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Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

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Original poster

Mission Impossible? Christmas gift for dp

68 replies

monkeysmama · 03/12/2009 17:28

My dp is very hard to buy for and I need some suggestions. What are you buying for yours?

He has an ipod, wii, fancy laptop etc.

He has a beautiful work bag, I've already ordered a special picture of me and dd, he has gloves, a wallet etc.

He has expensive tastes in clothes but buys what he wants when he sees it so I never buy him clothes.

I have no ideas at all .

TIA

OP posts:

dairymoo · 06/12/2009 21:06

Another idea...if he likes wine, what about some nice Riedel wine glasses and a bottle of Chateau Neuf Da Pap to drink?

dairymoo · 06/12/2009 21:07

De Pap, sorry!

Original poster

monkeysmama · 07/12/2009 09:36

Something winey would be a good idea but for the fact he gets it by the case load from work. This is part of the issue, he gets lots of corporate gifts which have already started arriving - a case of wine, two Fortnum and Mason hampers. It makes it hard for me to get anything special iyswim.

OP posts:

dairymoo · 07/12/2009 13:20

Decanter?! I know what you mean though, my DH can be the same. Don't you love the F&M hampers though? Such yummy food inside and the baskets themselves are fab!

Original poster

monkeysmama · 07/12/2009 15:25

The hampers are special aren't they. Dd has two toy boxes that started life as last year's F&M
hampers.

OP posts:

ClaraJo · 07/12/2009 15:49

Can I just ask, if we find men so difficult to buy for, why do we bother?! Last year we bought each other a book and this year we won't be buying each other anything, so that we can afford to buy for other rellies. TBH, looking at the brainache it causes, I think I've got the best deal!!!

There's nothing I could buy DP that he would be happy that I'd spent my money on, if you see what I mean, because we're not well off. Similarly, there are a couple of things I need, but what's the point of me dropping hints so that he can buy them for me? I'll wait till I can afford to get them myself.

Am I just desperately unromantic?!

MisSalToeKisses · 07/12/2009 16:58

Ok, I've given in and bought dh a boy's (as in school, not earning-too-much-money-but-still-silly) toy for Christmas!!! He's been asking about 5 million times whether I don't think ds is old enough for it, etc etc (it's age 5 and up - he's 20 months!) I know it's something he'd love, but need the child excuse, so I thought "what the heck" - and this is what my 33-year old, very intelligent, professional, but in his heart-of-hearts still a boy, is getting for Christmas: Moov kit
He's difficult to buy for, as he's seriously into technology, but so much so that something I can buy on the counter is more likely than not not going to be right (he'd fake it, of course, but I know). I might do something really small and inexpensive for the stocking that's a grown-up gift.

So monkeysmama, you have my deepest sympathies with your gift search - it's so hard trying to get something perfect when they don't really need anything! I'll keep my eye out if I see anything else that I think might be of use to you. Lots of my friends are traders, and between the corporate entertainment and gifts I don't know how their wives/girlfriends manage!

MisSalToeKisses · 07/12/2009 17:43

The person that has everything usually loves time - would you be able (and willing, depends on whether you would want to at this young age) to leave dd with someone at your home for the night and spend some "alone time" with dh? Any parents or a very well-known nanny you can trust? If so, you could perhaps give him a night away with you as a gift, and have a long, leisurely dinner, nothing rushed, after dinner drinks, etc etc etc? I'm rather tired at the moment, so sleeping through would be my "etc", but replace as appropriate Then wake up at your leisure, have relaxed breakfast, perhaps visit a museum / gallery, then return home for lunch?

Difficult one this though - you'll need to trust someone with your child explicitly, or you'll stress all evening, and also, knowing when exactly dh will be free (guess you can make up an fake "invitation" and ask him whether free to attend?) Oh, and it would need to be somewhere very stylish - something like this could work, as it's very central. Obviously will work out rather expensive.

dairymoo · 07/12/2009 19:04

We use the F&M hampers as toy baskets too!

leothelioness · 07/12/2009 19:11

oh I love the idea of the noise cancelling earphones for DH can anyone tell me how much they are. DH is a very frequent flyer and would really get good use out of them.

MisSalToeKisses · 07/12/2009 19:27

leothelioness, it's around £300 if you buy directly from Bose - no idea if you could get better deals online. A great investment for a frequent flyer though, imo. Any chance you could get to a Bose shop and try them for yourself?

leothelioness · 08/12/2009 09:22

Thanks sal will have a look around and find out if there is a Bose shop near me.

christiana · 08/12/2009 09:51

Message withdrawn

Mistletoesnowman · 08/12/2009 09:56

Can I just mention how great Apple TV is. We love ours.

Original poster

monkeysmama · 08/12/2009 11:00

Right, so far he is getting -

This which is the only thing he has expressed any desire for He has a Mulberry wallet but apparently also needs this for the days when he doesn't want to carry a full wallet .

A set of 3 canvases that dd has painted (with a little help from mummy) which will hang as a set. The canvases were from Wilkinsons, £6 for 3!

The relationship saving shoe cleaning box

A big framed photo of dd & me taken in the forest on a lovely sunny day a d few weeks ago with beautiful autumn colours which he hasn't seen and is really nice.

A calendar of photos of dd which took hours to make!

A voucher for a massage at the place DaftApeth linked to

I've also bought some music.

I haven't ignored all the other suggestions - I am really interested in the Apple tv but have decided that it is the kind of thing we need to make a joint decision about. He may have some other geeky idea! Thank you for all the help with it though - I feel a lot more informed and managed not to make a fool of myself in the Apple shop.

I really like the idea of a night away but dp is really funny about leaving dd with anyone for an evening let alone overnight and I think the first time we do will need to be for another reason other than a present iykwim. Rather we've only been out 3 or 4 times since dd (18mo) was born mainly because we take her everywhere with us but it's an idea I may use for his birthday in March.

I understand why some people aren't keen on gift buying but I actually enjoy it (when I eventually think of something) and I love watching people open their presents. Dp and I don't buy each other gifts apart from Christmas and birthdays so it is nice to splash out.

Anyway, thanks very much everyone. Hope the ideas have helped some other people too. Keep 'em coming - we have a big tree with room for a few more pressies!

OP posts:

jumpingbeans · 08/12/2009 11:10

This thread has taken me back years, when we were young and very hard up, as opposed to old and very hard up, I once gave dh 12 iou's, one for each of the days of christmas, to be redeemed during the year for grass cutting,car cleaning or any of "his jobs" we still laugh about it 30 odd years later.

MisSalToeKisses · 08/12/2009 18:54

Your gifts sound fabulous - he'd love it, I'm sure!

WilfSell · 08/12/2009 20:01

great thread - marking place to steal ideas

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