Gift ideas for the husband

Hypatia

My husband is a fellow geek, which is awesome and I've generally been able to find something that he'd like over the 10 years we've been together. However, the holidays and other things are coming up and I find myself completely tapped out of ideas. This is a big problem because I have 3 upcoming gift periods to find things to give to him, anniversary, birthday, and holidays.

Here are some of the ideas/restrictions issues I'm having:
- Any game that he indicates interest in or that I think he might be interested he has inevitably already pre-ordered/purchased.
- I can't really afford to upgrade his entire PC, and I think I remember that he upgraded his graphics card not too long ago so that's out. He's also maxxed on RAM for his motherboard.
- We already have a ton of board games and I'm not entirely sure that buying him another one would be considered a good gift, especially because we have so many already.
- Our apartment isn't all that big and we've been trying to purge stuff, so getting him something that just looks nice without a use would be kind of weird.
- I thought about some kind of gaming themed shirts or such, but during this purge he just dropped a ton of clothes into the "donate" pile so that might also be kind of weird.
- He's more of a PC gamer, we have a PS3 and a Wii, but last time I bought him Skyward Sword along with a controller so he could play and he hasn't even opened it. This general situation is even worse right now because he's got so many games to play (Borderlands 2, Torchlight 2, XCom, etc.)
- In terms of books, it's sort of the same problem as with games. Anything I'd think to buy him he's already read because we have the same tastes, or he's already bought it on the Kindle.

I'm just feeling totally tapped out for ideas, which is frustrating, anyone have any helpful thoughts? I would say at a general maximum, I'd draw the line at around $300 if it was a really awesome gift and it would mean some really tight financial juggling for a while. Beyond that, I really can't afford it and if I do get him something in that ballpark for one gift, the other 2 gifts are going to be something like a bag of M&Ms.

EclecticGroove

He may be a fellow geek, but does he have any interests outside of geeky things? There could be things in that area that are good ideas.

And for geeky things, does he like things associated with any games? Soundtracks, artwork, movies, etc? Some games have all sorts of crazy tie ins from action figures to candy.

Echo

It may look like a terribly boring gift, but as a geek I get a huge grin on my face when I get gift certificates for Amazon or the local Sci-Fi Bookstore. That means I can get something that fits just right!

Hypatia

EclecticGroove wrote: »

He may be a fellow geek, but does he have any interests outside of geeky things? There could be things in that area that are good ideas.

And for geeky things, does he like things associated with any games? Soundtracks, artwork, movies, etc? Some games have all sorts of crazy tie ins from action figures to candy.

Sadly, none that come to mind, his hobbies are mostly games, programming, board games, and tinkering with things (e.g., building a storage server, getting one of those Chumby alarm clocks, etc.)

I was thinking of doing the gift certificates but was worried it would seem like a cop-out and impersonal, especially because his family tends to give gift certificates a lot, but he's never given one to me. Do you think it would be viewed as not having put enough thought into it?

CelestialBadger

How about an experience rather than a physical gift? Ride in a helicopter, paintball game, dinner at fancy restaurant?

Inx

Does he shave? Practical gifts SEEM kind of lame, but when you've been with someone for long enough, getting them something practical, but maybe a little nicer than they would buy for themselves can be a great gift. If he shaves, you could pick him up a luxury aftershave or shaving cream/soap, or even a new razor. You said he likes to tinker with things, are there any specific tools he uses? Maybe get him a new set of those tools.

Do you guys go to movies ever? Prepurchased movie tickets are a nice idea for moviegoers.

But yeah, if you can't think of a nerd specific gift, and his hobbies don't give you much room to move gift-wise, something practical and nice isn't a bad idea.

Iruka

I've been giving Humble bundles as gifts to my geeky friends. A huge package of games with profits that go to a good cause, its a hard gift not to like. I package the code in a nice email about the charity and the games and it has gone over well. I bought my sister and brother in law the android bundles because they had just gotten new phones.


Also, consider concerts and shows. Tickets don't take up any storage space, and depending on your tastes and location, you can see a concert for $75-100 for both of you.


