Gift ideas for Valentines Day

Every year in February endless gifts are offered on discount. An ideal gift should be innovative. Here is a list of thoughtful gifts that will bring your partner a unique experience:

• In today’s world, driving is a fundamental skill that provides independence and ease of commutation. If your partner doesn’t drive gift to her a driving course or teach it yourself!

• Swimming is a life-saving skill and if she doesn’t swim, gift to her a swimming course. It is a pure value and boosts her confidence.

• For partners who are coffee addicts, gift a kilogram or two of green tea. The stock would last for a few months and by then she would be addicted to green tea. Green tea has many health benefits.

• ‘Art of Living’ course conducted by Shri Shri Ravishankar to increase energy levels. In India, it costs less than $50 for a weeklong evening course.

• Financial literacy is one of the key ingredients for a happy life in the modern world. Does your partner invest in mutual funds, equity, insurance, real estate, etc.? Does she plan her finances by managing cash flows, income and expenditure effectively? In many cases women outsource this critical task to their spouse or parents. You can gift to her a book on this subject like ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ by Robert Kiyosaki. ‘Everything you wanted to know about investing’ is another book that gives implementable tips.

• A gift that motivates your partner to lead a healthy life is indeed a great gift. If she doesn’t exercise regularly, you should gift her a pair of jogging shoes and motivate her to work out for at least half-an-hour a day. And you can join her too!

• Good hobbies go a long way. Gift her something related to her hobby.

• There are pros and cons of writing a daily diary but it is certainly worthwhile to use diary to manage time effectively. Diarizing important events and recording memorable moments are helpful both in professional and personal life. You may consider gifting a diary to your partner.

• Pets may not substitute your company, but gifting a pet can be considered too.

• A unique experience is worth a million dollars. Try giving your partner an unconventional experience. Visiting an orphanage or a place of worship of another religion are some examples. After all, every one of us lives in our own world and to learn about others is quite an eye opening experience. For many of us ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ would have been one such experience.

• Though gifting a book may sound orthodox, the value that a good book delivers is immense. Some of my recommendations on must-read books are ‘As a man thinketh’ by James Allen, ‘Think & Grow Rick’ by Napoleon Hill, ‘7 habits of highly effective people’ by Steven Covey, ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’ by Richard Bach, etc.

–

Nilakanta Srinivasan aka Neil serves as Senior Vice President in a multinational firm. His expertise is in Operations Management, Process, Customer Service, Organizational Development & Leadership Development. He can be reached at nilakantasrinivasan@yahoo.com.