It has been a month since Christmas and one might breathe a sigh of relief thinking that the gift giving is over. But what one forgets is that birthdays do pop up along the way before the next Christmas. Do you tend to find that buying presents is a challenge, especially for those ladies in your lives who seem to already ‘have it all’ or if beauty products are not an option? Well, I hope that my tips and experiences can help you out.

I was in search of a birthday present for a childhood friend. I’ve known her all my life and yet I was wracking my brains for a suitable gift. She has good taste in fashion and buys whatever she fancies without needing to go through the process of moaning and lusting after the item. Seeing as she was specific about things that she liked and her wishlist was next to nil, I thought I’d get her a gift card. Then I had to narrow my search down to what type of gift card. It finally hit me when I walked past a shoe store. She absolutely loves shoes and cannot get enough of them. So it was settled, I bought her a gift card to a shoe store and she was thrilled.

I have another friend who buys ‘on impulse’. She picks up an item, tries it on or looks at it, likes it and then buys it. It was that simple. She has a covetable wardrobe of clothes, shoes and accessories. I would have bought her make-up except she doesn’t use it much and once told me that she likes to stick to the same few make-up products. Instead of buying her something that she may hide in the back of her drawer, I decided that a busy and stressed girl like her should treat herself to a facial. That way, she is forced to find time to use the gift certificate and essentially made to relax for an hour or so.

For my final anecdote, I would like to tell you about a very talented friend of mine. She loves art and is very good at it. She has a very keen eye for what is or isn’t beautiful to her. She is not a fussy person by nature but the difficulty stems from her not being materialistic. And whilst it is good to not have that trait, it is hard to find a good birthday present for her. One fine day, the idea came to me. Instead of buying a painting, why not get her a collection of paint? Instead of buying her a decorative display piece, why not give her materials to create her own masterpiece? So I did, I bought her laces, buttons and papers of many patterns and colours. She could not have been happier.

So here’s my two cents worth:
1.) Think about the things that they really love. If they love cooking, don’t get them a cookbook as they might have it already. Give them a beautiful blank book for them to write their own recipes in.
2.) If they don’t need or want anything material, give them an experience. A gift certificate to a spa or tickets to an event.
3.) If all else fail, buy them a gift card. Personally, being a fussy person, I am happy with a gift card because to me it is practical. You won’t be buying the person an item that they may not like or use.

If you have any tips for buying presents for those types of ladies, please do share! I’d love to learn more!

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