Did the pandemic dampen your 2020 Valentine’s Day? The good news is you have this year to turn the bad vibes around and plan your presents and surprises real early.
If you’re looking for the best gift ideas for the day of hearts, then take a pick among these three choices:
1. Jewelry
In a 2019 survey, more than half of the women respondents said they prefer to receive jewelry pieces as gifts. At least 57% would love to have a pair of earrings while 42% considered necklaces as the best token. Meanwhile, 30% would like to own a bracelet.
Granted, the company that performed the survey works in the industry. There’s likely to be some bias there. However, a woman’s love affair with jewelry has long been established.
Women like jewelry for a variety of reasons:
- Jewelry makes excellent accessories to enhance their style or showcase their personality in fashion.
- These pieces are great investments. Their value appreciates over time, particularly if they contain diamonds and other rare or unique gemstones.
- Women can create emotional attachments with these pieces. They can preserve them for years as heirlooms for their children.
These days, you’ll never run out of jewelry choices. But if you’re having a hard time choosing, you can always stick with the classics. For one, remember that diamonds, as the cliché goes, are a girl’s best friend.
You can shop for luxury bracelets online with pieces that feature studded diamonds in a gold bangle. Some shops offer customization or personalization, where you can request to have her name engraved.
2. Tech
Men love tech gifts. Electronics remains one of their preferred presents. But the same actually goes for women, particularly smartphones.
In fact, in Nielsen’s research, adult women were more likely to spend a lot of time on mobile-based apps or surf the Internet through their smartphones than their male counterparts. The percentage goes up to 6% when it comes to tablets.
Business Insider shares more data about women’s intimate connection with mobile devices:
- At least 48% of women said their phone is the topmost item they couldn’t leave without. In the earliest surveys, this device was more important than their purse.
- Women use their mobile devices for plenty of reasons. About 50% transform their phones into alarm clocks. Millions download health and fitness apps to track their calories, workouts, and fertility.
- Ladies utilize their smartphones or tablets to shop. Some studies such as that of BELVG corroborate this. According to it, 72% of online shoppers were women compared to 68% of men.
What kinds of tech gifts can you give? The options feel unlimited:
- The usual: smartphones, tablets, and laptops
- Gaming console
- Subscriptions to their favorite platforms, sites, or games
- Battery charging set or power bank
- Smart TV
- E-book readers
- Other smart devices, from a watch to a mirror
- Phone mounts or stands
3. Perfume
The jewelry survey above revealed that the second most popular gift women want to receive is a perfume. But before you head to the first Chanel counter you see, here’s a word of caution: choosing the right smell won’t be easy.
According to a 2015 study by the Brigham Young University, women consider perfumes—and, to a broader extent, fragrances—as an intimate connection of their personal identity. It’s not unusual for them to maintain the signature scent they wear for years.
For this reason, they don’t want to smell like the others; and interestingly, they don’t enjoy giving perfumes as presents to women friends. However, their preference may influence the kind of fragrance they want their partner to wear.
This information means a lot of things:
- If your partner or lady friend has a signature scent, you better stick to the same perfume as a gift. It may be redundant, but the likelihood she’s going to appreciate and use it is high.
- If you don’t know what scent they’re wearing, you can always ask subtly. Women may not want others to wear it, but they are open to sharing the name.
- If they are collecting fragrances, you can be more gung-ho with your choice. It can range from cheap colognes to niche perfumes, which are more expensive and more difficult to find.
Gifting can be a hit or miss, especially if you want to keep it as a surprise and don’t want to ask your beloved what she really wants.
Fortunately, usually, women appreciate presents because, more than anything else, it’s the thought that counts. The list above too already reduces your chances of giving something they are less likely to use.
