Maybe it’s a male thing or maybe it’s just a me thing but I am terrible at buying gifts for people. I wander round the shops, I browse on the net and I agonise over and over about what to buy someone, so I end up buying precisely nothing. Then it’s all a mad rush and I fall into that “anything will do” phase that you find yourself and it’s usually sifting through what’s left especially if it’s and event like Christmas or Valentines Day for example. There are people that specialise in this, so I’m told. That sort of feels like cheating to be honest and even more impersonal than buying something rubbish.
There is a certain skill to it. It’s not like you don’t like/love the person your buying for and you probably show them you care in the proper way all year round. This time the spotlight is on you. I’ve tried all the standard things, chocolate, flowers, chocolate flowers even, wine, personalised Lap Trays lie the ones available at https://personalisedlaptrays.co.uk/collections/lap-trays for example but I never seem to find that perfect gift, though the lap tray went down well.
There is plenty of help out there, support groups that are only too willing to take you cash and turn it into a personalised service for you to use. One thing I did try was asking the person what they wanted. That was a very bad idea. I got a surly “just anything is fine”. By the way don’t listen to them when they tell you that because it’s not true. When you do get them anything the fallout is severe, and the consequences will be dire. I have therefore formulated a plan.
Whenever you are in shop and you see something you think they may like saunter vaguely over to it and go “OH, look at this dear/babes/Dad/Trevor”, whatever it is you call the important person you’re buying for, “What do you think of this?” If their pupils dilate and they start talking quickly then you could be onto a winner. The only problem with this scenario is if they love it so much they might go and buy the thing there and then putting you back to square one. If they mumble something and don’t look up or do look and go “meh” remove that one from the list. There is a positive out of this situation because they might go, “Your Aunty Denise/Mum/Bryan the Dog would like it though”. Result! You’ve now got someone you can blame when Aunty Denise/Mum/Bryan the Dog look at you like you’ve lost your senses when you give it to them.
The best way is to listen to them. Take mental notes and actually pay attention to the other person. They will drop you hints even if they don’t realise their doing it. Anyway, I’m on to the internet, It’s her birthday coming up soon.
