Why are men so hard to buy gifts for?

[plutotek]

Asking removes the element of surprise.

Ah, but what has happened quite frequently w/DW and myself is asking for ideas spawns an idea that hadn't been thought of and ends up being a nice surprise gift. However, you sound like us; been together so long that you can almost anticipate what's coming, reducing some surprise.

 

[SaraJayne]

Ugh, I hear you OP! I'm in the same boat, but my DH's birthday is this weekend! The stores used to have some spring clothes out by now, but they don't seem to do that anymore. I used to get him sweaters for Christmas, then short sleeved polos for his birthday but can't do that this year. He stopped buying cds, just uses his Ipod. We go to a lot of movies & have a pretty good cable package, so he doesn't want a lot of DVDs. We already split seasons tickets for hockey, so can't buy him those tickets. He's a fanatic about his car, takes excellent care of it himself & would never let anyone else detail it! Gift certificates for restaurants & movies seem pretty impersonal to get from your wife.

I'm reduced to dress/work shirts & a few books.

Maybe you could buy something for yourself to wear.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

My DH is hard to buy gifts for too. I think it's hard to buy gifts for most men because they don't have hobbies. DH just doesn't have time for hobbies at this point in his life. When he has free time he likes to read or watch sports on TV, that's about it. Oh, he likes guns and has several but I have no idea what to get him for that. He needs stuff for his guns, or wants a new gun, he buys it.

I get him books and clothes for gifts. Boring.

The best gift I ever gave him was a surprise 3-night trip to Las Vegas for his 50th birthday. Doubt I'll ever be able to top that.

My wife picked out what was to be my 40th birthday present (emergency knee surgery & thousands of dollars in bills nixed it) by watching my reaction at the NRA convention. I was drooling over a particular hunting rifle, so she noted the model & caliber, and then began shopping for the best price Same idea could work for whatever interests other husbands.

I did find your comment about the hobbies interesting. I know so many men who have hobbies, and almost none of their wives do. Guess every group is different

I find in general, we guys don't have a lot of interest in "things" unless it's expensive things we wouldn't normally buy for ourselves. My wife has however been able to get CD's from some small-time 70's bands that weren't available through regular channels by contacting the bands themselves. The extra-cool part there was that some of the CD's came autographed

 

[focusondisney]

Maybe you could buy something for yourself to wear.