Copy your pals' best gifts

Copy that
You know who has some gift ideas for your gal? Your pals do. You just never knew it because you don't talk with your buddies about this stuff.

You probably don't care what your friend bought his mother for her birthday last month or what he gave his girlfriend for Valentine's Day. You have more important things to talk about. But when you've got to come up with a gift for your own gal...your pals can be a good resource to go to.

The winners list
If you talk to one of your buddies, he's bound to have gotten his gal at least one great gift in his lifetime. So ask him, "What's the best gift you ever gave your mother, girlfriend/wife, daughter, sister, etcetera?"

Notice that you're not asking him to tell you what he thinks you should buy your gal (because he's no genius in this area). You just want to find out what that one incredible gift was that he happened to luck into for his own gal. And if he's got more than one gift to tell you about...even better.

Now go ask your other friends the same question, and make a list of these all-star gifts of theirs. Don't dismiss any of these winning gifts if they don't seem to fit your gal. Write them all down regardless of your opinion of them. At this point, you're merely compiling a list of items that turned out to be winning gifts for their own gals.

I'm not saying that all of these gifts are going to be perfect for your gal as well, but at least you've now got more ammunition to work with. It could be that a few things on this list just need to be tweaked a little to make them right for your situation, or maybe a couple of them will spark a new idea in your head when you review the list sometime later. You just never know when some loser-looking item today may have some value for you later on.

Now once you've compiled all of your buddies' winning gifts, see if anything stands out to you as a good fit for your gal. If so, go out and buy it. Then tuck that list away for future reference. And that's all.

Modifications
One thing to watch out for is the chance that your gal may find out that you gave her a "copied gift." She may see this as "you took the easy way out" which would cause this grand scheme to backfire on you.

You can avoid this by making sure that whatever gift you choose to copy from your pals' list originally went to someone who your gal isn't too likely to speak with. It's not the best idea to give your gal the exact same gift that her own sister received for her last birthday. However, if you modify it in some way to make it personal to her, then that can make it okay.

*  Can you find that same piece of clothing in your gal's favorite color?

*  Can you have it engraved/embroidered with a special message?

*  Can you find an improved version of that item?

*  Can you find a similar item from that same manufacturer...from the same line of products?

These are good twists on copied gifts, but how can you know whether these twists will fly with your own gal, or if they'll fall flat? That's the tough part, because you can't always know this for sure. All you can do is to use your best judgement.

Sometimes you'll luck out though, like when your gal spots some wonderful gift that she'd like for herself as well. When this happens, she'll let you know about it through some hints. You just have to know what to listen for.

Example
Let's say for example that your gal's best friend got some silk pajamas for Christmas, and every time they get together, your gal tells this friend how much she loves those PJs. Well, that's just how gals communicate with each other...through compliments. That doesn't mean she actually wants those pajamas for herself.

She might actually hate those pajamas...meaning that her compliments are more a reflection of how much her friend likes them, rather than how she feels about them herself.

However, if your gal comes home and tells you about those fantastic pajamas (when her friend isn't around to hear it), then that's a message to you that she would love a set of her own. Absolutely go out and copy that gift. Just try to tweak it as mentioned above by going for a different color, print, or design from that same brand.

You'll know what modifications to make, because as long as you listen carefully to your gal, she'll drop all the necessary hints for you to know exactly what she does and doesn't like about those pajamas. She knows that you don't care a lick about women's PJs, but she also knows that helping you out here will work out well for both of you. You get some help and she ends up with some nice pajamas.

Last thought
By pooling the experiences all the guys in your circle, you should come away with at least a few winning gift ideas. Your buddies are a free resource...and there's no rule against plagairism in the gift-giving game.