I'm sure we're all familiar with the well known stereotype of men's inability to buy thoughtful, and even appropriate gifts for the women in their lives; and with Christmas just around the corner there's a good chance that you'll be leaving subtle hints to make sure you get what you want.
I'll admit, I've been reasonably lucky when it comes to receiving gifts from the men in my life. Most of my male friends can hardly be described as being manly, having more teddies than me, and I'm pretty sure me and Josh share the same weird and wonderful thoughts. Unfortunately many ladies are not as lucky as me, and may well be dreading what they'll find under the tree this Christmas.
The lovely people at AskHerFriends recently got in touch with me, with an idea that is designed to help men find the perfect gift for the women in their life, whether they be their partner, mother or friend etc. The website came about after founder Ben Blomerley after he bought is now ex-girlfriend and worm farm - eek! AskHerFriends now tries to prevent men from making the same unique gift decisions as Ben by getting the advice of her friends before buying a potentially horrific gift.
Josh and myself have been having a play on the AskHerFriends website for the last few days, trying it out and looking for gifts for various people to see what it suggests and whether we think the items selected would be something we'd choose ourselves.
To start the gift search you're asked a few simple questions; your relationship to the person you're buying for and your budget. From here you have the option to answer some more detailed questions such as the woman's style, interests and hobbies. Answering these questions obviously offers you the option to find gifts that are more tailored to whoever you're shopping for.
Although we were both pleasantly surprised by the ideas that were suggested for each of the people we searched for I do feel that the gifts lack that personal touch that finding the perfect gift creates. Having said that, I'm in love with pretty much everything on what was suggested for me! However I do feel that in order to get these suggestion you may have to know more about the person than the average guy might think about. Josh, for example, was pretty good when it came to assessing the sense of style of the people he searched for, but if I was to give this to my brother he'd really struggle to answers a single question. Obviously this is where sending the gift lists to her friends and getting advice comes in handy, although I do worry that the rendered list might not be that helpful if the initial questions weren't answered accurately. Instead, both me and Josh said that this website, and the questions asked, might be more beneficial if the man in question was following the guide with a friend of the person he's buying for with them. Although this obviously won't be appropriate for everyone!
To give you an idea of some of the gifts and brands available from AskHerFriends I thought I'd show you some of my favourite things the website suggested for me. I was going to show you some of the results for other people as well, but we're probably going to get a few of them - we found some very helpful ideas!
A Sweet Heart of Mini Love Hearts by A Quarter Of... - Domestic Sluttery: Cheat to the Perfect Lifestyle by Amazon - Heart Decorations Craft Kit by Oxfam Online
So, whether you're a guy looking for some help with your Christmas shopping, or just looking for some present ideas that you wouldn't usually come across, it is definitely worth paying a visit to AskHerFriends. There really is a great range of shops available to browse on the website, and gift ideas to suit budgets from under £10 to over £250.
What's been your worst or even best gift from any of the guys in your life?
