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Help me [Christmas] the wife...
amateurhour
One day I'll be professionalhourThe woods somewhere in TennesseeRegistered User regular
One day I'll be professionalhourThe woods somewhere in TennesseeRegistered User regular
So I've got this wife...
Actually, we're newlyweds, and she rocks. We've been together for almost four years now.
So I've got this problem...
I suck at buying gifts. I'm great with the romance and spontaneity and stuff, but when it comes to putting deep, loving thought into a big gift, I suck. I grew up in a household that was the gift card type, and it rubbed off on me.
I want to get her something amazing. We're on about a $150 budget this year for gifts for each other, but I could reasonably go as high as $200 to $300 if something great came along.
Web gifts are fine as long as I can have them shipped by Christmas.
Alright, now a little bit about her...
- She's into video games. We've got every console but the PS3 (waiting till we get an LCD tv) and a subscription to gamefly. She loves all kinds of games, but wants to get better at shooters (L4D, MW2, Halo, etc)
- She's an amazing artist. I mean, I've got a crappy little webcomic, but she blows me out of the water. She's got all the art supplies I think she needs, but maybe a canvas and an easel or something would be cool.... I dunno.
- She used to read books fairly often and write a lot, but hasn't picked up a pen in a while. I actually got her an old typewriter for motivation a while back that just sits in a closet. In all fairness, it was a bad choice on my part.
- Because I have an awesome new job, she doesn't have to work full time anymore, so she's going to three days a week of work and four off so that she can take some time to find her hobbies again, and just be happy. Basically the free time is there.
- Locality... We're in the Franklin/Nashville TN area
- She loves perfume, flowers, jewelry, etc just like most other women
Alright guys, please help me make her Christmas amazing. Remember, unique and special is the key. Online is fine, just save my ass this holiday season
Actually, we're newlyweds, and she rocks. We've been together for almost four years now.
So I've got this problem...
I suck at buying gifts. I'm great with the romance and spontaneity and stuff, but when it comes to putting deep, loving thought into a big gift, I suck. I grew up in a household that was the gift card type, and it rubbed off on me.
I want to get her something amazing. We're on about a $150 budget this year for gifts for each other, but I could reasonably go as high as $200 to $300 if something great came along.
Web gifts are fine as long as I can have them shipped by Christmas.
Alright, now a little bit about her...
- She's into video games. We've got every console but the PS3 (waiting till we get an LCD tv) and a subscription to gamefly. She loves all kinds of games, but wants to get better at shooters (L4D, MW2, Halo, etc)
- She's an amazing artist. I mean, I've got a crappy little webcomic, but she blows me out of the water. She's got all the art supplies I think she needs, but maybe a canvas and an easel or something would be cool.... I dunno.
- She used to read books fairly often and write a lot, but hasn't picked up a pen in a while. I actually got her an old typewriter for motivation a while back that just sits in a closet. In all fairness, it was a bad choice on my part.
- Because I have an awesome new job, she doesn't have to work full time anymore, so she's going to three days a week of work and four off so that she can take some time to find her hobbies again, and just be happy. Basically the free time is there.
- Locality... We're in the Franklin/Nashville TN area
- She loves perfume, flowers, jewelry, etc just like most other women
Alright guys, please help me make her Christmas amazing. Remember, unique and special is the key. Online is fine, just save my ass this holiday season
are YOU on the beer list?
amateurhour on
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Or you can make her breakfast before she gets up and leave the gift on her plate.
pleasepaypreacher.net
Other things:
One of those light pads or whatever...they let you draw on the computer. Sort of. Lots of web comic artists use them.
For "unique", "special", "located in TN", and also "wood" you can look at my friends' shop.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/DesignsbyBaerreis
Not a gift suggestion, but maybe you should talk to one of her friends and see if she's mentioned anything to them.
https://twitter.com/Hooraydiation
Cause let's be honest, the games, art supplies, etc is something you'll get anyways. Why not find something she would love but never buy herself as a gift.
You could also do something similar in the form of a comic if you don't have enough photos.
https://twitter.com/Hooraydiation
I played the piano and sang in highschool and college, but it's been about fifteen years since I've done either. I've recently dusted off the piano and made a committment to the church choir for a variety of sentimental crap reasons I'm not going to go into here.
Part 1) He found a DVD of Artur Rubenstein's 1960 Chopin performance, recovered from some Russian archive somewhere - Rubenstein's my favorite pianist, Chopin is one of my favorite composers.
Part 2) He found a DVD of the performance of Mozart's Requiem done at one of the recent anniversary festivals, performed in the cathedral where Mozart's funeral mass was held. Mozart's Requiem is my favorite big choral piece.
After telling me what my presents were, he made a nice speech about supporting my art and talents, etc, and wanted to find something to inspire me that I would enjoy.
You could find a history or coffee-table book of her favorite artist or style and make the sentimental speech - I don't know your wife, but it sure did score points with me, even if he did tell me what my presents were before the day itself.
Lol, I always do this. Get really pumped about the present I got my wife and give it to her almost always right away. Birthday gift was given over 2 weeks before her birthday this year for example.
For jewely, way back when I bought her an inexpensive birthstone ring. Emerald, which is a nice gem, and white gold for the band. What I did is pick out a design that I thought looked interested yet still feminine, and got that. While she does like the design and thinks it's cool (wears it every day), the thing that she loves most about it is that it's a gift from me.
