Being as this is my first Christmas with a girlfriend, I had to do something I never had to do before. Go shopping for a female! It’s surprising difficult to come up with good gift ideas for someone.
I wondered how I would know when I was done shopping for her. Some will say it’s the amount of money you spend, the size of the gifts, or some other easily discernible measurement. Being a geek and a scientist I looked at shopping as a problem that needed a simple and straightforward solution.
Here is what I came up with. There are three requirements that must be met in order to complete your shopping. They are practicality, thoughtfulness and extravagance.
Practicality is about satisfying some basic need. Is the gift useful and something the person wants or needs? Gifts like appliances, furniture, clothes, a movie, music CD and so on. Things they will use on a regular basis and thus in using the item think of you.
Thoughtfulness is about giving something that shows you love/care for the person. This usually requires you to do real work with the gift. A picture frame for example would be practical but by putting in a picture of you and your girlfriend/wife you now made something thoughtful. It’s original and shows that you used some brain power in getting the gift. It’s something they can display for others to see and know you got it.
Extravagance is all about the splurge. It’s spoiling the person and demonstrating that you are willing to give of yourself for their happiness. Now don’
…excerpt from: www.alanbarber.org…