This is a guest blog submitted by sahar. On birthdays,
anniversaries, holidays or just any random day, the presents received
from our significant others are usually the ones we're looking forward to the most. We
have high expectations for the presents they give us because we assume
they know us better than anyone else.
The present doesn't necessarily have to cost much as long as it has meaning to it. It's the thought that counts.
On
the contrary, I've also gotten a series of horrible presents from SOs.
For example, one boyfriend bought me small pink earrings. I was disappointed because he should have known that I hate
the color pink and my taste is jewelry is pretty eclectic. I
obviously didn't say anything because it was a sweet gesture...I even
wore them a couple of times to make him happy.
The
best present I've received from a SO was this old beaten down leather
jacket of his that he wore all the time. I complimented him on it every
time he wore it (which was often) and had to try it on. He knew I loved
the jacket, and one day he gave it to me. It was one of the sweetest
things anyone's ever given me, not because it cost so much money or
because it was a beautiful jacket, but because it was his and he loved
it.
I was talking to
Mr. Macchiato
about sweet presents and he told me about a present he once bought for
Mrs. Macchiato. She loves Tabasco hot sauce, so he bought her a huge
case of 500 mini Tabasco bottles with a message saying "You spice up my
life!" Aw! Now that's love!
What are some of the best presents you've received from you SO? Some of the worst?
Recommend
Comments (39)
a rose for our one month and a build a bear stuffed animal...he suprised me with both. it was very sweet.
This is such a coincidence because today is my birthday and my boyfriend gave me my present at midnight and I loved it. I really like peace signs so he gave me a gold & diamond peace sign necklace. The only gift I have ever gotten from a S.O. because none of them stuck around long enough to make it to my birthday!
For his birthday I was in the clear because no one else bought him presents (how sad, right?) and I bought him a whole new outfit that he desperately needed.
My first boyfriend gave me the hat he had worn hiking thousands of miles. It was his hat, and I was always wearing it, stealing it, etc.
My current boyfriend gave me a bag of peeled grapes, a corset, and an iPod (to spare me the pain of talking to my father). I made him take the last back, because it cost too much and I would rather he had the money, but I appreciated the gesture.
This isn't SO related (not ever having one, it's hard to receive gifts from them), but the idea of the meaning behind the present is something I try to spread in all presents given. I often go to thrift stores to buy gifts. Spending my time perusing until I see something that just speaks of the particular person I'm shopping for. Sometimes I'll have to go around to 5 or more stores until I find it. The perfect gift.
It's a lot of fun though, and my friends have even started returning the tradition (and doing the same for their SOs). It means so much more. And it's not just the gift - it's the time you know had to be spent searching as well.
I'm easy to please when it comes to gifts though. I pretty much just love everything.
I think that one of my favorites is when my hubby let me pick a restaurant.. and did little nice things throughout the day. I asked what was up later that night, and he said "I thought we'd celebrate Kayla day today... everything was just to make you feel special."
My first birthday when we were together.. he was so nervous 'cause we officially became bf/gf a week before my 20th birthday. He didn't know what to do but he knew he wanted to make it special. He surprises me outside my dorm with a hug & a bag in the corner of the vestibule.. I didn't even notice it. He went through a really cute act of "surprise" [this I will never forget]. When I pulled out the contents of the bag, it was a Curious George music box. Inside the box laid two movie ticket stubs [Over the Hedge] & a business card from the place we had our first date. On the business card he had written down the DATE of our first date! [I couldn't believe he remembered.] He also stuck in a birthday card which he decorated with more Curious George stickers. I was blown away. Everything about that gift was so thoughtful. [Curious George represents the night I realized I liked him -- he might have too but I'm not sure -- & his love for monkeys.] That wasn't all of it. He then told me to get in the car & he ended up driving me to the shore to some random place in MA where we enjoyed the scenery all afternoon & had some awesome talks. :)
Another good one was our one year anniversary. He surprised me by picking me up from the school I was student teaching at. In the front passenger seat was my favorite flowers. He never got me flowers so that was a surprise in itself. Unfortunately, that was all he had planned. We ended up being late for our dinner reservations 'cause he got lost. We had a big fight. He dropped me off crying & he drove off into the night. Then he calls me an hour later apologizing & asking if I was hungry & to come over to talk things out. We ended up eating Papa John's that night & I was still pissed about how the "anniversary" went. The next day, he spent the afternoon recounting the "events" that went on to one of his good friends back home & his buddy saved his butt by showing him OpenTable.com where he made reservations at a nice restaurant & told them it was our anniversary. The restaurant surprised us at the end of our meal with free dessert. It was just awesome. I loved the bumps but I loved how he tried so hard to make it right.
