What do YOU Buy for the Guy(s) In Your Life?!
Why is it that guys are so difficult to shop for?! Coming up with creative and masculine gifts that aren’t too expensive is always a difficult task for me (and based on the emails that I have received, for many of you as well)… especially when the new electronic gadget that every guy wants is just a little too pricey!
Alright, so how can all of you help? Well, do you have any brilliant ideas for last minute men’s gift ideas? I know most of us would be very appreciative of hearing any idea at all! I think it’s also fair to say that quite a few of us struggle in this area of gift-giving!
…And even better, if you’re reading this right now and you’re a guy, then please tell us what you’d like for Christmas… seriously! We want to know! 🙂
I got my hubby tickets to a comedy show in Jan, a magazine sub to PlayStation, some specialty coffees, a set of these Egyptian figurines he collects and I’m making a 101 Jar. I got a clear glass jar really cheap at IKEA and I’m filling it with 101 slips of paper, folded over, with typed messages (thoughts about us, favorite memories, thank you’s, apologies, quotes on marriage/children). Every day, for 101 days, he picks one slip each morning. It’s a little corny, I know. 🙂 But I love crafts and it turned out really well! To be honest, it was supposed to be 365 days but I started too late so I picked 101 instead. LOL
I did the notes in the jar for my hubby for our anniversary and he LOVED it. He kept them on his desk at work and pulled one out each day. Even after he read them all, he put them back in the jar and continues to read them when he needs a smile or laugh 🙂
I did that to but I put the notes inside balloons and filled his room with them.
I love this idea! I have been thinking of a personal meaningful gift this year instead of a store bought gift that he won’t appreciate or use. Since I have left this until REALLY late – I can’t even do the 101 jar – I think I will have to do a “30 day” jar and add to it each month another 30 (or 31days) Thanks for the idea.
I did this but it was called a prayer jar. Everytime you prayed for your husband you put a penny in it and I put a little note in it. I gave it to him when it was full. In my case I started the prayer jar when I graduated high school and put a penny and a note in the jar everytime I prayed for my future husband. On our wedding day I gave him the jar. He has it on his night stand.
that is awesome!
I’m not married, I’ve been with my boyfriend for 5 years, and I always have a hard time getting him stuff. But this year I got him a Sonicare toothbrush at Target (he left his at a hotel this summer), NIke shoes and jacket that I got online on clearance with at extra 25% off and free shipping, a beanie, sweats, a thermal t, and all sorts of extras for his stocking. All said and told I spent $100 and I think I did a great job. He and I know eachothers styles really well and never complain about the clothes we get eachother. So i know it’s a safe way to go.
My husband is a cigar smoker. He saves all the cigar bands (the paper wrapper around the cigar)- some of them are really beautiful! This year, I took his cigar band stash and turned it into a beautiful wall hanging using a shadow box. I think putting your hubby’s hobby on display is sure to make him smile 🙂
I got my husband a few boxes of bullets for his gun and I saved a bunch of pop cans so on Christmas day we can go shoot around!
Got my husband a beer making kit from amazon.com. It is called Mr. Beer and you can buy re-fills. 39.99, I think he is going to love it and I cant wait to give it to him on Christmas eve!
my husband works out and he likes and needs some work out clothes so that’s one of the things I got him. Plus some king sized Hershey bars for his stocking. HE HE HE !
Hey also I found this shower thing at bed bath and beyond for 4.99 that you can put all your shower stuff in ( you know like the kids use for college) anyway I filled it with shaving cream , razor toothbrush and paste. Shower gels, shampoo you get the idea. Makes for a very useful gift.
My husband is Mr. Fix it and so I try to pay attention when he mentions a tool he has needs replacing. He has a very old stud finder, so I bought him one for christmas. I also bought a rechargeable LED light for him and my dad that can be hung and shine a light on whatever project they are working on at the time. I’ve also found you can never go wrong with chocolate or baked items. What is the old saying? The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach?
my husband said he would love a $200 home depot gift card so he could buy tools, his friend agreed and said that would be cool! definitedly a guy thing but lots of men just love their tools and can never have enough.
Hubby is a gamer, so I bought him a new gaming mouse and keyboard that he has been eyeing. He’s also a huge fan of Battlestar Galactica so I found some BSG propaganda posters that we seen at the EMP exhibit in Seattle on Amazon.
From the kids, we did homemade coupon books. He wanted the house and garage cleaned for Christmas. For the Garage, all of us have made a coupon for 1 hour of cleaning on the garage that he can redeem. One for each month. I work and I’m pursuing my Masters Degree so I hired a housekeeper, she came out last week. (okay that was for both of us!!) 🙂
I got my husband a helicopter flying lesson through travelzoo, I paid half price. He’s going to love it, I cannot wait to give it to him.
