Quick, She’s Gone, Let’s Get that Project Done!

I’ve been on a theme here about being romantic with your wife while she’s out of town. While distance can cause challenges for romance, that doesn’t mean that we should give up on romance when she’s away. For that matter, why not take advantage of the time to make a super homecoming for her. There’s no such thing as overwhelming her with too much romance, so stack up those romance points while you can.

Women identify with their home. I’ve talked about this before, specifically mentioning that when the home is a mess, she feels like she’s a mess. Conversely, when the home gets a face lift, she feels almost as good as if she’s received it (without the pain).

I’m a bit of a handyman, so I’ve always got some sort of project going on around the house. Sometimes, those projects get started one weekend and don’t get finished for months. It seems like there are always other things that come along, keeping projects from getting wrapped up. Anyway, you can be sure that those unfinished projects bug my wife, just like they bug yours.

If she’s out of town for a few days, it’s a great time to take advantage of the time and get a project done. Having her out of the house means that she’s not going to have to see the mess you make, doing the project. Not only that, but you won’t have her telling you how to do it (an added benefit for you).

When I was a teenager, my mom went out of town for some event over the weekend. My dad took advantage of the opportunity to redo their walk-in closet. He pulled everything out of it and redid the interior, adding shelves, half height clothes rods and shoe racks. When she came home, everything was back in the closet, all organized and in its proper spots.

That really made an impact on my mom. He hadn’t even talked to her about the project, but had decided on his own to do it. So, when she came home, it was a total surprise. She’d been complaining about not having enough room in the closet, and now she had enough.

The idea here is to time it so that the project is finished before she gets home. That way, she won’t be bothered by the mess; instead, she’ll be presented with the finished project. That will be almost like giving her a gift. The gift will have even more impact if the project you do is something that she’s wanted. 

A Rose by any Other Name

Ah, flowers; the great equalizer which helps all the romantically challenged men of the world. If there was ever a good reason for God to create flowers, this is it. To give men an emergency fallback position, if they can’t come up with any other romantic act to do. Granted, they’re pretty and smell nice as well, but that’s just part of what make them work so well as a romantic gift.

It seems everyone knows to buy their wife a dozen red roses. But wait! Why does it have to b a dozen? Why do they have to be roses? And why do they need to be red? Granted, red roses have a reputation for romance, but that doesn’t mean that they’re the only flowers which can be romantic. Any flower can.

Actually, for some women, red roses aren’t the best choice. My wife doesn’t particularly like roses and red is definitely not her favorite color. So, I’m not going to have the maximum impact if I buy her red roses; I’m much better off buying her some other type of flower.

While I have nothing against red roses, I see three problems with only buying those and not buying other types of flowers. First of all, romance needs variety. If you’re always buying the same type of flowers for your wife, there’s not a whole lot of variety. That alone is enough reason to throw a few other types of flowers in there from time to time. The second problem I see with red roses is that they don’t show any creativity. Creativity goes a long way in romance, because it shows your personality and that you’ve thought about the gift. But the big reason I have a problem with red roses is that if they’re the only type of flowers you ever buy your wife, it shows that you aren’t studying her.

You see, everyone has their own favorites. Now, maybe your wife’s favorite flowers are red roses, that’s fine. But maybe she really likes pink. If that’s the case, then you’d be better off buying her pink roses. If roses make her sneeze, then you’d be better off with another type of flower. More than anything, the choices you make should be based on what she likes. That’s the key. You’ve got to find out what your wife likes, and then find something that matches it.

Maybe she really likes lilies, or chrysanthemums or even carnations. My wife really likes alstroemeria (good luck pronouncing it) and lilies. Her favorite color is peach. Okay, so I look for peach whatever you call them and lilies. That way, I’m “customizing” the gift to her tastes. While I’m sure she’d appreciate the red roses, I’m also sure she’d enjoy the others much more.

