(no subject)

[verity83]

I don't know if any of you have seen the JC Penney jewellery ad where the dude gets his wife a dual-bag vacuum cleaner for Christmas and she throws him into the doghouse... but Dan and I saw it the other day and we were both like, um, okay? What exactly constitutes a romantic gift? The first thing we did was exchange glances and laugh because of what Dan got me for Christmas.

He said he could never get the hang of so-called romantic gifts.

Most women want jewellery or flowers or lingerie or a night out at a fancy restaurant and consider that romantic.

But I asked Dan for a jump rope for Christmas. That's what he got me. That's why we were laughing.

I guess that's one thing that makes us a little bit wacky. We really are pretty practical. I'd rather have a jump rope and get a bit of exercise that will benefit me in the long run rather than flowers that will wilt (although he did once buy me a handful of yellow tulips, and that was nice) or lingerie that will never survive a night in bed (much less the washing machine). He wouldn't get me jewellery anyway, and we're both indifferent to restaurants 99% of the time.

So to me it's more romantic to get a jump rope, because it's something I actually wanted and the fact that he gets me what I ask for rather than some silly trifle means something to me.

I guess I just don't get the concept of "romantic gifts". Are we just totally weird? What do you or would you think of as a romantic gift?

Comments

[krikketgirl.livejournal.com]

This is actually something I was thinking about, so I might post instead of commenting?

[butterbobbin.livejournal.com]

ROFL! Apparently the Krikket Read-a-Thon is making me think like you!

[nuranar.livejournal.com]

I... I guess I'm not much on romantic gifts, as such. (Not that I'm in much of a position to judge!) But it's never been about the actual gift as much as the intent and thought behind it. My mother got a heavy-duty trailer hitch for the Suburban for one Mother's Day. She wanted it! She was happy! When a jump rope is what you want, getting that shows a real concern for you. The doghouse ad didn't just show so-called non-romantic gifts; it showed guys giving things that were insulting. And they were insulting because they didn't think about it.

Honestly, gifts that mean the most to me end up being something I really wanted that I didn't tell anyone: because that means someone put a whole lot of thought into it.

[butterbobbin.livejournal.com]

Exactly. It's really the thought behind it. There ARE a lot of women who expect expensive things like jewels, granted... but I do believe any woman would feel loved and considered to get something her man knew she really wanted, be it a yoga ball or a new computer.

It really boils down, I guess, to being in tune with your woman enough to know what she really wants. If the communication in your marriage is THAT bad.......

I giggled about the trailer hitch. That's so perfect!


On the OTHER hand, Dan wanted a clapper for Christmas. You know, those As Seen on TV Clap-On-Clap-Off. My first thought was, *cough*you're too lazy to just get out of bed and flip the switch*cough*?! But he kept bugging me about it, so I looked it up and finally convinced him that enough people complained that they a) sucked power, b) started smoking, c) started on fire, d) just didn't work. I so didn't want to spend $25 on that kind of gamble. *cackle* Granted, guys aren't as into gifts for their romance value. It's more about being cool and techy, at least for Dan - but I really hope he can come up with SOMETHING less hazardous.

[ladybeth.livejournal.com]

My concept of a romantic gift would be something meaningful to the two involved. Somehow I don't think a vacuum cleaner quite fits. Unless you have someone whose obsessed with Vacuum cleaners. There was this one guy who collects them.