Last-minute thoughtful presents...or...What to do when your gift plans fall-through...and the clock's ticking (t-minus 24 hours and counting)

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So I waited until the day before my wife's 30th birthday to buy her present. My schedule just didn't permit me...(excuses, excuses...)

Lo and behold option (a) has a four month wait-list and option (b) turned out to be a non-starter [basically it'd have amounted to buying something thoughtful yet superfluous).

Jewerly's out (speaking of superfluous). Gift certificates feel (usually) feel tacky (not to mention I gave her the day @ spa thing once already).

Your thoughts?

Something I can accomplish in the next twenty-four hours?

― anon.amouse (nader), Thursday, 23 September 2004 18:58 (nineteen years ago) link

OMG, you're in so much trouble!

― Huk-L, Thursday, 23 September 2004 19:00 (nineteen years ago) link

Cunnilingus, and lots of it. In fact, I would start in with the oral before she even has a chance to ask about a gift. Like at the front door, on the porch if necessary.

If not that, how about going to the restaurant where you had your first dinner date? That might be cute, and probably won't be all that expensive (assuming you still live near it).

― Satan's Onion (twowaydream), Thursday, 23 September 2004 19:06 (nineteen years ago) link

Britney Spears' used chewing gum may also be up for grabs on eBay.

― Satan's Onion (twowaydream), Thursday, 23 September 2004 19:07 (nineteen years ago) link

this year, my wife and i had just bought a house so i was super busy and stressed. i knew what i wanted to get her, but just when i had a free moment, i got really sick.

she went out and bought it herself :(

― JaXoN (JasonD), Thursday, 23 September 2004 19:08 (nineteen years ago) link

Does she have an Xbox?

― Huk-L, Thursday, 23 September 2004 19:09 (nineteen years ago) link

flowers? cds she wanted? a digital camera? shit, um, I know that the 30th wedding anniversary is marked by pearls, maybe pearls marking the 30th anniversary of her birth? balloons! champagne! A list of the top 30 reasons why you love her? (do this anyway, she'll dig it, trust me).

A puppy? Fuck. I have no idea.

― luna (luna.c), Thursday, 23 September 2004 19:12 (nineteen years ago) link

Serious answers:
1. Not one big fancy present, but lots of smaller ones: flowers + gift certificate + something else (cd/book/whatever). Generally a good combo is something she's expecting (like a book or cd that she's mentioned), something romantic (like flowers), and something that allows her to pick for herself (gift certificate).
2. An iPod.

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 23 September 2004 19:12 (nineteen years ago) link

By her lottery tickets. The present will either be the best ever or you'll be sleeping in the doghouse. BOW WOW!

― andy, Thursday, 23 September 2004 19:13 (nineteen years ago) link

N/a so OTM. Except, change #2 to an iPurse (I really hope that's what those things are called).

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 23 September 2004 19:32 (nineteen years ago) link

Weekend getaway?

― Huk-L, Thursday, 23 September 2004 19:35 (nineteen years ago) link

Make her feel appreciated and loved. Or loved and appreciated. Something big along those lines.

― Aimless (Aimless), Thursday, 23 September 2004 19:41 (nineteen years ago) link

Hot air balloon ride with champagne?

― Huk-L, Thursday, 23 September 2004 19:45 (nineteen years ago) link

Drunken hot air ballooning doesn't exactly seem safe somehow.

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 23 September 2004 19:49 (nineteen years ago) link

I believe there's a pilot.

― Huk-L, Thursday, 23 September 2004 19:50 (nineteen years ago) link

So, if you fall out your spouse can at least make it down safely?

― Aimless (Aimless), Thursday, 23 September 2004 19:51 (nineteen years ago) link

Now that's romantic.

― Kim (Kim), Thursday, 23 September 2004 19:52 (nineteen years ago) link

1. A big bouquet of flowers +...
2. A lovely dinner at a restaurant she's been interested in +...
3. An evening out at a play/musical/dance troupe/concert she's interested in +...
4. Loads and loads of cunnilingus.

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Thursday, 23 September 2004 20:10 (nineteen years ago) link

Hot air balloon ride with chimpanzee?

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 23 September 2004 20:15 (nineteen years ago) link

i bought my wife a trip to NYC for her 30th birthday. it wasn't cheap but it was thoughtful and useful. I am really crap about getting gifts.

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 23 September 2004 20:17 (nineteen years ago) link

I did neglect to mention I am throwing (and have planned) a surprise party featuring not-seen-in-a-while friends and similarly unexpected relatives, it's just that I'd like to garnish the soiree with gifts.

I really like the little gifts idea(s), b/c they're well, something I can accomplish in the next 24. Unfortunately neither of us can afford the time to travel...

I love the iPurse (in a sort of are you kidding me? way), but she'd never use it. Not unlike the outrageous/near-dominatrix Fleuvogs I got her one year (damn they were sexy).

Speaking of iPods: One of the gifts that fell-through was the iPodYourBmw.com adapter, but they're on a four-month back order (not that's it all typical of Apple to overpromise and underdeliver).

But yeah, Cunnilingus, and lots of it (plus flowers, and uhm, more flowers - part of the decoration, no?) - that should do the trick, no?

― anon.amouse (nader), Thursday, 23 September 2004 21:27 (nineteen years ago) link

four star restaurant and $60+ bottle of wine ... hurry up!

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Thursday, 23 September 2004 21:39 (nineteen years ago) link

I gave my wife (woah, still feels strange writing that 8 months after wedding) a PS2 + dance game w/proper padded dancemat for her 35th. I knew it she wanted one, though. Plus point: Much fun together. Minus point: Could be construed as you thinking she needs more exercise.

Also second the lots-of-stuff surprise package suggestion above.

― OleM (OleM), Friday, 24 September 2004 10:58 (nineteen years ago) link

Quickly find and download MP3s of all the songs which were number one in the singles charts on her birthday for each of her 30 years, and make her a CD of them.

― C J (C J), Friday, 24 September 2004 11:20 (nineteen years ago) link

Jess-based slash fiction will make her go weak at the ~~rectum~~ knees

― Markelby (Mark C), Friday, 24 September 2004 12:01 (nineteen years ago) link

Get her a new frying pan. Girls love to cook.

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 24 September 2004 12:04 (nineteen years ago) link

eight months pass...

I have to buy a birthday present for my husband's secretary today. I've never met her, she's in her 50s, divorced, republican. I don't know anything else about her except that she really helps my husband out. I did well for her xmas present (a swarovski snowflake pin) but now I'm a bit stuck. My ideas:

a jewelry roll, perhaps with a little american flag pin
a nice set of picture frames

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 13 June 2005 13:24 (eighteen years ago) link

Is her birthday today? How much time do you have? I've used this a few times, although it works best in Winter months:
http://www.flowerskauai.com/arrangements/order_kauai_detail.html

― geyser muffler and a quarter (Dave225), Monday, 13 June 2005 13:43 (eighteen years ago) link

her birthday's tomorrow. That's a beautiful arrangement.

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 13 June 2005 13:46 (eighteen years ago) link

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