The secret to making a memorable Valentine’s Day gift
There are two kinds of guys when it comes to Valentine’s Day. There are those that can’t wait for the day to arrive so they can carry out their perfectly planned day and hand over the gift that is expensive as well as very well thought through. Others know that V-Day is just another holiday invented by Hallmark and flower deliveries, but they also know they can’t simply ignore it. At last count there were seven men in the first group, and all the rest of us in the second group.
For purely professional reasons I’ve spend a lot of time asking girls what kinds of gifts they like. I’ve also read every single article ever written on the topic (might have missed one or two.) So here’s my best advice for making a Valentine’s Day gift that will be remembered more that the one her last ex-boyfriend did.
The secret sauce for memorable and perfect gift this Valentine’s Day is that it should contain some ‘you’. Not in the organ donor sense, rather it should be something that’s not available on Amazon and that shows that you’ve given it some thought and made a bit of an effort. The perfect gift is homemade, but not everyone is a Rembrandt or MaCGyver, so a hint of ‘you’ will do almost just as well.
Here’s a collection of ideas that have gotten good reactions:
A personal coupon book of favors. Offer to paint her toenails, massage her, clean the bathroom, saucy bedroom favors – only your imagination and thickness of the notebook are the limits. And remember them books are often judged by their covers. She’ll be mightily impressed if you use a proper book creating tool, of which there are plenty online.
Good old mixtape. It’s so easy to send someone an mp3 or create a Spotify playlist, so you want to do what our great grandparents did and create an actual mixtape you can hold in your hand. Start with ‘your’ songs, add some romantic-sounding ballads a la Coldplay and burn them on a disk. Top it off by professional-looking label and cover printing.
A photo of you together. Of course not the stupid standard size one in a heart-shaped frame. In 2012 the way to impress a lady is to turn your snaps into physical polaroids, ceramic tiles or posters you can stick on your fridge. Works best if you search your cameraphone for photos you haven’t yet posted on Facebook.
A Dali-style melting clock. This is one for those that have more DIY genes, but it’s surprisingly easy to make an impressive time piece she will remember forever. The hard part is finding her favourite song or album on vinyl, but you can be creative and just pick an album with a title that means something to you. More instructions here www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-a-Dali-Style-Melting-Clock/
Lingerie with a twist. Gifting lingerie is always a great choice but there’s usually very little ‘you’ in such gift (unless you like to wear women’s lingerie). Make it memorable by sending it via post, which KnickerMail can do for you, along with a custom hand-written card.
An engraved pocket knife. Just kidding. But it’s good not to take yourself too seriously – in romance, in making gifts or in writing about making gifts.
Now, price of the gift doesn’t seem to matter, it really is the thought that counts. (Though of course it helps to be minted. If you’re one of the lucky ones, you may have wasted time reading this – just go get some diamonds). But you don’t want to come across as a romantic cheapskate. So if your very personal and sweet gift cost less than 25 dollars, head to the nearest perfume shop and get some fragrance to go with your V-bomb. You’ll be bulletproof. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Author:
Andrus Purde is co-founder of KnickerMail (http://www.knickermail.com), a service that lets you send designer lingerie as a greeting card. Prior to starting that company, Andrus had cut his teeth with many internet startups and many unimpressive Valentine’s Day gifts.
Guest Authors and Friends of Pinstripe Magazine, Online Mens Magazine for Gear, Girls and Gadgets.
