Thoughtful gifts

A few days ago I posted a Valentines day gift wish list, click Here to read, but maybe you don't celebrate Valentines day in a big way and just want to give a small thoughtful gift, maybe your budget don't stretch to a big present or maybe you just want your valentines gift to be a bit more personal. Either way, a thoughtful gift is special because it is thoughtful, not because it cost a lot of money, so here are five ideas that can work for both men and women that you can get for under £10 or maybe even just costing some of your time…….and they don't just have to be given on Valentines day, they can be given all year round.

I just did a blog post reviewing The five Love Languages (click Here to read), so I think the obvious first thoughtful gift idea would be to learn someones love languages. Now Valentines day isn't far away, so if this was something you wanted to do for this valentines, it might be a bit of a squeeze time wise to read the book. But it could simply be giving the book as a present with a card or a card on its own, saying you will learn their love language and speak it, to make them feel extra loved.

Second is a little "care" package involving an activity they love, like if a man likes watching sport, a package with their favourite drink and snack, with a card saying "promise I won't disturb next time your favourite team is playing". Or if for a woman that likes to take baths, maybe a bath bomb and a candle, saying "I will draw you a bath next time you need a bit of pampering".

Knowing someones favourite cake and baking it for them is another great way to show you know them, plus a cake baked with love always taste the best. My husbands favourite is Lemon drizzle cake.

Doing something for them they don't normally like to do them self. Like in our house, my husband hates ironing his work shirts, so ironing all his work shirts for him and giving him a card saying I had done that for him as a valentines present, would probably mean more to him than an expensive gift. But it could also be vacuuming the car or cleaning the kitchen cupboards.

Planing a day or afternoon out, which sounds expensive but doesn't necessarily need to cost a lot of money or any at all. Finding out what the other person likes to do outside the house, it could be bringing a thermos flask of tea and going to your local park to feed the ducks. A lot of museums and galleries are free to visit and some even have a picnic area, so you can bring a romantic homemade lunch for when you need to rest your feet. My personal favourite is V&A and having a picnic by the Diana memorial fountain, but my husbands would be to visit the London Imperial War Museums.

There are so many thoughtful gift to be given, this was just a few. I think the key to any successful gift is finding out what the other person likes and why they like it and then you can`t really go wrong, or at least you should be getting points for effort.

Mia
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