I’m a guy and if you really want to know what we like the answer is simple. Just give us money or giftcards. Unless I ask for something specifically like last year I asked for a new pair of cowboy boots and a Texans jersey. This year I said just give me a giftcard to Cavender’s/Academy/etc… or cash because that’s what’s useful. But honestly we appreciate any gift you ladies give us because we know how hard/stressful it is shopping for us. We love the effort you put in but we only need so many ties, tools, shirts… unless we ask for them specifically.
Like Blake Shelton said, “If you’re going to give me socks and they cost $2.50, then just give me $2.50.” It’s true lol.
My husband is a Texan as well and we did the new cowboy boots last year along with the belt buckle. He plays the ps3 all the time but he just bought two new games he wanted in November. He also just bought the ps3 move and I got two games for that. He has two nice coats and a really nice watch . He has all the clothes he needs accept for maybe some dress clothes for work. He has 3 pair of tennis shoes . I just have no idea what to do this year. I guess Maybe a gift card for his future needs will do.
LOL!! SOOO TRUE!!
I showed my bf your comment and he agrees.
Id have to dis agree – not all guys like what their girls get them… I swear my husband makes sure to hate everything i give him – and complains about it in front of everyone… making me feel … BLAH! 🙁
My husband is easy to shop for. He likes PS3 games, books, and sports, so games, books, and clothing that sports the logos of his various favorite teams works great for any time really. He also generally likes the clothes I pick out for him. He is also always up for a Bluray. Other gifts that have gone over really well with guys: Subscription to Sirius or XM radio, Netflix subscriptions, tickets to various events, car detailing certificate, things like that.
I was at a loss as well for that perfect gift for my husband this year. Sooooo, I dug out his Gold Bracelet I had given him 4 years ago on our anniversary that he broke because he loved it so much he wouldn’t take it off. The repair shop found another spot that was ready to break so I am having both repairs done. He asked me about his bracelet a couple months ago and I told him I would look into it. : )) The cost is still about $200.00 but I know he will be pleased to wear it again.
My hubby loves his truck and I usually get him some kind of accessory for that. This year, we are doing Christmas on a budget so I got a car wash bucket and filled it with car wash concentrate, chrome polish, armor all wipes, shop towels, a sponge and a few other things. I think he will love it! The whole thing cost about $15 thanks to clearance deals! 😉
My husband likes sports so I got him a new golf bag hes had the hooters one for ever. I got him also lions jersey of his favorate player I know there not the greatest team. Also electric toothbrush, entertament book for the resturant coupons he can use at lunch time at work.Sweat shirts sports one of course. Kid rock cd for stocking.
Tools (specifically what he wants)….toolbox….video games………bbq utensils set……movies….magazine subscriptions…..tackle box…..this year—hunting stuff (camo mask, camo gloves, & jerkey)……think accessories that go along with what he already has. Actually, I compile a list over the year of things he mentions he wants, then it’s more of a surprise and I know he’ll be happy with what I bought him. Yeah, he’d rather have the 3,000 TV or a new dirt bike, but c’mon, not gonna happen.
A gift I have had an idea for is tickets to a University sport. Granted I am a student at a university and can get tickets cheap but it makes a good gift for the boyfriend!
I always give my hubby a hard time for eating out too much during the week for lunch. This year he needed a new wallet and I’m filling it with gift cards from restaurants that are close to his work. I’m buying 4-5 $20 gift cards. That will keep him happy for a little while : )
that is a really good idea! also remember to put a $1 bill in there for good luck!
I just always ask him what he needs. And most of the time pay attention on what he is eyeing on the store. that pretty much gives me the idea.
My husband has been talking forever about how badly he needs to organize his tools, so this year I got him a tool chest. It wasn’t cheap, but I pretty much go w/ what I know he needs or will like. He also wants to start a garden when he comes home from his deployment, and he likes dragons, so I bought him a little garden dragon. Pretty much anything will work that your guy would like, though. Our first Christmas together I just bought him a keychain and one of those kiddie punching balls–he loved it! 😛
My husband would definitely want a Kindle. He loves to read — a lot.
3 letters – G P S
After driving aimlessly – watching him looking at paper maps – I swear I will NEVER waste another dime on anything else for him.
My son bought the latest iPod with his own money and sold my husband his old one for $75.00. My husband LOVES it! It cracks me up how he often he uses it and is so envious of all the additional things that my son’s new iPod will do that his won’t! Soooo…this week they have the 8GB iPod at Target for the usual $225.00, but you get a $40.00 gift card back and I still had my 10% off an iPod from the regional flyer and the $15.00 off if you spend $150.00! I was worried if I was going to be able to use both the 10% and the $15.00 off for it, but it worked no problem. The clerk was even impressed! Ha! $147.50! Not bad.