Since I want my gift to give my wife pleasure, I’m willing to put forth that extra effort. That way, my romantic act has the most possible impact on her. So, what kind of flowers does your wife like the most?

The Aroma of Flowers

What does your wife do with the flowers that you give her? I’m assuming that you give her flowers every once in a while. I’m also assuming that she puts them in a vase to enjoy them. That’s not the question, the question is, what does she do with them when they start dying and drying out? Is that the end of them? Do they end up in the trash? Or does she do something more creative?

Well, if she doesn’t do anything creative with them, that doesn’t mean that you can’t. Old, dead flowers are still useful, especially if they are aromatic flowers, like roses. These flowers smell good, even after they die and dry out. So, why not take advantage of that?

If you catch the flowers just before they wilt, this’ll work best. You can do it afterwards, but they won’t look as good. Take them out of the vase, bunch them together with a rubber band, and hang them upside down to dry. We usually hang them from a curtain rod in the kitchen, but you can do it anywhere. That’s just a convenient place which is out of the way and not easily forgotten.

Once the flowers are dried, there are a number of things you can do with them. They can go back in a vase, as dried flowers. My wife has a couple of vases like that, where she’s saved dried out flowers that I’ve given her. Since she doesn’t save the greenery, those dried bequests are actually a few dozed stems together. So, they make a really nice looking bouquet.

Another thing that you can do with them is to take the flowers off the stems, or take the petals off the flowers and put them in a bowl as potpourri. Now, I know you’re probably not all that interested in potpourri. That’s really not a guy thing; it’s more of a girl thing. But, you’re not doing it for you; you’re doing it for her.

Potpourri can go anywhere in the house. You can add to it, as new batches of flowers dry out and stir it up every once in a while to make the aroma come out stronger. It’s great in the bathroom or any other part of the house where you might need to cover up some unpleasant odors.

Remember, your wife’s nose is more sensitive than yours. So, even if you don’t smell the flowers, she might. Besides, it becomes an ongoing reminder of the times you’ve bought her flowers. Of course, if you stop buying her flowers, it could become a reminder that you aren’t doing it any more. So, I guess you’ll just have to keep the florist shop happy, so that you can keep your wife happy as well.

All that Glitters

As Shakespeare once wrote, “All that glitters is not gold.” When the great bard of England wrote that, he was referring to the fact that not everything that looks like gold is gold. Iron pyrites, otherwise known as “fool’s gold” gives credence to that statement, as it has the appearance of gold, while being virtually worthless.

Even though not everything that glitters is gold, that doesn’t take anything away from the glitter of gold, silver, precious stones, or any of those other bobbles which women love to have. There’s something about jewelry that fascinates women. I’m not sure if it’s the intrinsic value of it, or the lasting beauty, but whatever the reason, women love receiving jewelry as gifts. That’s a fact you can take to the bank; to the safe-deposit vault to be exact.

Most men use flowers as their fail-safe gift, when they don’t know what to buy for their wives. While there’s nothing wrong with that, giving the same thing over and over again can be a bit repetitive. We need a bit of imagination in our gift giving; if for no other reason than to show our wives that we really do think about the gifts which we buy.

Jewelry is a great option, when you want to give a gift to your wife. I have yet to meet a woman who doesn’t like to receive jewelry. I know, you’re thinking, “Ouch, that’s an expensive gift idea he came up with.” Wait a minute, though; jewelry doesn’t have to be expensive.

While jewelry can be very expensive, there are a lot of things you can buy which aren’t. A pair of earrings isn’t all that expensive, neither is a freshwater pearl necklace. For that matter, lots of women like costume jewelry, which isn’t expensive at all.

Remember, the idea isn’t how much money you can spend. You don’t get more points for spending more dollars; women just don’t think that way. What gets you points is the number of different romantic acts that you do, not how big each of them is. So, buying your wife a $500 necklace isn’t going to get you any more points than a $20 pair of earrings.

