Sentimental Diva

Your Spouse - Does your spouse have a favorite hobby? Purchase things that can be used for the hobby – yarn and needles for knitting or crocheting, scrapbooking supplies for those that like to scrapbook, router and drill bits for a spouse that like woodworking. You get the idea, now go find a great gift related to their hobbies.

Younger Children – Children are pretty easy to buy for. It seems that advertisers begin bombarding children with ads for the latest and greatest toys earlier each year. Because of the ads during their favorite TV shows, they’ve probably been telling you since school was let out for summer break the different things they’d like to get.

Don’t let advertisers make you feel inadequate if you don’t buy your children everything they want for Christmas. Pick one or two toys your child has repeatedly said they want, and then get them other things to finish out the gifts they receive from you and your spouse.

Most people go out to the store and buy gifts at Christmas time, but you don’t want to wait until the Christmas rush catches up to you before you start planning. In a lot of ways this is the easiest way to budget and plan for purchasing many gifts at one time. Take a trip to your favorite discount store and you can basically plan for gifts for everyone on your Christmas list.

Here are some ideas of possible gifts you may be able to give for the various people you may have to buy for:

For Your Spouse or Significant Other

Take into consideration what this person enjoys and listen for hints of things they would like to get. For women it may be jewelry, a trip to a local day spa, or their favorite perfume. Men will most likely enjoy tools of some kind, a book by their favorite author, or a CD by their favorite artist.

Clothing is usually a safe bet unless you choose a style and size that isn’t correct.

You may want to think twice about buying clothing unless they’ve gone with you to try something on prior to your buying it. If your spouse has told you they want a particular clothing item, your best bet would be to purchase a gift card that they can use to go pick up just what they want.

If you really want to impress your spouse, consider planning a weekend getaway for just the two of you. Ask the grandparents or a close friend to babysit, reserve a room at a local bed and breakfast, and then give them a written invitation as your gift they can open on Christmas day.

Guys often think long and hard about what item to give their moms, female co-workers, girlfriends or grown-up daughters. Well, if you have an ultra-savvy, independent woman with you and you want to make her smile on her birthday, your anniversary or on Mother’s Day, you can try giving her girlified versions of the best handyman tools around. A girl has got to have her emergency stash.

I’m talking about Apollo Precision Tools DT0773N1 135-Piece Household Pink Tool Kit when I say functional “handyman” items that will appeal to a girl. It’s pink, and the brand name is known for manufacturing products that really work!

You can also try the The The Safety Girl Roadside Emergency Kit, which has the most awesome casing. I recommend that you use this to COMPLEMENT the Apollo kit, because while the casing is gorgeous, there really isn’t much “emergency” items in it.

The stuff inside is not as complete as the Apollo kit, but you have all you need to deal with a flat tire, and other “girl day” emergencies like losing a button, or needing to satisfy a chocolate craving. Here’s a list of what’s inside: Emergency contact list, accident record, safety Girl pencil, purified water, professional nail file, Ghirardelli chocolate, Zox breath freshener and a lip moisturizer. But… it’s cute, the logo on the casing shows a girl who knows her stuff, and there’s no way in the world anyone would guess the “emergency kit” contains a nail file and chocolate.

These two kits are practical, brilliant and fun gifts for birthdays and graduation. If you want to celebrate your girl’s first car or her new car, both these kits are ideal gifts!