*idea’s on the generic side for last min hubby or boyfriend gifts, – dvd that he has been dying to see, but u would never watch, with a box of popcorn and movie candy. – beer or liquior- movie passes to ANY movie of his chioce, i did this last yr and it back fired on me, i doslike horror movies and he loves them enough said
*i god my bf the las season of his fav show, headphones*they r really nice pair he always bolws out the speaker in 1 ear somehow in the others.* his fav soap and some candy.
*we have a spending limit on our selves, but we doubled it for our daughter.
*we still havent hit the limit 4 her but we good good deal’s and used coupons, so im glad that we didnt. rest of the limit im getting in cash and she can put it in her piggy bank… *how much of a pain would it be to get about $30 in change??? lol but its her fav thing to do…
I got my husband a Roku box! We don’t pay for cable or internet, but we get basic stuff through our apartment complex. This way he can watch all of his favorite stuff online right on our tv!
I bought my fiance a bunch of Aveda products – bodywash for his bacne and his favorite bar of soap. He rarely splurges on himself and I got a pretty good deal on these items on Black Friday. His birthday is just a few days after Christmas so I’ve got to work on that now too.
Buy the hubby an ‘experience’ gift. One site I’ve used is cloud9living but there are other sites that do similar. I bought hubby a chance to drive a ferrari in Las Vegas…he LOVED it!
Many of these sites allow you to buy a specific adventure, but if the recipient prefers, they can switch to any other adventure in the same pricing category…hot air balloon ride, five star dining experience or food training seminar, scuba diving lesson, etc etc etc.
My husband and I are doing something different this year. We are shopping for ourselves and bringing home our purchases and giving them to the other person to wrap. That way, we will eliminate the need to return items after Christmas for things that we actually wanted or needed. We have two boys and we will show them the purchases before we wrap them, so they will know ahead of time what they are giving. They don’t know that we are shopping for ourselves. Anyway, for my husband, he purchased, from Home Depot, the HUSKY 16 inch & 12 inch Tool Bag Combo for $9.99. He also purchased the RIGID 18 volt Cordless Drill with a Lithium battery from Home Depot online for $99.
Honestly, I find it sooooooooooo much easier to shop for guys. Depending on their age, I stick with three main categories unless I KNOW of a particular gift they want. Either video games or graphic t-shirts for the younger guys. What guy doesn’t like a funny shirt?
For the older crowd, I tend to stick with gift baskets for personal care products (that I get for FREE with my coupons…lol). I together a basket of a Proglide razor, Edge shaving cream, Old Spice body wash & deodorant, etc. Stick a $15 Starbucks/iTunes/etc giftcard in there and you’ve great gift that’ll last them a while, is relatively inexpensive, and seems to be thoughtful 🙂 I’ve done a couple of these baskets during the year for birthday gifts, etc and they always get a very good review 🙂
I bought my husband and hour long massage. He’s a runner and he works really hard and a massage isn’t something that we would justify buying for ourselves during the year but it was an awesome surprise as a Christmas gift. I actually already gave it to him because I thought it would help him relax as soon as his job slowed down (which follows the school year so we have a few extra days before Christmas to ourselves). He loved it and it set him (and his body) up well for a restful, relaxing Christmas break. I think I’ll probably do it again next year!
My fiance is also fairly easy to shop for. This year I bought him a nice sweater at Aeropostale that was fifty percent off and cost me fifteen bucks. It is the same style I was looking at the week before in an LL Bean catalog and telling him it would look really great on him. 🙂 I also got him one of the gifts from Rite Aid, we like to go to the beach and eat dinner in the summer time so I got him the cooler with MP3 speakers on it, and I got him a bunch of stuff from Best Buy because I work there and get a really great discount. In all I spent under 100 dollars. We don’t have kids yet, so I’m sure once we have kids our gifts to each other will not be as plentiful, but for now we are allowed to spoil each other. For my Christmas he paid for some much needed repairs for my car. 🙂
Last year I got my man one of those ELECTRONIC WEATHER STATION. He loves knowing the temperature in every room of the house (to see if he needs to adjust the airflow in the ducts). Anyone, the one I bought had an image of a lady on it, and she changes outfits according to the temperature. He thinks it’s a hoot and keeps it on the fireplace mantle and shows all our guests! They also have ones with kids on it, if you’re looking for a more family friendly one. Amazon and Kohls both have these, Just search weather station.