Gift

Other Off topic
1

So here comes Chrismas, and yet another opportunity to prove my undying love for a person who has everything - and two of most - with the perfect present. What to get her, what to get her? My heart races, my palms are clammy.

Look, I’ll be truthful: I am not the most inspired shopper. Basically, I suck at shopping. But when it comes to picking out suitable gifts, I aspire to sucking. I hate it. But … what would Christmas be without a beautifully wrapped gift. And it means so much to her. So the pressure is on. Yet again.

I soldier on. It takes me no less than three and a half hours at no less than 4 shops - the only shops in which I don’t feel totally lost - Midas, Builder’s Warehouse, TileMart and Hunt’n’Camp - to complete my shortlist. Exhausted, I lean a against a lamp post and review my seven options. This year I will get her one of the following:

a) a pair of self adhesive car door protectors, matt black with gold trim ( the most thoughtful gift)

b) 500g of glazing putty in a resealable bag(undoubtedly useful, but the shelf life might be a limitation)

c) her own soldering iron, red, with fuse

d) a high end flashlight, guaranteed to withstand a drop of up to 2 meters. (the most extravagant gift)

e) an universal plug adapter (in anticipation of the touring she wants us to do one day)

f) a pair of two way radio’s (by far the coolest gift, something I wouldn’t mind for myself)

g) a set of heavy duty tent pegs. (“you will know when you need them”, according to the box)

I could not decide between these items. They all seemed equally suitable. Then, out of the blue, in a moment of genius never before experienced in my history of shopping agony, I decided to embrace the century, and shop on line. I found this within minutes … honest opinions please. Wouldn’t Mrs Mintaka just love this on her desk:

http://www.eglobes.co.uk/desk-globes/the-antiquus-globe-.htm

Mintaka

2

Hmmm. While these are lovely gifts, Mrs Mintaka is probably not going to show them to her buddies to make them jealous.

How about:

  1. An electric purple bra and panties set (with desert camo lining) from La Senza. Borrow some of her favourite undies (but NOT the granny pants) and take 'em to the shop. The sales assistants are usually very sweet.
  2. An Oregon weatherstation. Useful in a home office to tell whether your keyboard is made of pathetic materials or it is simply too damn hot and your fingertips are dissolving the alpha numeric paint.
  3. A classic perfume. Chanel #5, Pure White Linen are good bets. A nice, big bottle is extra good.
  4. Paul Dirac’s classic textbook on Quantum Mechanics. Second edition is better. Shows you really care.
  5. Some Le Creuset pots. Or even a few of the ceramic mixing bowls in a funky colour.
  6. If you want to go the handy-woman route, the battery powered drill from Festo is great. It can even drill around corners.
  7. A world band radio. Very, very cool.
  8. Lady Gaga CD “The Fame Monster”. Or, is there a recent “Cowboy Junkies” album?
  9. St Tropez body bronzer.
  10. Crinum lily for the garden.
  11. 64GB mem stick. Big is always better.
  12. Standalone craft lamp with magnifyer.

And, if you’re at a total loss, anything with diamonds.

May the Force be with you!

3
5. Some Le Creuset pots. Or even a few of the ceramic mixing bowls in a funky colour.
This sounds very stylish, and the name is difficult enough to pronounce to impress her socks off. Thanks! Will definitely explore. And what's more, it kinda hints at more quality time spent in the kitchen ... mmmm promising ;D
And, if you're at a total loss, anything with diamonds.

Ouch, dude! :-X

Mintaka

4

I don’t know your lady, but if I were her I’d prefer the tent pegs.

5

So far its between the desk globe and the french cookware. If I decide on the former, I’ll include a slightly garish card that reads “You mean the world to me.” How romantic is that!

Mintaka

6

I don’t know your lady, either. So I can’t presume to know what she would like, but my dad bought my mom cookware for her birthday once, and she hit him over the head with a pan. I suppose if she loves cooking, then great.

7

See? Its a mission impossible. And who can claim to REALLY know his lady anyway? The three wise men, the reported instigators of this gift giving madness, only had a baby to shop for. And by the time he was old enough to loadly proclaim: " I freakin’ hate mihrre, I don’t know what its for, or even how to spell it properly!", they would be safely home in the East. Wimps.