You could also commission some art, If he plays any MMOs or games where he has a custom character hes attached to, birtdays are a common reason I get commissions, and I know other AC dudes do that kind of work. Getting something like that done can be anywhere from 100-300 depending on the artist and the expectations you have, But you can commission something that he can use as a desktop/phone background and not get a physical print, again, to stay inline with the purging of stuff.

bowen

http://www.thinkgeek.com

Any of the gadgets/clothes there.

ceres

I present to you: http://www.kinektdesign.com/product-gear-ring.php

My husband is a man who plays with his ring constantly. If I had some money to rub together I would get him this.

Also, I love amazon gift cards. Love them. I never buy one big thing, I just leave the balance sitting, and when I hear a song I happen to like or think of a book I want to read or any number of other little things like that, I go to amazon just get it. I used to think that sort of thing felt like a cop-out, but amazon is so big at this point that it's almost like someone opening a tab for me at a candy store.

Literally. I can literally go to amazon and buy a bunch of candy if I want to. It is the best.

Echo

Inx wrote: »

If he shaves, you could pick him up a luxury aftershave or shaving cream/soap, or even a new razor.

Does he use disposable cartridge razors like Mach3 or similar? Switching to a proper double-sided safety razor was the best thing I ever did in personal hygiene.

The initial purchase might cost a little, but I've saved so much money on not buying Gillette's overpriced crap. I bought a sample pack with 55 razor blades of various brands almost two years ago, and I still have a dozen blades left. Those 55 blades cost me less than an 8-pack of Mach3 cartridges. Including shipping.

Julius

Echo wrote: »

Inx wrote: »

If he shaves, you could pick him up a luxury aftershave or shaving cream/soap, or even a new razor.

Does he use disposable cartridge razors like Mach3 or similar? Switching to a proper double-sided safety razor was the best thing I ever did in personal hygiene.

The initial purchase might cost a little, but I've saved so much money on not buying Gillette's overpriced crap. I bought a sample pack with 55 razor blades of various brands almost two years ago, and I still have a dozen blades left. Those 55 blades cost me less than an 8-pack of Mach3 cartridges. Including shipping.

Second this, proper shaving equipment is what every man needs.

Also, CelestialBadger has a great idea with the experience-gift. Is there something he has always wanted to do?

illig

OExperiences are generally much more memorable than "things". You should consider doing something with your hubby rather than buying him another game or especially a computer peripheral that gets hidden inside of a case.

Some ideas:

- recently I went on a segway tour of a historic downtown. Loved it, probably more for the fact of riding in a group of segways, but the historic aspects were cool too. Cost about $75/person

- $300 will get you a dinner (maybe with not so much wine?) At a pretty good restaurant. Sometimes pampering yourself and your significant other with fine cuisine is just what is needed. I still fondly remember many of the dishes I had at a restaurant that practices molecular gastronomy (mmmm.... asparagus foam)

- a night in a new town (including hotel)... you can do geeky cultural things like a natural history museum, etc. Which are not too expensive.

- sex toys and a free weekend to use them to their fullest together?

(Edit) and all of the above are from personal experience. And I remember all much more than what toy my wife bought me some other times.

BlindZenDriver

Tools. Like fx. a small electric screwdriver as the Black & Decker BDCS40G 4-Volt Max Gyro Screwdriver


Which is pretty handy when doing stuff like building a PC and also smaller jobs like assembling furniture.

MichaelLC

Bah, real men use their teeth for screws. :ar!

Shaving stuff can be nice, I'm someone else who doesn't mind gift cards either.

ihmmy

ceres wrote: »

I present to you: http://www.kinektdesign.com/product-gear-ring.php

My husband is a man who plays with his ring constantly. If I had some money to rub together I would get him this.

Also, I love amazon gift cards. Love them. I never buy one big thing, I just leave the balance sitting, and when I hear a song I happen to like or think of a book I want to read or any number of other little things like that, I go to amazon just get it. I used to think that sort of thing felt like a cop-out, but amazon is so big at this point that it's almost like someone opening a tab for me at a candy store.

Literally. I can literally go to amazon and buy a bunch of candy if I want to. It is the best.

