Judy Adamson's Art & Design Blog: Shopping for Gifts and Greeting Cards for Men

Last month I touched on the difficulties of buying gifts for men and promised to go into it in a bit more detail this month, hopefully offering some helpful advice as well.

Whether it's a husband or partner, a father, a son, a grandson or a friend or colleague, choosing the right gift can be quite a headache!

So first we need to understand why it can be so difficult.

I realise I am about to generalise dreadfully but there do seem to be some common threads running through the reasons that it's harder to choose a present for a man than for a woman.

Whereas women tend to be thrilled to receive all sorts of totally unnecessary 'accessories' and ornamental bits and pieces, as long as they suit their style, men are more inclined to think in terms of practical, useful gifts. (This, by the way, can lead to some friction when men buy us household items, such as vacuum cleaners - and in my own case, for my first married Christmas gift, a very functional stainless steel ladel!)
Related to the above, while most women can go into a gift shop or craft shop and pick out a dozen frivolous little items they'd love to own, men tend to think much bigger. The things they aspire to are more likely to be cars, boats, houses etc - probably not within our budget for birthday gifts but things to be saved up for.
Unlike women and girls, men and boys are unlikely to tell us either directly or through dropping hints, what they'd like for their birthday or Christmas.
Because the things men would like to own are likely to be useful, easily justified items, they tend to just buy them when they need them - I have this on good authority from my son.

So all these factors together can leave us with a problem but here are a few ways we may be able to make the gift-buying a bit easier:

First -

Have you tried asking him outright what he'd like for his birthday or Christmas present?

He's unlikely to drop hints so that may well be the best course of action. But do choose a time when he won't feel harassed about something that is supposed to be a source of pleasure - don't try to talk about it when he's preoccupied with something else, such as work, a tv programme or a project he's wanting to plan.

If asking him a straight question doesn't provide you with a useful answer - and often it won't! - try approaching it from a different angle.

Does he have a hobby that could be enhanced by a gift related to it? Even if it's not a strictly practical hobby-related gift, maybe a coffee mug or t-shirt that acknowledges the importance of his hobby in his life would go down well?

It may even be that it's up to us women to know best what a man needs before he knows it himself! After all, we're supposed to be good at putting ourselves in someone else's shoes, aren't we! So maybe you can visualise how pleased he would be to receive something with his monogram or name on? A Travel Accessories Bag, for instance, or maybe a sleeve for his tablet or laptop?

You may need to do some detective work - notice if there are particular book reviews in the newspapers that seem to interest him; where does he linger in the DIY store? Does he buy a specific magazine or journal regularly? Maybe a subscription to that magazine would go down well? Is he a wine buff? There are plenty of wine-related accessories on offer, though his preference will probably a bottle of really good wine! If you have serious money to spend, maybe an 'experience', such as a hot air balloon trip, would be a gift he'd remember with pleasure.

If all else fails - and I'm resorting to this increasingly with my teenage grandsons - there are plenty of gift vouchers on offer, either for hobby-related gifts, such as gaming, for treats such as a therapeutic massage or for more general stores.

Still stuck?

Here are some of my Zazzle Collections where you might find inspiration. I realize that my Zazzle stores may well seem to be full of floral designs - I love my garden! - but I try to make sure that I balance the pretty and feminine with designs more suitable for gifts for men. So take a few minutes to browse - you might find exactly what you need!

Looking for a smartphone case as a gift for a man? Look no further - here you will find a selection of Case-Mate and Savvy cases for the iPhone 5 and 6 as well as Samsung Galaxy smartphones. The ethnic and tribal patterns in subtle colours are from my 'Jungle Drums' collection and many of them are ready for you to personalize. All can be easily customized by changing the scale or direction of the pattern for a truly personal touch. (Don't forget that these designs can be adjusted to fit any of the Case-mate cases - just choose your model from the drop-down menu immediately below 'Device Type' on the product page.)