There are so many.. how he went to Asia for a month & we barely had any communication yet when we saw each other to exchange belated Christmas presents, he handed me a bunch! His explanation for the many presents was for each time he thought of me.
As for the worst present, I don't say it but I think he knows. He got me jewelry.. a necklace & earrings set. I was upset. Jewelry isn't something you give your girl 3 months into the relationship 'cause girls tend to be picky & jewelry just sounds too much too soon. It wasn't exactly my taste either. [Not to sound like a brat but the only jewelry I wear are things that look classic & most of the time it's bought by my mom from Tiffany's. >.<]
As for presents for him, I'd like to think none were bad. xP Whenever I give friends presents, I end up spending lots of time thinking it out. I want the present to be unique, something they would like & to be something that reflects who I am so they would think of me each time they see it. I've made a personalized photo album for him that I intentionally didn't finish.. sorta like a symbolic gesture that our relationship will continue to grow & we'll put it together. That's just one of the few things I've gotten him...
My boyfriend and I have been together for nearly two years now. Which is odd seeing as we are 17. Teenagers are supposed to be fickle, right? Not true in our case. Now he's had a crush on me since 7th and in 8th grade our middle school had a formal dance and he asked me to go with him. For our one year anniversary last year we were in 11th grade (because it took him that long to work up the nerve to ask me out) and he gave me a picture of the two of us all dressed up for that 'first date' at the 8th grade formal. Attached was a note that said, "here's a little something to remember our history by" It was the sweetest thing ever and I love it because now when I look at that picture I'm reminded where our love came from and how much we've grown as a couple.
Oh and a cute one I gave him was right before he went to Spain for two weeks I filled a wooden box that I decorated with hershey kisses and told him each chocolate represented on of my kisses I wouldn't be able to give him while he was away. He was able to take them with him and thought of me and my lips everytime he needed some sugar. =) And get this, his family in Spain thought it was so sweet and loved what they heard of me from that they want he and I both to come to visit next year!! I can't wait. =)=)
My first real boyfriend [who I was with for a year and a half] got me a necklace that said 'I <3 U'...I hated those necklaces, but I figured, it's the thought that counts. During the year and a half, he'd always show off the store where he bought it [Kay, because every kiss begins with a KAY. xD]
It was a little annoying. Then for my next birthday he got me a birthday card and managed to misspell my name. I got earring from him too, and they were the opposite of what I'd like.
For Valentine's Day [ which was barely 3 weeks after we started dating, so I didn't expect anything, let alone something awesome], my next boyfriend gave me the Yale Shakespeare book [it's a HUGE book with everything Shakespeare has ever written. I'm a Shakespeare fanatic.] He also gave me huge flowers. My other ex never gave me flowers, if he did, it was a simple, almost-dead rose.
the best present a guy gave me was a ring. i used to wear this ugly cheap ring ... so he thought. so he surprised me for no reason at all with a nice expensive ring. it made me very happy :)
another bf knew i liked those long necklaces. he made me a pearl necklace with different colored beads. boy, it was ooglie. but, it was a nice gesture. i only wore it once to satisfy him. i felt like a mother wearing a crappy pendent her child made in art class.