That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t buy the $500 necklace if that’s what you want to do (and can afford to do). All I’m saying is don’t let the lack of funds to buy the big gift keep you from buying any gift. It’s not about the money; it’s about you thinking of her and thinking of what she would like.

That brings me to another important point. You want to be sensitive to her style. If your wife is all about modern simple lines, don’t buy here something that has enough filigree to make it look like it was made back in Elizabethan England. Likewise, it doesn’t work to buy ultra-modern styles for a woman whose dresses all have lace on them. You need to find jewelry which matches her style.

Okay, so how do you do that? It’s actually quite simple. Start out by finding out what her style is. Look at the jewelry she already has. Look at her clothes. Look at the furniture she buys for the house. What type of style is all that displaying? Is it modern, Victorian, Rustic? Whatever style she is buying the most of is her style. All you have to do is find something that matches that style and she’ll love it.

If you’re still now sure how to define her style, go to the jewelry store or jewelry counter in a department store and describe that to them. They’re used to men who don’t know their wife’s style. All you have to do is describe what your investigation uncovered and they’ll be able to recommend pieces that match her style. So, you see, it’s really not all that hard.

If you really want to make more impact with your gift, give it to her sometime when you take her out to eat. That will make it even more romantic. 

A Trail of Kisses

Every once in a while, I like to use chocolate in a romantic act. It could have something to do with my wife and I both being chocoholics. Then again, it could have something to do with her really craving chocolate when she was going through menopause. Whatever the reason, chocolate has long been an important part of our marriage.

I imagine that we’re not alone in this; at least the evidence seems to point that way. On Valentine’s Day, chocolate is one of the classic gifts. When a man is looking for a way to make up to his wife for some slight, chocolate is right there at the top of the list. Interestingly enough, the most popular post of all time on this blog is about chocolate as well. So, I’d have to say that there are a lot of couples out there who are as almost as much chocoholics as we are.

There’s something about Hershey’s Kisses which speak romance to me. Now, we really like the high dollar, fancy chocolate truffles; but they just don’t have that same name. C’mon, what could be more romantic than kissing? I think the Hershey family was up to something when they came up with that name. Who knows, maybe they created them to be romantic.

Hershey’s has even gone a step further and come out with a variety of different Kisses now. They’ve even got one called “Hugs.” So, you can have your hugs and kisses both in chocolate. Since my wife and I are partial to dark chocolate, we were really glad to see them come out with Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Kisses. I mean, how much more romantic can you get than that?

Okay, so what are we going to do with these wonderful, romantic candies? How about this; buy a bag of your bride’s favorite variety or more than one, and use them to make a trail. Wait until sometime when she’s out of the house, to make your trail. Start from the door she’ll be coming in, and place Kisses every four to six inches through the house. If you can find a small basket somewhere, like a miniature Easter basket, put it next to the head of the trail, so she’ll have something to put the Kisses in. Somewhere along the way, leave a small wrapped gift for your wife; but don’t let the trail end there. Have it continue to wherever you are.

Then, you can be waiting at the end of the trail, to give your bride another type of kisses. By then, she’ll probably be ready to enjoy both kinds.

Love Coupons

Okay, so this idea isn’t all that original; that doesn’t make it any less valid than other ideas which I’ve presented in this blog. In fact, many ideas which last do so simply because they work. Well, this is one of those ideas that work.

Nobody really likes to have to ask their spouse for what they want. That’s especially true for women. They feel that if their husband truly loves them, they’ll know what they want. Of course, that doesn’t take into consideration the fact that men and women think differently. Maybe if we all thought the same, we could figure out what our wives want, without having to ask them. So, most of us end up being guilty most of the time, for not being able to read their minds.

