Lazy Guy’s Gift Guide

It’s her birthday again right after Valentine’s Day, which was not so far apart from the Christmas season. You want to make her happy but are running out of ideas, energy and wallet power to get her more gifts.

Like I mentioned in the earlier post “Men and Calendars”, it’s the thought that really counts so you can definitely make her happy by giving her an inexpensive thoughtful gift. We women are not that hard to please, but you do have to shop in the right categories. To give your woman a great gift, all you have to do is to think like a woman. OK, we realize that this might be hard to do if you are too straight to think like a girl. So, we drafted a gift guide to help you to at least surivive for a few years…

Category 1: For The Home

We girls love to make our homes feel and look nice. Anything in the home department normally won’t go wrong and you can easily get them online. A few safe bets:

Bedding linens. Go for at least 400 thread counts. Those cotton bed sheets are as soft as her skin. www.overstock.com is one of the best places to get some luxury sets with minimum spending.

>Kitchenware. Replace your old coffee maker? Get her a deep fryer? Upgrade your camping grill? Get her some colorful plates and mugs? Target or www.target.com has some trendy inexpensive stuff.

>Gardening and plants. Instead of getting the flowers that will die in a week in the vase, get some plants that grow flowers. Lowes and HomeDepot will soon start to stock pile their gardening inventory.

Category 2: Beauty Care
Ok, I know most of the guys will retreat from this category but it is not that hard to pick something that is suitable for most of the women. No, perfume isn’t the only thing you can pick. Here are a few universally accepted gifts:

>Bathing products. bath gel, lotion, bath salts, crystal, etc… These are great stuff to give. You can go to the Mall and pick out individual items yourself at Bath & Body Works or The Body Shop.

>Cosmetics. Although this is a tricky area, you can still pick out great gifts without knowing anything about make-ups. The safest choice would be anything to do with Lip colors. Go to a drug store or Ulta if your girl isn’t big on brands or www.sephora.com if you want to shop online.

>Nails. If you know your girl does manicure or pedicure once a while, she will be thrilled to get a couple of colorful nail polishes. They are everywhere in the drug stores or online. The most popular brand is OPI and you can get them on www.opi.com.

Category 3: Appeals
Women love clothes and shoes. But most of the guys find themselves clueless when it comes to picking out outfits for their girls. Again, there are a few universally acceptable safe choices.

>Lingerie. Sexy undies will never go wrong. Almost all of my girlfriends love Victoria Secrets. You can either get her some comfy practical underwear such as the Pink Cotton collection or a nice “Very Sexy” series bra (assuming you know her size). You can also go to discounted stores such as T.J.Maxx or Ross to pick out some comfy PJs.

>Shoes. There are way too many different styles of shoes and you are afraid that you will pick the wrong ones. Well, it’s actually not that hard to figure out what your women’s styles are. Just go to her closet and look around. If she has all flats, then you know she might raise her eyebrows if you get her a pair of 6 inches. If she is very active, you can almost be sure that a pair of outdoor hiking/running shoes will not go wrong. Go ahead and pick a pair that look cool to you. On many occasions, if you like them, we would be very happy to wear them.

Bottom line, the gifts don’t have to be expensive diamonds or top line perfume. Pay a little attention to what your woman usually buys and get her one of those “usual stuff”. We will be very thankful that you are actually buying the stuff we like and need.