Thanks to Zappos and Dansko for sponsoring this post.
How do you and your partner gift to each other during the holidays? Do you surprise each other, discuss gifts before, or buy for yourself? (totally have done this!)…
What Gifting Style Do you and your partner have?
Early on in our marriage Jared and I discovered we had completely different styles of gifting, especially for Christmas. He loved surprising me really thoughtful things I didn’t know I wanted, buuut then part of me was always disappointed there wasn’t anything I had been eyeing.
It’s a weird balance, because both gifting and receiving are such rewarding experiences. We probably have spent much more time than your average couple trying to figure out how to gift to each other in a way we’re both happy with. We went through phases of making each other wish lists (but then not really using them), to not gifting much at all, picking out gifts for ourselves, to focusing more on experiences, and then back to surprises.
With kids, the focus changed completely. It was moved off of us, and onto the kids and who Santa gifts to. Does Santa bring gifts to adults in your home? It still feels odd to not have anything to open on Christmas so Jared and I often will gift to each other or have the kids pick out things for us. There were definitely years when I would just buy a couple things for myself during Black Friday sales, wrap them up, and then ‘open’ them on Christmas morning. Ha! It was the only way I could rationalize buying for myself during the holidays, especially since I have a late November birthday too. Jared thought it was completely bizarre, understandably. Somehow after 12 years of marriage gifting is still a work in progress!
When something’s practical and on your wish list, it makes it an even easier thing to gift yourself. These Dansko Leyla boots fit that bill. Insanely comfortable (as Dansko always is), and really good looking in beautiful, high quality leather. Zappos ia always my go-to spot for shoe shopping, and you can buy these Dansko boots there. Free + speedy shipping, 365 day return policy (yup!), and fantastic customer service. Yay!
Jared and I might not be the only ones struggling with gifting each other. Thought it was interesting to read at Tophatter that 20% of women say their husband is a great gift giver, and 35% of men say the same about their wives. So, we might all have some work to do to be better gift givers and communicate those expectations with our partners.
I thought this was helpful about handling mismatched incomes in gift giving as well. What’s your gifting style with your partner? How do you get on the same page in how gift giving will happen? So many tricky things to navigate. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what works for you!
Thanks to Zappos and Dansko for sponsoring this post. Thanks to Stephanie for modeling!