Well, love coupons can help you out of that predicament. Not only do they provide your wife with a non-threatening way of asking for the things she wants, but they also provide you with a way of finding out what it is that your wife wants. If you give her a stack of 20 coupons, and she uses only ten of them, then the other ten probably aren’t all that important to her. Even more than that, the ones which she uses first are probably the ones which are the most important to her.

You could just give the coupons as a romantic act, and not pay any attention to how she uses them; but I’d rather learn what I can from the opportunity. That way, I can get that much closer to being the ideal husband that I’m trying to be (I’m not there yet).

Start out by making a list of what you’re going to put on the coupons. You could just make them, but you’ll want to save this list. It’s going to become your checklist of when your wife uses those coupons. You need it, in order to get the most out of this exercise. You can then copy and paste the ideas from this list into your coupons on the computer.

Make the coupons cute, not boring. Use a floral border on them and find some clipart. Maybe you can find an image or two, which will be appropriate to the item on that coupon. If not, hearts and flowers always work out well.

So, what kinds of ideas should you put on your coupons?

• A free back massage.
• Take over one chore of her choice for a week.
• An afternoon off; you take care of the kids.
• A new dress (or other article of clothing).
• Shampoo her hair.
• Give her a pedicure.
• Go to a chick flick with her, without complaining.
• A slow dance.
• Going out for dessert.
• Going out for dinner.
• Breakfast in bed.
• A walk by moonlight.
• An evening of conversation, without interruptions.
• 24 hours of no arguments, no matter what.
• Be her personal servant for one day.
• Special delivery of one late-night craving.
• A morning of sleeping in late, with no complaints or interruptions.
• An activity of her choice.

Remember, if you give her a coupon that says you’ll do something for her, you’ve got to do it. Not only do you have to do it, but you’ve got to do it with a good attitude. Doing something for your wife, while you’re grumbling about it doesn’t win you any points.

Don’t limit yourself to this list of course; you can let your imagination run free. Pretty much anything that I’ve posted on this blog would work as a love coupon. More importantly, make coupons for things that you think she would like, but aren’t sure. That gives you a way to find out if she’d like them or not.

Don’t limit yourself to one copy of a coupon either. Some coupons, like a massage or an activity of her choice are definitely worth creating multiple coupons for. That would help keep her from hording those coupons till a time when she absolutely needs to use them. You want her to use them, because you’ll still receive points for doing what the coupon says, even though she’s asking you to do it. That isn’t normally the case. Usually, if she has to ask you, you don’t get any points.

Don’t forget to keep track of what she uses and when she uses it. That’s what you kept the list for. That information is going to help you know what romantic acts you can do in the future, which will really mean something to her.

A Scent of Romance

Have you ever wondered why women like perfume so much? Generally speaking, they are much more interested in perfume, than men are in after shave and cologne. If you’re not sure that I’m right, just go into any department store and compare the prices of the perfumes to the after shave. While there are perfumes which are cheap, you really don’t see after shave lotion which is expensive. Not only that, but perfume is given to women as a special gift, whereas after shave is only given to men when someone can’t come up with a better gift idea.

So, back to the original question, why is this so? It’s actually rather simple. Women’s noses, like all their senses, are more sensitive than men’s are. That also explains why women are more offended by foul odors than men are. That fishy smell, which might bother you and I a bit, but we pretty much ignore it, can be a major irritant to our wives.

I don’t really know how far back the idea of perfume goes, or how far back it was considered a romantic gift. However, we do find historic reference to it at least 3,000 years ago, while deodorants didn’t exist until the 9^th century. Imagine the dark ages, when people though that bathing was dangerous? If it wasn’t for perfume, I think the human race would have died out; women wouldn’t have been able to stand to get close enough to men for procreation to happen.

Maybe that has something to do with perfume becoming a romantic gift. Then again, it could have something to do with being something that pleases the senses. Regardless of the reason, we can be assured that perfume, as a romantic gift, is here to stay.

