blouse for Christmas, first take a look at your own wardrobe. Does your wife buy your pants? What on earth makes you think you’re qualified to buy your wife a dress she’ll like if you can’t even buy yourself a pair of pants? Sure, some men will be able to pull this off – and you’re making the rest of us look bad. A much better method is to buy the most expensive gift certificate your can afford for her favorite place to shop and let her pick it out.
Unless you like eating dinner alone, I’d suggest steering clear of any and all kind of cleaning and household appliances. Only an idiot would gift something like a vacuum cleaner or some kind of cleaning gadget for his woman. These types of items fall dangerously close to the first type on this list – kitchen ware. Yes, maybe she’d benefit from something like this but we are talking about gifts here. They should be exciting and something she wouldn’t buy herself. Think outside the box.
Finally, the last item I want to suggest you strike from your list is buying her any kind of beauty product. Women develop a 6th sense when it comes to the type of make up they like and you are likely to be entirely clueless in trying to understand this world. Don’t let the pretty make up girl at the sales counter tell you otherwise. If you insist on buying something there, go for perfume and leave it at that!
Article contributed by Ben, who recently penned his euphoric experience getting a chair massage in The Osaki Massage Chair, Oh My! – which, incidentally, would make for a fantastic gift for anyone, man or woman. You can read more at his Dreaming Life blog.
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