What Not to Give Her as a Birthday Gift

Do Not Buy Kitchenware

Under no circumstances is kitchenware a good gift for the woman in your life. Here is why. There are some women who do not like to cook, and no amount of cooking-related gadgets and simplifiers will make her cook. Don’t do it; you are wasting your money. Then there are women who really love to cook or bake and do drool over cool equipment. Buying kitchen items for those women is akin to buying new rims for a car enthusiast without seeing what type he would like. She will have preferences, and if you want to make her happy, buy kitchen gadgets when she says she wants them, not as a random gift decision.

The majority of women are somewhere in the middle of those two groups. They cook because they need to, but they don’t particularly enjoy it. Cooking is just a part of their lives much as mowing the lawn or doing laundry is part of life. Getting those women kitchen gifts is just giving them something to do their chores better. Avoid this gift-giving sentiment.

Do Not Give Her Your Hobby

Sometimes men make the mistake of assuming that they can get the women in their lives to enjoy their hobby. Men who are into snow skiing will buy a set of skis or a pass to a ski lodge to their girlfriends for their birthday. This gift feels wrong to the girlfriend for a couple of reasons. She may want to try your hobby with you but now feel compelled to do so because of the gift. That sense of obligation is no fun. She also may feel that you’ve given yourself a gift – a reason to engage in your hobby. If you want to give a hobby-related gift, give her something that you know she enjoys or that she has mentioned trying. Ask her to participate in your hobby at some point other than her birthday.

Avoid Generic Gifts

Candles, gift certificates for massages, and food baskets all tell her that you did not take the time to find a gift that would be meaningful to her. Even if she loves burning candles or getting massages (and who doesn’t?), those gifts still feel as if they would work for any woman you’ve ever dated. She wants to know and feel special and as if you are in tune with her interests. As a general rule of thumb, avoid getting her anything that could double as a gift for the woman in your life who is most different from her. If you’d buy it for your mom, your sister, and your secretary, it’s not specific enough for a birthday gift.