Can't think of a Christmas gift

So, I’ve never in my life given a Christmas gift. (I’m Jewish.) This is the first Christmas since I’ve been married, and unfortunately I won’t be able to spend much of it with the wife since I work late that day and we are still living in different cities, but I want to give her some sort of gift. We’re frugal and tend to avoid things like jewelry and expensive clothes (and if I gave these to her I really can’t imagine her wearing them – “我捨不得穿!”), and I’ve already given her chocolate no less than three times this year. She does love chocolate though. She doesn’t need a new phone and just got a new computer, so I’m fresh out of ideas. Any suggestions?

Cookware or baking ware if she likes to cook
Perfume or cosmetics if she cares about that
Pretty scarves
Books

or the one that never fails - a night in some nice hotel + nice dinner

Easter eggs!

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Does she love animals? Last year we gave each other the gift of sponsoring a dog at the Sanctuary for a year.

Chocolates are good too. :smiley:

Are there any hobbies she has or would like to have?

Coors light?

Choose something consistent with her personality, interest, and hobbies. The best gift is something that she would want to buy herself but never actually thought about it. It’s also good if you need to put some effort into getting it, as opposed to just walking to a nearby store and taking it off the shelf. You can then have a story to share, which makes it more memorable. It also doesn’t need to be an actual object but can be something “transient,” like a trip.

It’s easier to say what to avoid: (1) anything feeling too expensive (creates an obligation to reciprocate); (2) anything that would feel like work to the recipient (10,000-piece jigsaw puzzle if she’s not into such stuff, or a copy of “Ulysses” unless she’s an avid reader); (3) anything that would highlight some sort of deficiency, even if inadvertently (cosmetics, meaning “you don’t look good enough;” scales, meaning “you should lose weight;” etc.); (4) a “gift” that would actually be for yourself (vacuum cleaner, iron, kitchen stuff so that she can do the chores more efficiently, making her feel it’s all her job).

Steering clear of these, I’m sure you can come up with something that will be better than the suggestions here because you know your wife best.

I’d just think it over whether you really want to do it at all, since you’ve never felt the need for it before (and I’m assuming she wasn’t celebrating Christmas with gifts either, as that’s quite unusual here). If I were your wife :slight_smile: I would rather you just be yourself and not succumb to cultural pressures. Perhaps there’s another day you could adopt for gift-giving to “compensate” for this “loss of Christmas?” (As an aside, I actually thought there was a gifting custom for Hanukkah too and wanted to mention it in my response but a quick Wikipedia check suggests that’s not exactly the case; so accidentally I’ve just learned something, thanks!)

Two gift ideas from me:

1. A large-format book on art with lots of pictures.
Many of these are available at Page One in Taipei 101. Some even get deeply discounted, perhaps not selling very well, as opposed to less ethereal stuff like The World Atlas of Whisky, which seems more appealing to the local palate. I once bought a beautifully-printed large hardcover book with a selection of masterpieces from the Louvre for what I think was about 500元 (not as a gift but for myself though :stuck_out_tongue: )

2. World map 3D spherical puzzle (Exhibit 1, Exhibit 2)
I’m not a puzzle guy but I think this one is a lot of fun to do, and once you’re finished you can put it away somewhere and it will really tie the room together. Maybe it’s just me though, as I have a penchant for maps.

Good luck with the decision!

(Edited quite a lot, as the first version was written in a hurry.)

Perfume, wine, whisky.

Not what do you drink, but what would make a good gift.

Perfume tastes like crap anyway.

The first gift you can give her is to STOP calling her “the wife” and start calling her “my wife.”

The second gift should be something that fits who she is and what she likes. My wife likes a certain singer, I’ll get her a concert DVD. Not enough for a full Christmas, of course, so I’ll do something big, like take her to buy a bag or jewellery, but I’m older and flusher than you are. A good substitute would be a spa day, if she’s into beauty.

If all else fails, buy some nice lotion, body wash, stuff like that. Good luck. You’re a good man for thinking about this so deeply.

(BTW, love that you’re Jewish. Remind me someday to tell you why I speak a lot of Yiddish and am an honorary member of the Melbourne Jewish community).

Whoops! I usually call her the mirses. Typed the wrong word this time around.

I like the bathing supplies idea, thanks.

