If you’re in a serious relationship then you’ll know that there’s something alluring about the idea of spoiling your girlfriend. You know it’s mushy and gushing and you might hate yourself inwardly, but you can’t help but want to always go that extra mile to come up with the most romantic gift ideas. Often it becomes almost a competition as you try to get them better presents than they get you, beat your previous performances, and make sure she gets better things each Valentine’s Day or birthday than her mates do. In short being a guy means being the best, and that means being the best boyfriend.

The problem then comes when you’re stuck for ideas, but fortunately you’ve come to the right place. The range of romantic gift ideas you can get for the lucky lady are sprawling and many of them aren’t that expensive or hard to make (with romance it’s not always about the money).

A lot of what you get will depend on the situation or the occasion, but whether it’s an anniversary or Christmas there’s one rule that almost every guy should follow: at least one home made gift and at least one purchased gift. This way you are showing that you’ve put in both time and effort and that you aren’t unwilling to splash some cash.

The classic romantic gift ideas are flowers, chocolates, champagne or a mix tape. These are all great but show a certain lack of imagination, and while a mix tape shows effort it’s also lost it’s charm some what since it became more a matter of burning a CD. Flowers however will still always go down well, especially if you picked them or arranged them which shows extra effort and thought (and green fingers). If you know your girlfriend’s favourite flower this can go down even better and if you don’t… why not? Ask a friend or sister and then you can pretend like you’re a half decent boyfriend. The downside is that they won’t last but certainly don’t splash out on a set of plastic flowers as they really don’t have the same appeal.

Chocolates and alcohol are also ideas that will never date as they offer you the opportunity to do something together. They are also romantic in that they get you in the mood for sex or snuggling – alcohol lowers inhibitions and calms you down while chocolate produces the same hormones produced by love. Sharing a box of expensive chocolates and champagne on the couch by the fire with some mood music is highly romantic. Bare in mind that champagne is very expensive however and sparkling wine or martini asti can have the same classy feel with less of the cost (women tend to love the bubbles, and she doesn’t necessarily have to know…). If you’re getting chocolate though you can probably afford to splash out on something classier. Smaller, richer chocolates have a more romantic appeal, especially if you feed them to each other, and most women love good chocolate. If you go to a Thorntons shop you can also often get her name in icing for an added personal touch.

Mack LeMouse

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