What is your wife’s favorite perfume? My wife’s comes from the Lily of the Valley, and is made in France. It’s almost impossible to find, making it that much more precious of a commodity in our home. I’ve tried other perfumes, including a rather expensive one, which is based upon lilies, but it’s just not the same. This taught me that it’s important not only to buy perfume, but to buy her the right perfume.

How do you find out which perfume is the right one? Simple, look at what she’s got. The bottle with the least in it is probably the one she uses the most. That’s the scent she likes. Even if she isn’t ready for a new bottle, all hope is not lost. You can take the name of that perfume, go to the perfume counter in your favorite upscale department store and say, “I’d like something similar to…” The clerk there should be able to show you other perfumes, which are similar to your wife’s favorite. That helps ensure that she’s going to like it.

Be sure to have it gift wrapped too. The extra moments of having to unwrap the package add to the experience of receiving the gift.

Let me mention one other thing here as well. Since we aren’t as interested in the smell of the perfume as our wives are, we tend to forget to use things like after shave and cologne. Don’t forget. You’re not doing it for you; you’re doing it for her. She’ll appreciate it. 

Chocolate!

Of all the substances which exist in the world, chocolate has to be one of the most romantic; especially if it’s dark chocolate, extra especially if it’s dark chocolate with some other flavor, like orange or raspberry, mixed in. Really; if chocolate wasn’t so romantic, why is it one of the top two Valentine’s Day gifts?

Granted, I might be a little prejudiced on this, being a chocoholic from a family of chocoholics; but I really think I’m on to something here. Other than the few people out there who are allergic to it, and the rare person who doesn’t like it, pretty much everyone loves chocolate.

With chocolate being so popular, why is it that we usually only buy it for our wives on Valentine’s Day or when we need to apologize for something? It seems to me, that buying chocolate for my wife is just as good a romantic act as buying her flowers. Neither of them will last forever, but by having another romantic gift idea, I can keep the variety going.

Now, there’s chocolate and then there’s CHOCOLATE. You know what I mean? I mean that not all chocolate is created equal. There’s the cheap chocolate that they sell in the valentine’s heart boxes, and there’s the really good, gourmet kind of chocolate that you buy at a Chocolatier. Now, that’s CHOCOLATE.

We’ve talked before how our wives don’t give us more points for doing a bigger romantic act, or for spending more money on a romantic act. So, there’s really no reason to spend a bunch of money buying a big box of chocolates. However, it really makes a great impression when you buy one or two really gourmet chocolate truffles instead. In fact, I think it makes more of an impact to buy two high-quality truffles from a Chocolatier than it does to buy a two-pound, $9.95 special.

Of course, if you buy her the two quality chocolates, they’re not going to last her very long, which gives you the opportunity to buy her more. Then too, by buying her only a couple, she’s not going to be complaining about what it does to her waistline. You can see it as a healthier gift.

Speaking of health, Chocolate has also been shown to help women overcome PMS and menopause. There’s something in the chocolate which is chemically very similar to estrogen, so by eating chocolate, it has a similar affect to their bodies producing more estrogen. Just a little side point here, women who have higher estrogen levels tend to have curvier, more voluptuous bodies.

So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and find yourself a nice little chocolate shop and surprise her with something to make her mouth happy, and the rest of them at the same time.

Valentine’s Day Eve

It’s a given that your wife is expecting you to do something for her for tomorrow. Whether it’s buying her a gift, or flowers, or chocolates, or taking her out to eat, she’s pretty sure you’re going to do something. Just doing it on Valentine ’s Day makes it romantic. Unless you totally forget, in which case you really deserve to be in the dog house, just about anything you do for your wife will be romantic.

However, I can pretty much guarantee you that she’s not expecting you to do anything for her today. Even more so in that you’ll be doing something tomorrow. There’s no way that she’d expect gifts from you two days in a row. So, that gives you the opportunity to surprise her.