Hey! I have a friend with that ring - if he takes it off in front of me I usually steal it to fidget and play with it for a while. It's sweet.

Is he a fan of Doctor Who? There are tonnes of adorable Tardis themed things out there (especially on thinkgeek, referenced above) that would make most geeks happy

Subhuman

Can't ever fail with Omaha steaks

Bagginses

BlindZenDriver wrote: »

Tools. Like fx. a small electric screwdriver as the Black & Decker BDCS40G 4-Volt Max Gyro Screwdriver


Which is pretty handy when doing stuff like building a PC and also smaller jobs like assembling furniture.

More to his interests, a small-scale soldering iron might be nice.

November Fifth

If he's a PC gamer, he might enjoy a new/better gaming headset or a bigger monitor/another monitor.

see317

Does he read comic books? You might be able to pick up some of the more obscure trades or series for him. I know it's spectacularly easy for me to see a comic or trade that I want then forget it for the next few months until something reminds me that I wanted that book a few months back.

You mentioned he uses a kindle, maybe upgrade him to the Fire HD that just came out recently?

Robos A Go Go

see317 wrote: »

Does he read comic books? You might be able to pick up some of the more obscure trades or series for him. I know it's spectacularly easy for me to see a comic or trade that I want then forget it for the next few months until something reminds me that I wanted that book a few months back.

You mentioned he uses a kindle, maybe upgrade him to the Fire HD that just came out recently?

If space is an issue, you might be better off hooking him up with some books on Comixology or giving him a subscription to Marvel's online library of back issues.

iRevert

Steam Wallet Gift Card

Let him pick out all the wonderful games he wants from steam...Gifting one of these cards with a upcoming sale (summer, xmas...etc) is a very wonderful thing.

Blake T

If he likes to tinker with stuff maybe a raspberry pi and basic needs? (SD card, hdmi cable and a micro USB cable and USB charger maybe a wifi dongle)

I've built my self a super sweet low voltage media streamer with it running xbmc.

Dhalphir

Let me share something outside the box. My wife is also a little bit of a geek, though not to my extent.

We have never subscribed to the giftgiving policy around important events. That is not to say that I don't surprise her with some flowers from time to time, but we don't do gifts.

Instead, around a significant event, we go shopping together with full permission from each other to splurge on something for ourselves.

For us, being able to avoid the stress of finding the perfect gifts, year after year, is far better than that brief feeling of knowing you picked the perfect gift, and it also means your house never gets littered with gifts that you no longer use, or never used.

This isn't for everyone, obviously, some people really get a kick out of picking a perfect gift, but we love doing things this way. Far better to give your true gifts spontaneously, without regard to birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

Jam Warrior

If you have problems thinking of physical stuff then, as previously suggested, go for consumable experiences instead. Tickets out somewhere (theatre, gig, convention), really fancy meal out, holiday, the various 'experience day' gifts you can get like hot air balloon rides or motor track days.

bowen

Dhalphir wrote: »

Let me share something outside the box. My wife is also a little bit of a geek, though not to my extent.

We have never subscribed to the giftgiving policy around important events. That is not to say that I don't surprise her with some flowers from time to time, but we don't do gifts.

Instead, around a significant event, we go shopping together with full permission from each other to splurge on something for ourselves.

For us, being able to avoid the stress of finding the perfect gifts, year after year, is far better than that brief feeling of knowing you picked the perfect gift, and it also means your house never gets littered with gifts that you no longer use, or never used.

This isn't for everyone, obviously, some people really get a kick out of picking a perfect gift, but we love doing things this way. Far better to give your true gifts spontaneously, without regard to birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

This is what we use for a major gift. We couple it with minor gifts like comic books, video games, apparel, etc to help with a more surprise gift.

Hypatia

Thank you so much for the ideas! For a razor, he already bought himself a fancy electric one so that was kind of out.

You did remind me though that Skyfall is coming out soon and he's a huge James Bond fan, plus we don't go out to movies a ton, so I am definitely going to go for an experience thing of nabbing him tickets for opening night and seeing if there's any Bond-ish opening stuff going on (does anyone know of anything?).

