Topic: What’s the best holiday gift you ever got from a romantic partner – and why?
Posted by: Vix the Over-Educated Nympho

Although I've spent many holiday seasons with a loving boyfriend at my side, there is no one "perfect gift" that sticks out from the others. Instead I want to reiterate the point that it doesn't matter how much it costs, but that it comes from the heart.

Some of the most expensive gifts I have ever received: diamond earrings, complete box set of Sex And The City DVDs, and a full-day gift certificate to a spa. What of them now? Diamond earrings I returned to the boyfriend after the break-up (I didn't care for them--what seventeen year-old wears diamonds anyway?), DVDs are still much appreciated but not seen as something special, and the full-day spa treatment was nice for the one day.

Some of the best (and coincidentally, cheapest) gifts I have ever received: Superwoman underwear, a hideous blinged-out piggy bank, and a miniature crocodile head.

Where are these now? The Superwoman underwear has joined the VIP group of lucky underwear I sport on tough days at the office. The kitsch piggy bank sits proudly on my kitchen counter, grinning in her little red bikini and plump belly. The miniature crocodile head lies on the table next to me as I type this, always inspiring a giggle when I need one.

The first group of presents came from boyfriends. The second group of presents came from close friends and family. I love the silly and bizarre presents because they stick out in my memory among years of jewelry and bath salts (the generic female present--THANKS). Who the f*** gives someone a miniature crocodile head? My mother. Only someone who knows me that well knows I would love something so bizarre.

So my best gifts have not come from romantic partners. I love them all for trying, but money does not compensate for a lack of thoughtfulness. I have yet to find a boyfriend who understands that a crocodile head found at a garage sale in Texas for two dollars is worlds better than a $500 spa certificate.

And if I receive another container of fancy schmancy bath salts from a guy, I'm going to shove it up where even the most skilled masseuse would not be able to retrieve it.

Comments

[Sue]

My SO is big on practical gifts and so I know exactly where that last birthday gift is...the new bathroom window. Romantic, no. Much appreciated, hell yes because I'm no long freezing while showering in our bathroom because of the draft coming through the old one.

But the best thing by far that he has ever given me...a plastic heart. And I don't mean something he bought, this is something he made. He works in a plastic packaging plant and actually cut a heart shape out of some scrap plastic, brought it home and gave it to me. It's about the size of a quarter and, after 6 years, still resides in the side pocket of whatever purse I'm carrying around. I change purses and the heart gets moved.

What can I say, I'm a sap.

[Steph]

Best present I ever got from my boyfriend was a little silver heart-shaped compact mirror. It was a locket, so it opened and closed, and about the size of... uhm, a bit bigger than a golf ball? It probably cost him two dollars at a little shop, but I adored it, and I carried it around with me in every single purse I ever owned. When I didn't take my purse with me somewhere, I took that locket. He's an ex, now, and the locket sits in a very special place on my desk, to remind me of how much I was loved, and how much I loved him.