I don’t know why Christmas and New Year’s are the only holidays which have an “eve.” I mean, who’s ever heard of Easter Eve, or Independence Day Eve? Well, let’s create a new day; we’ll call it Valentine’s Eve. Why not? You see, that way we get to spread the joy and love of Valentine’s Day over a longer period of time. Instead of just having one day, why not have two?

Of course, if you really love your wife, every day should be a Valentine’s Day. You don’t need that excuse to do something romantic or to celebrate your love. My favorite excuse to be romantic towards my wife is just because. That’s enough.

So, don’t tell her what you’re going to do, you want the surprise to be good. But, tonight, when you come home from work have a small gift for her. It could be the classic flowers or chocolates; or you could get her some nice earrings. Whatever you get for her, you don’t want to get the same type of thing you’re going to give her tomorrow. You also, don’t want it to be bigger or more expensive than tomorrow’s gift. This is just a “teaser.”

When you give it to her, say, “Happy Valentine’s Day Eve.” She may not catch the “eve” part there, which might make it even better. You might be able to get a double surprise out of this one. She just might think that you’re going to give her anything tomorrow, just because you gave her something today. Then, when you give her a Valentine’s gift tomorrow, she’ll be surprised again.

Have fun, and don’t forget to tell her, “I love you.”

Valentines Buyer’s Guide

With Valentine’s Day just a short five days away, it’s time to plan your big romantic night with your wife. If you don’t already have a reservation to take her somewhere, you’re probably in trouble, because everyplace is going to be full. I think the only night where more people go out than Valentine’s Day is New Year’s Eve.

The other thing you want to get going on is picking up a present for your wife. Now, I know that if you’re like most guys, you’re probably thinking you can wait until at least Monday for that; but, trust me; you don’t want to do that. By Monday the selection will be really picked over and you may have trouble finding a descent gift for your wife.

While I’m sure that your wife would appreciate the classic Valentine’s gift of flowers and chocolates; I’m also sure she’d appreciate it more if you could be a little more imaginative in your gift giving. So, to help you out of the quagmire of the stores, here are a few thoughts for you:

Jewelry – This is one of the classic romantic gifts. It’s also one of the classier ones you can give your wife. Now, I know that jewelry can get pretty expensive, but that doesn’t mean that you need to break the bank to buy your wife a present, keep it within your budget, she’ll still appreciate it.

Perfume – Women like nice perfume. Their noses are more sensitive than ours are, so “negative” odors (such as sweat) bother them more. That probably has a lot to do with their liking perfume. A good quality perfume will actually last longer than the cheap ones do, and it keeps you from looking like a cheapskate. A small bottle of a quality perfume is much better than a large bottle of a cheap one.

Lingerie – Yeah, I know, you were probably waiting for this one. Sexy lingerie is always a romantic gift. But, this one comes with a warning. Don’t go overboard. If your wife isn’t comfortable with a see through baby doll, she’s not going to wear it, no matter how much you want her to. If you want to go racier than what she already wears, then go just a baby step more, not a giant step. If you buy it with just your likes in mind, it’ll seem like you’re buying yourself a gift.

Books About Marriage – There are a lot of good books out there about marriage. If you’re not sure what to get, check out Paul & Lori’s bookstore on The Marriage Bed: http://site.themarriagebed.com/resources/tmb-bookstore Just one warning; if you’re going to buy her a marriage book, better plan on reading it too. BTW, if you’re going to buy her a book, get something else too.

Something Decorative for the Bedroom – Women identify with their homes. If the home is beautiful, she feels beautiful. If the home is falling apart, she feels that way too. If you want to have a healthy relationship in the bedroom, it needs to look like something from a movie set (not Rambo). We have quite a few decorative pieces that speak of love in our bedroom. One of my favorites is a little statue of a couple hugging that my wife bought for me.

Clothes – Now, don’t panic. Buying clothes for your wife really isn’t as hard as you think it is. First of all, you need to know three things:

• What size is she?
• What colors does she like?
• What’s her style?