Mintaka

8

Le Creuset has a sweet little heart pot:

You could put come cook wear inside it e.g. frilly French apron and fishnets.

9
Its a mission impossible
That sums it up. No matter what you get it will be the opposite of what she want. You can not win. Life is a bitch.
10

There’s a saying that you must never buy a woman something useful for a present. If that is true, your original shopping list is way to practical - you should provide her with those items in any case, not as a present. Buy her something pretty or fragrant.

Of course not all women are alike. My mother’s favourite present was a bag of compost.

11

It is not mission impossible. Its a fairly straight forward problem as I see it. Your options were:
a) a pair of self adhesive car door protectors, matt black with gold trim ( the most thoughtful gift) - Does your lady attach much value to her car doors? does she have need/want for them to be protected? If not - bad gift. If yes, great gift.
b) 500g of glazing putty in a resealable bag(undoubtedly useful, but the shelf life might be a limitation) - Will she ever use this?
c) her own soldering iron, red, with fuse - Does she know how to use this, or has she ever expressed interest in soldering?
d) a high end flashlight, guaranteed to withstand a drop of up to 2 meters. (the most extravagant gift) Is she often in situations where a flashlight is necessary? Are these situations located 2 meters above the ground? And is she in the habit of dropping her things?
e) an universal plug adapter (in anticipation of the touring she wants us to do one day) Handy for a person who plans to travel. Not very romantic though, as a result of it being a purely practical gift that your lady is likely to purchase for herself if she is making travel plans.
f) a pair of two way radio’s (by far the coolest gift, something I wouldn’t mind for myself) Would she communicate with you via radio? Get a cellphone… Or are you in a place where cellphone reception is dodgy?
g) a set of heavy duty tent pegs. (“you will know when you need them”, according to the box) Does she have a tent / like camping?
A Gift for a person (especially a woman, I think) should be thought through. Personal. Something the person would use/want, but would not buy for themselves, in my opinion.
Good luck.

12

Lilly and Hermes, your joint point is well made. No, she is not very likely to actually use any of the stuff on my list, and certainly not in the immediate future. I thought it might be good to have it around when an opportunity crops up (except for the glazing putty - that one was a bit tongue in cheek). Scratched up car doors is (are?), in retrospect, a bigger niggle to me than her.

Perhaps I should aim for something a smidgen less utilitarian. Lurkie’s flowering plant suggestion is starting to sound ever more sensible, and it does fulfil the new dictum of useless beauty.

So, its between … the garden lily and the desk globe. :-\

Mintaka

13

Very good - must remeber this for my birthday!

Mintaka

14

Mintaka, what are Mrs Mintaka’s hobbies?

15

First off, thanks to all for helping me with this, especially as I’m sure you have similar problems on your side. I’ve learnt a thing or two this year.

Unfortunately shes a bit of a workaholic, but does seem to occupy most of her free time with the following activities, in descending order:

Watching TV - Almost exclusively National Geographic disaster documentaries and criminal investigation stuff
Buying, restoring, then selling off old and dodgy looking houses
Reading diet magazines while eating croissants
Collecting cooking books (unlikely to be opened)
Gardening (or rather, overseeing the gardening ::))
Playing with the kid

She also occasionally dabbles in the following:
Cycling, mosaics, snorkel diving, 4x4 trails, archery, hiking and rather pointlessly traveling just to see other parts of the country.

Mintaka

16

No problem, Mintaka. Gifts are a serious business in our house!

For pics of the various crinum lily flowers, do an image search with “crinum” as a keyword in Google Images.
If you’d like some technical info:
http://plants.newplant.co.za/view/filter/C/page/47

Some other ideas are:

Set of DVDs of a TV series. Mr & Mrs Lurkie really enjoyed “Boston Legal” & “The Wire”.

String of freshwater pearls with a pretty clasp (pics attached).

Some clothes from JEEP.

4x4 course.

17

Solve the problem by giving her your credit card and allowing her to sort herself out. It makes me happy everytime and I get EXACTLY what I want without any agrivation to my beloved S/O. ;D

18

:slight_smile: :wink: Thanks for the tips. Went in with a small assortment of the items suggested to cover all bases. My dad played santa to the family this year. He had some initial problems fitting some of the plants into his bag, but except for that all went swimmingly! Then we celebrated the true meaning of chrismas with the usual p!ss-up.

Mintaka