I hope that my tips here help you better than Neil Cavuto’s advice to buy her a cheese and pepperoni tray from a mall kiosk. This is your wife, not your great aunt. To be fair, his advice was about surviving the holiday rush. Over the next week though you can certainly find your wife something meaningful. The only rush you have to worry about here is the one you may find yourself in at Wal-Mart on February 13th. Prepare and you will succeed.
First, be careful of the chocolate myth. Pepe Le Peu did it all the time but that doesn’t mean you should. If a woman is self-conscious about her body then all she will see inside that heart shaped box is something else that makes her feel bad. The same thing goes with clothes. Unless she has tried on the outfit and just not bought it yet, clothing is a bad idea. Just because it’s her size, it doesn’t mean she’ll like how it looks.
“What would she like?” This is the wrong question that too many men ask because it can be answered this way, “She would love tickets to a mixed martial arts competition . . . if she liked that kind of thing.” The “if” part is what many men miss because “would” gets in the way and absolutely directs you to no details. You need to ask, “What DOES she like” and go from there.
Ask her what she wants but if she says, “it doesn’t matter” or anything else that leaves it up to you be careful. Exercise equipment, cooking utensils or a new vacuum are gambles. Maybe she’s mentioned it and you think it would be OK . . . stop right there. The fact is, when she leaves it up to you, she wants to be surprised and she wants you to be romantic.
To surprise her, ask yourself the following. “If she had five hours by herself, what would she do?” “If money wasn’t an issue, what would she want?” This is Valentine’s Day, you’re supposed to spend a little. “What is her favorite restaurant and how can I make the experience even better?” HINT: You can have flowers delivered to your table at Maggiano’s through their reservation service.
I prefer local jewelers to the large chain stores. You don’t have to be an expert to get her anything good. First, you can get her something to match what she already has. If she has diamond earrings, a diamond necklace isn’t hard to find. Another advantage to going local is that when the jeweler is the owner, he’ll treat you right. He doesn’t need a sale, he needs your business and he’ll go the extra mile to make you happy. You can’t put a price on that. Maybe it doesn’t look like they have a lot in the case, but they have tons of catalogs behind the counter and can put something together for you. This will really impress her and it won’t cost you any more than if they had it there.
If you’re on a budget, little things that you put thought into would mean a lot. Just don’t buy anything holding a heart. A good idea is to do little things throughout the week. Leave a special something where she’ll find it and maybe end the week with a nice dinner.
Remember, women like to be pursued. So if you do anything, help her see that if you could marry her all over again, you would.