You can find the answer to all three of those questions by looking in her closet. Then, go find something that you think she’d look good in, that meets all three of those requirements. It’s really not all that hard. If you try and meet those three points, she’ll probably love it; especially since you bought it for her. Just be sure to keep the receipt, just in case it doesn’t fit.

Collectible Figurines – This is one of those great secrets that wise men do to ensure that they can always find a gift for their wives. Start her a collection of some sort of figurines, such as Precious Moments or Hummels. Then, every time you’re stuck without a gift idea, you can add to her collection.

Okay, now you’re armed with some ideas. Get out there before the mob and grab a nice gift for your wife, before everyone else beats you to it. 

Snow Flowers

Every once in a while, I like to do something with flowers; they are the classic romantic gift and it is rare to find a woman who doesn’t appreciate them. Unfortunately, for most of the country, the flowers are buried under the snow right about now; so that can be a bit difficult. I must say though, that we still have green grass (not white) and leaves on the trees. Anyway, without going to the supermarket, you’re going to have a bit of trouble finding flowers this time of year.

So, when all else fails, use the materials at hand. What materials? How about snow and ice? Let’s challenge our artistic creativity a bit here, and see if we can sculpt as well as a six year old. Grab yourself a bucket of snow, and start forming some snow flowers.

No, a snowball doesn’t count as a snow flower, sorry. You’ll have to do a little better than that. You might try a two-dimensional relief sculpture, instead of going for a full three-dimensional work of art.

Adding a little bit of water to your snow, making it a bit slushy (but not too slushy) can help make the snow stick together, especially if you have dry, powdery snow. It will also help the flowers harden up and become icy once you’re done. Speaking of that, it might help to freeze your creation after you finish it, that way it will last more than five minutes.

If you want to add a touch more artistic romance to it, print a paper rose and make it a part of your creation. If you have it, printing on cover stock instead of standard printer paper will help insure that it doesn’t soak up the water too fast. It will also provide some part of your creation that your wife can keep as a remembrance. Women like things like that.

Here’s another trick you can add to your creation. Grab a bottle of your wife’s perfume, and spray your snow flowers, so that they will smell more like flowers. This works best if she has a perfume with a floral scent.

So, how creative are you? Why not give it a try and see. By the way, if you fail, and your wife catches you in it, you’ll still get a point for trying; so what do you have to lose?

Traveler’s Advisory

Everyone knows the classic idea of bringing home gifts for the family, when you have to go out of town on a business trip. Tourist traps and especially airport shops depend on this; knowing that business travelers who are going away can be expected to be a little freer with their gift buying money than they would be otherwise. So, they jack their prices up to take advantage of that feeling of moment’s desperation when we say “oh no, I’m heading home and I don’t have anything for my family.”

Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be willing to buy nice gifts for the kiddies and especially that you shouldn’t be willing to buy a nice gift for your wife. After all, she’s had to put up with the kids and the problems all by herself while you were gone. She’s definitely worth whatever you’re going to spend.

I just came home from a 10 day trip out of the country. In the airport I bought my wife a piece of jewelry (always a good gift idea). It was a rather unique necklace, in a Victorian filigree flower design, which definitely spoke of her personality. Not only was it a nice gift, but it was something that was definitely made for her. Had it not been so special, I probably wouldn’t have been willing to pay airport prices for it.

On the other hand, remember the scoring rules for this game; if you buy your wife an expensive gift, you get one point and if you buy her an inexpensive gift you get one point. Of course, if your gift is too cheap or not a romantic gift, you’re not going to get any points at all.

Let’s apply a little strategy to this gift-giving issue and see if we can maybe come up with a way of getting a little more bang for our buck.

