Now, here are some great tips for you men when it comes to buying for your sweetie!

First things first. Go snooping and make a note of all her sizes – shoes, blouse, skirt, slacks, t-shirt, bra, jewelry, etc. Make sure you know her favorite flower, animal, perfume, color, movie, songs and anything else you can think of. You can store all these in a handy place – even making a laminated card to carry in your wallet.

Make note of all the catalogs she looks at and pay atention to the items she has marked. Write down websites to her favorite catalogs and do some detective work on your own looking for cool online shops that carry the things she has marked or mentioned she would like.

Buy some things to have on hand to surprise her once in a while. She’ll love the gesture when you show up with a surprise gift! You can also buy ahead of time for special occasions and holidays. Keep a stash somewhere with everything labeled. Most online stores offer free or minimally priced gift wrap and if you purchase from one or two stores you can keep the shipping cost down.

Do your homework, men, and it will pay off!

A great idea for gift giving is the Dutch Auction  If you haven’t heard of the Dutch Auction here is how it works:

Everybody brings one wrapped present.  The hostess numbers slips of paper 1 to however many guests will be present. Each person puts her gift on a central table and then picks a number from the hat.  Once everyone has a number, whoever has Number 1 starts by picking a gift to open.  After everyone sees what is inside, then it is Number 2’s turn.  Number 2 can either “steal” the gift from Number 1 or decide to open a present from the table.  If she takes Number 1’s gift, then Number 1 gets to pick from the table again.  This goes on with each person in order having the option to either pick from the table or “steal” any of the already opened gifts.  As an example, Number 7 can take any one of the presents of Numbers 1-6 or can pick a new one from the table. 

Rule #1 – If a person is going to “steal” someone’s gift, she cannot open a gift from the table and then make the decision to “steal.”

Rule #2 - A present can only be “stolen” once, so once Number 7 takes Number 2’s present, nobody after Number 7 can “steal” Number 7’s present (since Number 7 has Number 2’s present and Number 2’s present has already been “stolen” once).

Try it for the holidays or at any other get-together where friends gather to exchange gifts! What fun!