The tools are a great idea but I know he's already got a bunch, like we already have a dremel, every screwdriver known to man, soldering stuff, etc. He does read comics, I know we already have at least 2 shelves of them (Transmetropolitan, the Sandman series, the Watchmen, etc.) but if you have anything specific I should check for to get him based on that, I will look! I did think about some of the electronic suggestions in the thread, but he got a tablet from his internship, a chrome book from his internship, a new monitor about 1.5 months ago, and I can't afford a better headset then he already has because it's pretty high end. I'm beginning to think that the problem is that he buys stuff.

ceres: I'd totally get him one of those rings if I thought he'd wear it, I think he's just going to draw the line at one ring though!

Based on all the great suggestions, I think I have a lockdown on 2 of the 3 gifts, and for the third I might buy him gift cards unless your great minds come up with more brilliance. Thank you!

corky842

For opening night, rent an Aston Martin and a tuxedo.

MichaelLC

corky842 wrote: »

For opening night, rent an Aston Martin and a tuxedo.

1 ) Book dinner at a British/ or Irish pub
2) Play Adele's 18 CD on the ride to dinner
3) Go to movie
4) Play '21' on the ride to a bar for a martini
5) Get murdered in bed because you got to close to Bond

Maybe skip #2.

JaysonFour

If he's got magazines he reads religiously, spring for a few subscriptions to them. I'd also second the Amazon idea- being able to just pick up a new book or whatever that just came out and not having to worry about raiding the local bookstores and hoping they have a copy? That's awesome, and really thoughtful.

Inx

Maybe not as a gift idea for now, but if he likes Transmetropolitan and isn't against cape comics, Warren Ellis also did NEXTWave for Marvel and it was amazing. Ellis also wrote a novel called Crooked Little Vein which is one of my favorite books of all time.

Jam Warrior

Well as you did ask for comic book suggestions...

Hellboy library editions are both the best comic going and a make a nice gift due to being in a classy hardback volume.

Wezoin

Inx wrote: »

Does he shave? Practical gifts SEEM kind of lame, but when you've been with someone for long enough, getting them something practical, but maybe a little nicer than they would buy for themselves can be a great gift. If he shaves, you could pick him up a luxury aftershave or shaving cream/soap, or even a new razor. You said he likes to tinker with things, are there any specific tools he uses? Maybe get him a new set of those tools.

Do you guys go to movies ever? Prepurchased movie tickets are a nice idea for moviegoers.

But yeah, if you can't think of a nerd specific gift, and his hobbies don't give you much room to move gift-wise, something practical and nice isn't a bad idea.

Ooooh, the shaving one is good. I would never have said I was a 'shaving enthusiast' until I got my Merkur razor and a good brush and Taylor of Bond Street shaving creme. I wish I were manly enough to have to shave every day now!

Donovan Puppyfucker

Hypatia wrote: »

Thank you so much for the ideas! For a razor, he already bought himself a fancy electric one so that was kind of out.

You did remind me though that Skyfall is coming out soon and he's a huge James Bond fan, plus we don't go out to movies a ton, so I am definitely going to go for an experience thing of nabbing him tickets for opening night and seeing if there's any Bond-ish opening stuff going on (does anyone know of anything?).

The tools are a great idea but I know he's already got a bunch, like we already have a dremel, every screwdriver known to man, soldering stuff, etc. He does read comics, I know we already have at least 2 shelves of them (Transmetropolitan, the Sandman series, the Watchmen, etc.) but if you have anything specific I should check for to get him based on that, I will look! I did think about some of the electronic suggestions in the thread, but he got a tablet from his internship, a chrome book from his internship, a new monitor about 1.5 months ago, and I can't afford a better headset then he already has because it's pretty high end. I'm beginning to think that the problem is that he buys stuff.

ceres: I'd totally get him one of those rings if I thought he'd wear it, I think he's just going to draw the line at one ring though!

Based on all the great suggestions, I think I have a lockdown on 2 of the 3 gifts, and for the third I might buy him gift cards unless your great minds come up with more brilliance. Thank you!

