Getting thoughtful gifts for your spouse covers a lot of rough edges! Here's a trick on avoiding the Valentine's Day markup with style …
We've gotten into the habit of letting each other know before we're about to purchase something big — something that costs in the neighborhood of $150 or more. When I tipped my plans to get a rather expensive anniversary gift, my wife thought that we had better uses for the money at this time.
This leniency extends to other gift-giving occasions like Christmas, birthdays, and even Valentine's Day.
How a copywriter gifts his clients
One of many tricks that master copywriter Bob Bly shared with the readers of his newsletter was with regard to giving holiday gifts to clients. He doesn't feel pressure to give his best clients a gift each year. These are people who spend five and six figures (or more) a year for his services. If anyone should get a gift at the holidays, it would be these folks.
How does he get away with it? His trick is to give gifts at totally unexpected times. He might send a book to a client on June 13th as a gift. “Just because.” This gets him off the hook for a slew of Christmas gifts because there's no expectation of one. He gives gifts that are more memorable for the recipient. And he gets to give them when he wants to, and when he has inspiration.
How a husband can gift his wife and not break the bank
I've adopted that trick a bit. I'll bring home flowers, just because it seemed like the right thing to do. Ten bucks here and there — around once a month or so — buys a lot of slack around Christmas, anniversaries, and Valentine's Day.
So it's not that I don't get my wife gifts. I just get them at different times, and at normal, uninflated price. I have an advantage that my wedding anniversary is only twelve days before Valentine's Day, so flowers are still reasonably priced at that time.
And I've got it really easy, because I just need to surprise her with the flowers and she arranges them in a vase for me! (Here's how she does it.)
Give it a shot, Romeo
In a way, getting gifts throughout the year and not just at special days is better because it shows that you're thinking about them all the time, not just a few times a year.Just remember your spouse throughout the year with gifts, and you'll
Give it a shot! It can't possibly hurt!
I think that you’ve got the right idea! One of the things that we do is just get gifts when they’re significant. We didn’t exchange gifts for the holidays, nor do we have any special times of gift giving, mainly because they seem so contrived.
On a side note, I did tell my guy not to give me flowers if he messed up – they’ve been associated with that in my mind. I didn’t want to get accustomed to guilt gifts. 🙂
I try to do the same things, but probably not as consistently as I should. More than gifts, I try to think of something that she wouldn’t. For years, I bring dinner in for Valentine’s Day because it is usually during the week and we would rather celebrate privately.
My husband and I rarely do gifts as well. Instead, we enjoy gong out to a nice dinner together more sporadically (rather than on the actual holiday).
At Valentine’s Day, it feels like you buy the gifts in part because you “have” to. What kind of rude spouse wouldn’t give a gift? Yet if you give little gifts throughout the year, it feels much more genuine because you don’t “have” to, you want to.
Not buying flowers on Valentines Day has long been a ploy of mine. Especially, because I cannot stand paying a 75% markup just to buy flowers one day a year.
That’s really a sweet idea. I’m every wife will appreciate the “just because” thingy. I love the idea.
Congrats on your 10th Anniversary!
I love your idea of “just because.”
When someone expects a gift and thinks that he/she “should” get a gift, it’s just… not a gift anymore! On the other hand, a single unexpected flower is always a pleasant surprise. 🙂
A quick sweep across eBay is usually enough to find something unusual but memorable. That’s where I head when I’m after something unique. I think that’s a cheap(ish) way of going about things.
That’s a great strategy. I love little surprises here and there, but get a little stressed about gift giving for some of the bigger holidays.
We’ve been selling items on eBay for years and that’s been our insurance for keeping our budget intact. That’s the money we use for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmases, etc.