My SO isn't that good with giving gifts on holidays, birthdays and such. Idk it’s just not one of his talents. For my 21st birthday though he gave me probably one of the greatest gifts. My first semester of college I studied digital photography a passion of mine, but left the major behind when I realized how much it cost to study the subject let alone how much it would cost to get up and running in the field. Since then I have dreamed of having a really nice camera, but they were always way out of my price range so I just settled for a nice inexpensive one. Though I did miss having manual settings and all the fun of a nice SLR (which I used in school). Everyone who knows me knows that my dream camera was the canon rebel and randomly about 2 weeks before my birthday while we were at best buy he's like I have a surprise for you and told me to wait in a spot and that he'd be right back, and he came back with a sales associate and the cannon rebel xt which was the one I wanted. I guess he had decided a few days before that it was what he wanted to get me for my birthday but he knew how much I wanted it so he didn't want me to have to wait to have it. It wasn't the fact of how much the camera cost that was important but that he got it for me because he knew how much it meant to me.
The worst gift on the other hand where some things I never got. Me and my ex while we were still dating during our senior year went Christmas shopping together. We showed each other a bunch of different things that we liked and then picked things to buy for the stuff to surprise the other one. Well we went shopping in Nov and ended up having issues and breaking up two weeks before Christmas, and my ex being the great guy he was decided to hang out with the girl he had dated while we were on a break that summer. Then we started talking again and decided to try and work things out, and he gave me a line about him and the other girl just being friends. Well the night before Christmas we had a fight over that girl and while we talked on Christmas to make up, we didn't end up seeing each other till New Year’s Day. Then we exchanged gifts and he gave me a gift card to one of the stores we had shopped in, which I thought was a little weird, but figured whatever. Then shortly after I saw his "friend" wearing one of the shirts that I had said I wanted for Christmas. I confronted him about it and found out that he had originally bought me everything that I had picked out when we were shopping but that on new year’s eve the people he was staying with had a party and he got drunk and that "friend" was there and he decided to get back at me for being jealous by giving her my presents. I never really understood that but none the less that girl ended up getting hurt as well cuz she thought he liked her again since he gave her all those presents but he stopped talking to her after that. So ya that was a pretty bad present. Though maybe the worst was when my ex decided to get me nothing for my 16th birthday, well except for breaking up with me that is. Wow I was a naive teenager, lol.
i dont do gifts very well, it's kinda embarrassing. I don't like receiving gifts (or don't mind NOT receiving them I guess).
I'm semi-petrified of buying things for others cause I always wonder what to get. I usually do OK, but I have to put way more thought and effort than I like. It's like having someone reading what you wrote. It's nervewrecking as you wonder what they think as they read until they tell you it's good or bad.
My best gift, I think, was when my ex took me to see Phantom of the
Opera on Broadway for our first anniversary. He always knew how much I
love that play, and it was awesome seeing it with him on Broadway.
That
same ex gave me the worst present too. Before I left for college he
gave me his journal from the past year....ech squirrrm! I mean I
suppose it was meant to be deep and thoughtful or whatever, but it
really seemed to be a bit emo and generally awkward.
I know what my worst present received was: A break-up call on my birthday.
I know what my #1 favorite present to receive is too: For someone to cook for me.
Food = Love to me.
I don't even care what it is. You don't even need to know how to really cook. It's the fact that you know I love it when you do. It could be a plain-jane Tuna Casserole, but if you made it for me, with me in mind, knowing that I've had a rough day, out of love -- it will be the best present ever.
I spent some time thinking, and I couldn't conclusively come up with any particular physical gift that I've received that stood out from any of the others. You see, Receiving Gifts is dead-last on my hierarchy of Love languages; and in every relationship I get into, I make sure my SO and I know each others' preferred means of receiving Love from one another.
Besides, it's not about sweeping, grand gestures. I don't need those.
It's about the constant love and care that's given and received every day. It's about the little Acts of Service we do for one another -- knowing that by doing these things, we'll make each others lives a little bit better. It's about the Quality Time we spend with each other -- taking time out from our own schedules to be with one another doing the things that we enjoy doing together. It's about taking the care to be Physically intimate -- massages after a long day, backrubs, hugs and kisses and lying beside one another. It's about the Loving Words spoken to one another -- reminding each other through spoken words or notes, emails or texts through the day that we are on each others minds.
The little things, all together, add up to something bigger than the biggest present.
It's the thoughtfulness and the attitude of Loving -- doing something for your loved one simply because you know they will enjoy it.
I've been guilty of terrible gifts before. I think I'll just avoid details <.<.
