Derek Semmler, the author of The Man Page at the Sparkplugging Blog, recently wrote an article titled The Unofficial Guide to Buying Your Wife a Gift.

Derek admits to these past gift-giving faux pas:

• Lingerie (who’s the gift for, anyway?)
• Truffles (when she was dieting)
• Clothing (of the wrong size)

The Unofficial Guide has a basic, two-step process:

1. Listen To Her
2. Ask Her

Of course it’s not that simple, so I’ll let you read what Derek has to say for yourself (and there are some fun comments on his post too).

At the end of the Unofficial Guide, there is the basic assertion “If she isn’t happy with the gift, then you did something wrong.” True.

Then again, you can always get a little gift-idea help from reading the GiftStumped blog!

Take a look at our Gifts For Women category for some inspiration…

I - love - earrings. They are fun. They have character. They add elegance. They add charm. They can make or break an outfit. Plain and simple.

Earrings (in particular dangly ones) have become huge over the past few years with celebrities wearing everything from simple hoops to huge elaborate masterpieces. Where you used to have to go to a jewelry store, you can now find fashionable earrings just about anywhere (Have you seen Target’s earrings these days?). Earrings are fun and can make a great gift.

Ok MsGift but what makes earrings such a unique gift? People have been giving them for years.

I am not talking about just ANY earrings for that special someone, but earrings from one Joan Hornig.

Joan Hornig is a jewelry designer who not only creates beautiful pieces but donates ALL of the profits made to charity. The best part is that she doesn’t donate the profits to just any charity, she lets YOU choose which one you would like to donate to. (See her foundation page for more information on the charities supported)

She has everything from necklaces to bracelets to charms to jewelry with special messages. I personally would LOVE to receive a pair of earrings from here.

To note: The earrings (and the rest of the jewelry) are not cheap. The prices range from $325 to $2500. But when you know the person receiving them will be happy and you know the the money spent will make 50 people happy…it makes it worthwhile.

OK, you have a sports fan, music fan, or theater fan you want to give a gift to. And it would be great to send them to the game or the show.

But, what if they’re busy that night?

If it’s too hard to figure out your gift recipient’s schedule, or if you’re not sure what kind of event they would prefer to go to - just them them a gift certificate to choose their own tickets!

There are at least two places I can think of that have a wide variety of ticket types, and offer gift certificates:

StubHub -		StubHub Gift Certificates
TicketsNow -		TicketsNow Gift Certificates

Maybe they’ll bring back their ticket stubs for your collection…

I am not really a flowers and chocolate kind of girl, I never have been and I doubt I will become one. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy getting them every once in a while but too much and they lose their meaning. And well, I think that’s what happens. Flowers have become the ‘go-to’ for anniversaries, birthdays and of course apologies.

There has to be something else. What do you get for your wife or girlfriend or mother when flowers have been over done? How about an edible bouquet?

Edible Arrangements has these awesome baskets that are made of fruit and are designed to look like flower bouquets. They come in different sizes, offer different fruits and frankly are just plain delicious!

The best part is you can get any of the fruit in your bouquet dipped in chocolate! They have baskets for all occasions and you are able to customize each one. My favorite is definitely the Berry Chocolate Bouquet. Mmm my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Prices run between $30 and $300 and bouquets can be delivered that day (depending on location).

If you know anyone that’s obsessed with taking pictures, and then organizing them in albums and frames (as I am), then this is the perfect gift.

Digital photo frames come in so many different sizes, styles, & materials. You can view the pictures individually or as a slide show and they can be displayed as portrait or landscape. You can set your slide show to shuffle pictures at different time intervals - by the minute, hour, day, etc.

Traditional Frames
Wallet-Size
Keychain

The one catch is that the individual receiving the gift must already have a digital camera as a memory card is needed to be inserted into the digital frame.

Check out some of the characteristics you can find in the different frames:

• Frame styles - wood, clear, black, metal
• Color photos or black & white
• Remote control
• Sound
• Plays video
• Wi-Fi
• Wall mountable

Here are some places to buy digital photo frames online (links take you directly to digital photo frame pages):

• Brookstone
• Sharper Image
• Amazon.com