First of all, I’d suggest avoiding all those cute little trinkets that they sell in the tourist traps which say “Miami” or “San Francisco.” Not only are they really cheesy gifts, but they’ll serve as a constant reminder that you went someplace interesting without her. Not a good plan. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t buy her something with a regional flavor, especially if it’s something that you can’t get at home.

It helps to make sure you put shopping time in your schedule. Now, that’s really easy for women to do, but rather hard for us guys. We’re missing that shopping gene, which automatically attracts us to stores. However, you’re going to spend much less money in a regular store, than you are in the airport.

It always helps to keep a list of romantic gift ideas in your personal organizer. That way, when you’ve got to find a gift in a hurry, you don’t have to worry about your brain lock. Little things that your wife has mentioned she’d like, things that you’d spotted before and know she likes, and classes of gifts which have received really good “reviews” from her in the past are all good candidates for this list.

Another way that you can save yourself time and money on this gift buying spree is to pre-buy your gifts. Now, I realize that some women might consider this cheating, but who says she ever has to know? I’m a big fan of shopping on the Internet. Not only does it save me time in the stores, it saves me money as well. So, all I have to do is pre-select the gift I want to buy for my wife (and even for the kiddies), and have it shipped to the hotel where I will be staying. That way, when I get there, it’s waiting for me.

I suppose an alternative to having the gift shipped to your hotel would be to have it shipped to the office and pack it in your bags. That would save the same amount of time and still insure that you have a gift ready when you come back. Just make sure that she isn’t packing your bag for you.

Remember, this is supposed to be about thinking about her. So, it’s important that you choose a gift that shows that you’re thinking about her; otherwise, you’re not going to get any points in the romance department. 

Take Advantage of the Sales

You know guys, we tend to complain about our wives and their shopping, but there are times, actually many times, when they are a lot wiser in the shopping department than we are. Take sales for example. We guys don’t pay a whole lot of attention to sales that are going on. When we need something, we go out and buy it; either we can afford it, or we just don’t buy it.

Well, I have to tell you a secret; I’m a cheapskate. I like getting a deal whenever I can. I guess it comes from the years when I didn’t have much. I learned the true value of sales during that time. It saved me and is still saving me a lot of dough.

So, how is this romantic? It’s really rather easy. All you need to do is keep your eyes open for the sales where you can buy gifts for your wife. That way, when you need a gift, you’ll already have something ready.

Now look, we all like buying nice stuff for our wives; but let’s be real, sometimes that nice stuff has some not so nice price tags on it. Let’s say you want to buy your wife some nice gold earrings. Well, you know as well as I do, that real gold has skyrocketed in price. So, what do you do; buy her something cheap, or skip lunch for a month?

Now that’s where the sales come in handy. If you keep your eyes open, you can occasionally catch a really good sale on gold jewelry. I’ve seen jewelry sales with as much as a 70% discount. So, when I catch a sale like that, or even at 50% off, I can buy something really nice for my wife, much nicer than I can afford otherwise. She doesn’t care, because she doesn’t know what I paid for it. She just sees it as a nice gift.

The other side of this, besides buying really nice gifts for her is to be able to buy more gifts that you can give her at miscellaneous times. Let’s say that one of the gifts you buy for her from time to time is lace panties. Well, those can get kind of expensive too; not like the gold earrings, but considering how little fabric is in them, they can get a bit high. So, you manage to catch a sale and pick up for pair for the price of two. Great! Now you can give her twice as many gifts.

Don’t get this wrong now. I’m not advocating being a cheapskate. What I’m advocating is being able to buy more and nicer gifts for your wife than you could otherwise. After all, little trinkets like that are the kinds of gifts that are romantic; much better than buying her something practical.

Hey, we need every advantage we can get. This isn’t doing anything to cheat our wives, it’s using a little wisdom to be able to be a blessing to our wives. So, quit drooling over the computer and big-screen TV ads in the Sunday paper long enough to see if there is something else on sale. Be ready to buy gifts for your wife, so that you can keep romance going all year long.