Chocolate on three separate occasions AND some bathing supplies…careful you don’t overwhelm the poor lass

Whoops! I usually call her the mirses. Typed the wrong word this time around.

I like the bathing supplies idea, thanks.[/quote]

Eh, unless it is from a brand she favors, this may not be such a good idea.

Same with the kitchen supplies. Strongly discouraged. I would help her bash you in the head with my Japanese wok. Unless he is a cook nut, in which case the noodle machine is the hottest thing right now, only 2000 ntd online. Or a handheld whisker/chopper thinghie -will be very useful in the future when there are little Hongkongweis on the way.

She must have some kind of hobby, something she likes. Christmas is for a loving gesture. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but certainly cute, loving, memorable. Ask Basque about handmade cards. Put more thought into it, observe. It is your first “holiday” -ish together as a married couple. this will make history -or at least, will be told in stories later to the kids.

BTW, you could start with a stocking, and put a sample, say, of the bath supplies, in the stocking, to test the waters.

Good luck.

Bath supplies still sound like the most promising idea right now. She doesn’t have any preferred brand because she 捨不得 spend money on such things. (She’s just one stop below being able to go on that TLC show where people are so frugal it’s unbelievable.)

I’m still hoping to find a chocolate shop that makes like bunny-shaped confections. That would be cute. But so far no luck.

There’s the Lindt Bunny, available here (Carrefour or even Wellcome) in many variations:
lindt.ca/swf/eng/products/ea … -milk-50g/

Hmm… Was looking for something more hand-crafted.

Whoops! I usually call her the mirses. Typed the wrong word this time around.

I like the bathing supplies idea, thanks.[/quote]

Eh, unless it is from a brand she favors, this may not be such a good idea.

Same with the kitchen supplies. Strongly discouraged. I would help her bash you in the head with my Japanese wok. Unless he is a cook nut, in which case the noodle machine is the hottest thing right now, only 2000 ntd online. Or a handheld whisker/chopper thinghie -will be very useful in the future when there are little Hongkongweis on the way.

She must have some kind of hobby, something she likes. Christmas is for a loving gesture. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but certainly cute, loving, memorable. Ask Basque about handmade cards. Put more thought into it, observe. It is your first “holiday” -ish together as a married couple. this will make history -or at least, will be told in stories later to the kids.

BTW, you could start with a stocking, and put a sample, say, of the bath supplies, in the stocking, to test the waters.

Good luck.[/quote]

Icon, I’d like to give my wife a really nice scarf and and a first class spa day. You know about these things. Can you direct me to a store that carries the really good stuff and a ladies’ spa that tops all the rest?

Thank you and feliz navidad.

How about a new bicycle? But what is your budget?

No budget (within reason! I’m not rich) but a bicycle isn’t something she’d want since she can’t bike to work and can’t bike to Taipei

Whoops! I usually call her the mirses. Typed the wrong word this time around.

I like the bathing supplies idea, thanks.[/quote]

Eh, unless it is from a brand she favors, this may not be such a good idea.

Same with the kitchen supplies. Strongly discouraged. I would help her bash you in the head with my Japanese wok. Unless he is a cook nut, in which case the noodle machine is the hottest thing right now, only 2000 ntd online. Or a handheld whisker/chopper thinghie -will be very useful in the future when there are little Hongkongweis on the way.

She must have some kind of hobby, something she likes. Christmas is for a loving gesture. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but certainly cute, loving, memorable. Ask Basque about handmade cards. Put more thought into it, observe. It is your first “holiday” -ish together as a married couple. this will make history -or at least, will be told in stories later to the kids.

BTW, you could start with a stocking, and put a sample, say, of the bath supplies, in the stocking, to test the waters.

Good luck.[/quote]

Icon, I’d like to give my wife a really nice scarf and and a first class spa day. You know about these things. Can you direct me to a store that carries the really good stuff and a ladies’ spa that tops all the rest?

Thank you and feliz navidad.[/quote]

Dear Winston, I replied to you here forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtop … 1&t=139776 as to not hijack Hokwongwei’s thread

I bought a boar bristle hairbrush yesterday. Been wanting one for years and finally pulled the trigger. Worth every penny, or 毛, I should say.

I highly recommend it if you’re in the market for a nice Christmas gift for a long-haired loved one in your life.

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