Hmm, themed gift package... Tickets to new Bond film, film is called Skyfall, sky+fall = skydiving, then dinner and martinis in a fancy restaurant dressed to the nines!

Riboflavin

A geeky watch is nice. Kickstarter had two which look cool and I'd love one.

Martian watch. Voice command bluetooth watch.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/martianwatches/martian-the-worlds-first-voice-command-watches

http://martianwatches.com/

Pebble Programmable watch:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android?ref=search

http://getpebble.com/

And if you had 1800$ instead of 300$ lying around(or 3600$ so you could get me one too)

The Star Wars Limited Edition Seiko

http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/BR-seiko-unveils-star-wars-limited-edition-watch-series-3878439-NOR.html

I'd like the C3PO or the YODA plz ;-)

see317

What about the Calvin and Hobbes collection?
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Calvin-Hobbes-v/dp/0740748475/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349971026&sr=1-2

Alternatively, the Far Side collection
http://www.amazon.com/COMPLETE-Andrews-Publishing-publisher-Hardcover/dp/B0050QEADW/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349971026&sr=1-3

Down side is they do take up a pretty considerable amount of space.

Bagginses

High quality gin, fancy-pants vermouth, and a Boston shaker.
Alternately, Lillet Blanc, 100-proof Stolichnaya, the 94-proof Export version of Gordon's Gin, and a Champagne goblet/coupe.

Sivade

This is my first post ever on PA forums!

My suggestion is art, actually! If he's a gamer, he's had to have played Nintendo at some point, and I'd totally want one of these posters if I had played Nintendo: http://ukiyoeheroes.com/

Ataxrxes

Does he need a bag for carrying stuff around, overnight trips, or whatever? I would be pretty stoked to get one of these as a gift:
dsgear.com/collections/gearbags

Pure Din

This might not be your and your husband's kind of thing, but the best gift I've ever given was a $10 notebook with the first few pages filled out with stories about we met, awesome dates or vacations we've been on, little drawings of our DnD characters, more personal stuff, and so on. Then for future "experience" presents are easy to make even more meaningful by adding another page or two describing the best parts in detail. As a bonus, it makes future giftgiving way easier (for him anyway) because he can be like "oh, she spent half a page writing about how much she liked that restaurant, I know where to take her for her birthday".

Agahnim

You mention he's a PC gamer..did he ever play the old infinity engine games like baldurs gate? These tend to inspure strong feelimgs even years later so you can get himthose on gog.com. or you can get him in on the last days of a kickstarter by the makers of those games who are trying to bring bsck the magic it had.its called project eternity.

Seriously though ask him ig he played baldurs gate 2 and if his eyes light up put down 20 bucks so you can reserve a copy

Spiritfire

You and my wife have the same issue. My wife laments how difficult it is to shop for me because I will usually just go purchase the things that I want (assuming the price isn't over $100.)

The material gifts that I've really appreciated were...
-A nice Urkel-nomic PC mouse for work
-A comfy chair for the using the desktop at home
-Polarized sunglasses that fit my oversized Asian head
-Lightweight watches (Love the Skagen titanium blue-faced watch my wife got me. It's not terribly expensive as far as watches can go, but still catches the eye. Also, I have frail-girly wrists and it doesn't draw more attention to i like those watches with over-sized faces could.)
-Thermapen food thermometer. I don't always cook, but when I do, I don't like giving my family salmonella.
-I use my multi-tool more often than I expected. The pocket-sized variations look cooler, but the extra cost for the Skeletool didn't really seem worth it.

Ataxrxes wrote: »

Does he need a bag for carrying stuff around, overnight trips, or whatever? I would be pretty stoked to get one of these as a gift:
dsgear.com/collections/gearbags

Oh man, I'm a sucker for cool gear bags. Thanks for the link. For PAX Prime and the subsequent family hiking trip in WA I bought the 5.11 Rush 12 though the COVRT series has a less "aggressive" look to it. Throw in a 3L Camelbak hydration bladder and I'm good to go anywhere. Right now I use mine as a camera bag and a water carrier... sometimes it's also a diaper bag...