A good friend (who happens to be a woman) came up to me the other day and said, “I hate shopping for men. I never know what to get them.”
I couldn’t believe my ears since men are undoubtedly the easiest people to shop for in the world. If you’re a woman and are looking to get a great gift for a man while not spending a lot of money, there are two simple rules you need to remember:
Rule #1: Unless you know as much about the hobby or his area of interest, don’t bother getting him a gift in that area. While music, sports, gadgets and other things make perfectly acceptable gifts, unless you are on the same level with him, you won’t get the right thing no matter how good your intentions.
Rule #2: If you are like 99% of the women and don’t know as much about his areas of interest as he does, stick to 2 categories when purchasing a gift: food and love. OK, that might sound a bit crass, but it’s absolutely the truth. If you stay within these two themes you can get practically any gift for a man and he will love it.
The saying that the quickest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach holds true for a vast majority of men. The only exception to that may be love which we will also be covering here, so it doesn’t really matter which one truly is. Here are a few gift suggestions, but these are by no means exhaustive. Anything that falls under these two themes that you can come up with will make a gift that the man is going to like:
- Cookies, Cakes & other Sweets: Sure, he may get sick eating it all, but he’ll be in heaven the entire time he’s doing it. While you may think that it’s important that it’s hand made, it doesn’t really make a difference to a man. If it’s good eats, the man will love it.
- Favorite Food: Whatever is the guy’s favorite food, you can’t go wrong with that. It doesn’t matter if it’s beer and doughnuts, if that is what he likes, his eyes will be gleaming and a huge smile will cross his face when opening the gift.
- Gift Card To Favorite Food Place: No time to cook? Not a problem. A gift card to his favorite eating establishment (I would say restaurant, but that may limit the favorite places of a lot of men) is all he needs to be ecstatic about the gift.
- Back Rub: I don’t know a single man that wouldn’t trade in all the gifts that you are thinking about buying him for a good back rub. Throw some food into the equation and he’ll be even happier.
- Vouchers: You now know what he wants but you don’t feel like giving it to him that instant? Make up some vouchers for both and the anticipation will make the gift even better.
- Lingerie: Men are so easy to please that you can actually buy a gift for yourself and the man will love it. Go on a lingerie shopping spree and say that those are his gifts (of course, he’ll expect you to wear it and not himself), and you will have the happiest man in town.
- Yourself (with Ribbon): Yes, if you want to give the perfect gift to a man, all you need to do is buy a ribbon. When it’s time to exchange gifts, go to a back room. Wrap the ribbon strategically and give yourself as the gift. I guarantee that the man will love it
As you can see, men are easy to shop for. Even better, you can give them the exact same thing in one of these two categories year after year after year and they will still be ecstatic each time they receive it. Don’t believe me? Try it. I have all the confidence in the world that it will be the best gift they have ever gotten.
Now that I have shown how easy it is to shop for men, here is the question of the day: What are some cheap gifts for women that don’t suck?
Jeffrey strain is a freelance author, his work has appeared at The Street.com and seekingalpha.com. In addition to having authored thousands of articles, Jeffrey is a former resident of Japan, former owner of Savingadvice.com and a professional digital nomad.
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