For perfume, you can go into most any perfume shop and say "I'm shopping for my wife but I don't know anything about perfume. I have a feeling she likes blah blah smells but I want something that I know I'll like when she wears," and ask for suggestions. You can state a price range as well, and don't forget that you can get 2 or even 3 bottles. Most any employee will be able to get you in the right direction and then steer you towards scents that you like. I've done this and said "So I know she has some verbena, and I know she likes the citrusy smells," and they showed me some things and I just picked the one that I liked the most. Again, in this case she did like the perfume but REALLY liked it because she knew that when she wore it, it was a smell I liked.
https://twitter.com/Hooraydiation
Tell them you want to get her a present with "this theme" it could be art, it could be jewelery, it could be anything. Don't make them do all the work, but you will get extra brownie points because her friends will see that you want to get her something totally sweet and will talk you up.
Edit: it really seems that you have plenty of ideas, you just don't have the stones to back them up and actually buy something. Just remember even if it's not the perfect gift, if you explain the thought of it to her it will mean a lot to her.
Satans..... hints.....
www.etsy.com
i bought most of my gifts there this year, but not the one for my man, i bought him a new tower case.
i had my boyfriend buy me this as part of my gift (he also paid to have my laptop fixed
and i bought this for my mom and got a matching one for my charm bracelet because we used to break the chicken wishbone for a wish when i was a kid.
etsy is good for stuff like that, if you have a memory, search for it and you might be able to find something awesome that can remind you of it.
or you can get her this really awesome bag i want so much
etsy has so many customizable gifts too, which are really awesome, but i don't know if you'd be able to get it sent to you in time unless you step lively and ask the various etsy vendors if they can get it to you.
or, if she doesn't own one, why not get her a charm bracelet with a charm that means something to her?
i have this one, but it is a bit delicate, see, perfect for what i wanted, but he has bigger sizes if you want it a bit chunkier
if she's into the chunky bead look, the pandora charm bracelets are hot right now (and pricey)
Maybe a PC tablet? I think there's some lower-end varieties in your budget range. It'd expand her art medium, that's for sure.
E: Unless you already have one for your webcomic then forget what I just typed.
3DS FC: 4699-5714-8940 Playing Pokemon, add me! Ho, SATAN!
A really nice easel can easily run you $200-300 alone, but you can get cheaper ones. You get what you pay for, generally. If you're handy, you could also try building her one.
Canvases, the larger and better built ones, can range in the hundreds as well.
I was going to suggest this - but I'll second it instead
A nice wacom tablet would be sweet for her artsy side!
if she is just beginning to paint, an easel and some canvas boards of various sizes would be awesome, i love canvas board for practicing on (make sure you get the right type for what paint she is using, acrylic or oils).
in case you don't know dick blick is awesome
i'll third the wacom tablet if she doesn't have one, i have a wacom intuos3 6x8 and i love it (about $300 new), but in your price range you would likely be looking at the wacom bamboo, which is a good piece of equipment too. they have a new item in the intuos line now and it looks so good. (but if you can find an intuos3 for cheaper because it isn't the newest one, it is a really good tablet)
Alright... few things.
- I LOVE the bomb omb earrings. Definitely getting those.
- Digital art + her = Fail, so a tablet is out. Neither of us really want to learn to use one. I have thought about buying her a domain name though and linking it to a cheap server space or google blogspot, so that she could have a site/blog to herself.
- I like the idea of the journal, and if I find a nice leather one or custom one, it would be awesome... help?
- Can't talk to friends, we both don't really have a lot of friends up here. Still settling in and stuff. It's all on me.
- In the same vein of the earrings, she's a huge Final Fantasy fan. Any good earrings or fake potion bottles online?
Finally, I like the charm bracelet idea, and may give that a try too
Thanks, and keep em coming
The square enix online store has some expensive, but very cool collectors type statuettes and FF themed jewelry. It also has some reasonably priced collectables of lesser quality but still cool for a fan.
I think the website is www.square-enix-shop.com/usa based on the google search I just did, but the website is blocked from my work, so I make no promises on that being accurate.
https://twitter.com/Hooraydiation
and on the inside stuck to him:
"A real needle brain.
Likes cramped spaces.
Check out his great collection!"
She loved it.
If you're into some non-gamer jewelry, I got some lovely earrings from this site for my wife last v-day
www.jewelrybythea.com
It's all handmade and reasonably priced.
disclaimer:This is kind of a shill post because the lady who makes its husband is a forumer at Arstechnica.com where I hung out before I found the PA forums. (They even have a yearly discount for ars forumers in december as the forum initially helped them get the business going.) I like to see people I even kind of sort of know do well for themselves. And her stuff really is cool.
Etsy has some really nice ones. I know a fellow forumer got one for her bf and he loved it, I'll see if I can find the store.
Found: http://www.etsy.com/shop/AwakenJournaling
Maybe check your museum or local arts council to see if they do classes or workshops for adults!
As far as etsy goes, is there one shop recommended over another? If I order within the next 48 hours would I get the stuff for Christmas? I've been mainly looking for shops based in the US, and I'm about to start e-mailing the people and asking them if they do overnight shipping. I know it's last minute this year, but that's just what finances caused.
Convo with the seller, some can be very accommodating.
3DS FC: 4699-5714-8940 Playing Pokemon, add me! Ho, SATAN!
Not trying to be mean here dude, this is all good stuff. The problem here is that you aren't looking.
People have already suggested etsy as the like, igo to place for this type of random theme you are after.
Amazon has a million bits of everything.
You are doing fine, but you are stuck on procrastination mode, you gotta do decide on what you want and just follow through with it. She will like it, I promise. Or if she doesn't I promise that she will lie really really convincingly.
Satans..... hints.....
My lady was delighted with hers and they're versatile enough to be used in a range of roles.