My ex gave me a Japanese saw for my birthday a couple of years back. That was a really thoughtful gift. My current got me a shakuhachi this past year, which made my jaw drop. He gave me a waffle iron for christmas, too, because I was always making waffles at his place with his roommate's iron.
I haven't really gotten an item as a present, just something like dinner at my favorite restaurant, sex, that kinda stuff, haha. I never really had a serious relationship :).
Although there was this one time a girl who had a crush on me knew I wanted a ps2 (when it first came out) so badly that she gave me a significant amount of money to help pay for it. I was really touched by that.
I like the gifts my girlfriend gets me either way. She's always given me something that interests me. One time though, she got me a discount card for this guitar I wanted. =] It was awesome cause the guitar was super expensive, but it really pulled off alot of weight with her gift. After I got it, I asked her to autograph it with whatever she wanted to put =]
I think the best I got was this little portable entertainment unit that I could also use to record my lectures in class. It didn't work too well for recordings, since I never really went back to listen to them, but I did use it a lot for keeping extra videos and music.
The best I think I gave her was (all of them :P) when I designed a pendant for her. I knew what she liked, and I had to get it right bc she worked at the jewelry counter at the local mall so I couldn't slide with any part of it. I picked out the stone, and went to the local jeweler to pick out the setting and a strong chain to go with it (since she has a propensity to break things). She absolutely loved it.
The best gift would have to be this Romeo and Juliet Cigar box. I'm really obsessed with Shakespeare and it was a present out of the blue. Still kinda smells like Cigars and I actually like the stale smell of that stuff.
The worst was when this guy just got me ten bucks gift card to Target. wtf?
I never expect to get anything, so I don't have high expectations. Whatever they give me is fine. I've received lots of different stuff (clothes, teddy bears, and stuff like that) I think the gifts I really liked/appreciated were a box of granola bars and an eye cleansing. Lol that might sound simple, but it was awesome to me. She was being really attentive, since I wasn't having breakfast and didn't get anything to eat until late at night cause of work. When I was younger, I had a hockey injury that caused my left eye to get easily irritated among other things. Whenever I talked to her, my eye was hurting or it was itchy, and she remembered and bought me the eye cleansing. =]
Simple, but I liked it =]
my ex got me a build bear with a white shirt he wrote on it with permant marker saying happy one year. I thought it was cute when were dating but now i think he just got the bear for the excuse for anymore anniversaries he wouldn't have to think about what to get me because he told me when he got the bear that every year he get me a new one.
haha
i love all the gifts my last ex bought me..
he even bought me a couture bag one bday ..
all the gifts he bought me might not be like fancy or expensive
but they all got meanings.. and really cute..
everytime he asked me what i want
i just told him i trust his taste.
i gave him almost everything that he asked for
like, tshirts, xbox games, bongs.. little stuff that he'd use everyday.
he love all of them. of course. 'cause he wanted them..
i bought him a tiffany & co. necklace.. got our name carved on it..
now. who knows where that necklace go. maybe its stuck at the bottom of his drawer..
@the_last_kiss - a breakup call is the worst birthday present i got too.
best present i got was valentine's day 2008. at midnight he gave me a big pink gift basket full of goodies which included a lot of pink things (btw, pink is my favorite color). it also included 2 tickets to disneyland (for that day), 2 shirts for us to wear, and he also made reservations to blue bayou (reservations he's been trying to get for 3 weeks). the the reservations didn't come in the basket; it was actually suppose to be a surprise but i found out on our way there. he was a little disappointed that i found out but i was still ecstatic.
The best present I got was a romantic letter he wrote for our one month anniversary. It was really sweet of him to write about his feelings as well as putting in the extra effort to write neatly since his usual style is messy and scribbled lol. He even sprayed a bit of his cologne on the letter because he knows how much I loveeee it!
Oh, and also for our second valentine's day together, he came over and hid 13 gifts for me to find. He left little clues on each gift so that I could find the next one lol. When I found the last one, it was this really cute teddy bear holding a heart that says "I love you". =)
I can't really think of a worst gift though, because I usually tell him what I want for my birthday hahaha
a giant squishy pikachu!