Sigh.

I write these older-kid gift posts not because I feel like they contain Such Incredibly Awesome Ideas, but rather because there are SO FEW ideas of ANY CALIBER, it seems like we should put ALL the ideas OUT THERE. If I tell you what my 12-year-old boy is getting for his birthday, and if you tell me what your 12-year-old boy is getting for his birthday, then between us we have TWO ideas!

Spherification kit (photo from Amazon.com). We got this idea from Catherine Newman’s post. The gist, I gather, is that you add this stuff to liquid, and it turns the liquid into spheres. This seemed like the perfect present for a boy who spent one million hours with the water marbles he got for Christmas.

Magic Books and Paper Toys: Flip Books, E-Z Pop-ups, & Other Paper Playthings (photo from Amazon.com). We have a 12-year-old of the crafty/projects variety, and this looked like his sort of thing.
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We have a flatware pattern I love: it’s Hampton Finesse and it looks like this (photo from Amazon.com):

We got it at Target kind of a long time ago, and I’m certain we didn’t pay $40 per four place settings: I see similar Hampton sets selling now at Target for $20-35, and also I remember dragging Paul frantically to Target because there were orange tags everywhere and I couldn’t choose a pattern. We chose Finesse only partly for the look of it (though the look has grown on me even more with time): other issues were how the side of the fork handle feels when you’re cutting something, the bowl size/shape of the spoons, etc.

ANYWAY. We need more of it (I keep having to wash silverware in between dishwasher loads), and it’s not available anywhere except online for that high price (PLUS shipping), and I finally bit the bullet this weekend and just PAID it. It’s one of my biggest hurdles: paying more for something I could have gotten for less if I’d realized I would need it. When I am an old lady, that will be my main beef with the world: “Young man, I could have bought this on clearance at Target for ONE TENTH that price in MY day!”

But BEFORE I bit the bullet, I spent some time looking at other flatware patterns, trying out the idea that I could get a non-matching set and we could just mix them in. I didn’t find anything that made sense for this idea (the sets we liked cost MORE than our favorite set), but I did find some fun flatware.

Present Time Mix-and-Match Cutlery (photo from Amazon.com). I love this so much it makes my HEART POUND. The reviews unfortunately indicate that it may be cheap as all heck.
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Elizabeth has been invited to her first sleepover. I went on and on to the other mother about how she MIGHT be too nervous to accept the invitation—but it turns out Elizabeth’s fine and I’m the one who’s nervous.

I manage stress by shopping—or by pretend-shopping (I was glad to find recently that I am not alone in this). In this case I don’t think I actually need to buy anything: she can use an adult-sized orange-and-khaki sleeping bag we already own, and she doesn’t need new pajamas. But I had some fun putting together a pretend kit anyway.

Hello Kitty sleeping bag and backpack and Hello Kitty sleeping bag (photos from Amazon.com). At first I preferred the one on the left—but it’s more expensive than the one on the right, and comes with a backpack we don’t need. [The prices/sellers keep changing as I'm working on this. At first it was $40 for the one on the left and $20 for the one on the right. I'd re-do the search for "Hello Kitty sleeping bag" before buying.] I’m a little tempted to get her one of these even though she could make do with the one we have, just because the one we have is sooooo much bigger than she needs AND FINE, BECAUSE I LIKE TO BUY HELLO KITTY THINGS.

3-piece pajama set (photo from ChildrensPlace.com). Elizabeth has some footed sleepers, and she has some of the snug-fit cotton two-piece type pajamas, but it seems like the best would be the style with looser-fitting pants and a t-shirt. She has some of that type, and also some Nick & Nora button downs that would work well.
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Paul and I have had a smoother marriage since I stopped wanting us to exchange gifts on Valentine’s Day and anniversaries: Paul doesn’t like buying gifts for those occasions, and I don’t like getting gifts that come with a heavy sigh of obligation, and it’s hard to buy a similarly romantic/significant gift for a guy, and I get uptight about money—so overall it started feeling like it wasn’t a good idea for us as a couple.

Every so often my wish for a Significant Gift outweighs this, as for example on our tenth anniversary when I said ahead of time that I would like Expensive Earrings of His Choice, please, to wear sentimentally on all subsequent anniversaries, and I got him something unromantic for his computer—but for the most part we skip it. I still enjoy giving the kids a Valentine’s day gift, and I enjoy the fun of their classroom exchanges, and I still like Valentine’s Day decor and wearing pink/red that day and so forth.

I’m always interested to hear how other couples handle it. Some people who like to buy flowers are partnered with people who like to receive them. Some people who like to go out for dinner are partnered with people who like to, too. Some people who like lingerie are partnered with people who feel like it’s a gift for themselves. …And some people are not paired quite so neatly, and have to figure things out.

What I’d like to know today is what you’d LIKE to receive for Valentine’s Day—if for example you could have your same significant other, but replace the cells in their brain responsible for Valentine’s Day gifts. I’d also love to hear what you normally do, or what you’re likely to get instead—but I think it would be fun to do a sort of Fantasy List. My own tastes, as you will see, run toward the Classic: chocolates, flowers, jewelry.

See’s Pink Satin Heart (photo from Sees.com). I don’t think I even actually DO want this, even though it was the first thing I thought of when I turned my mind to the question. I DO love chocolates, ESPECIALLY heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, and I pined for this one as soon as I saw it—but $40 for not even a pound and a half of chocolate? And the box is so so pretty, but what would I use it for after the chocolate was gone? I used to save heart-shaped boxes, but I never did find a way to use them so I finally tossed them out in our last move. Still. If I were in a dating relationship, not married, I think this would be my favorite gift to get. I’d enjoy the extravagance of it, and I’d keep love notes and ticket stubs and photos in the heart-shaped box.
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