Why is it so impossibly hard to buy gifts for men?

I find I always have two quandaries at this time of year.

Firstly, I find myself having to get incredibly creative with my budget as over and above having to buy Christmas presents, my immediate family saw fit to all be born between 9 September and 30 December. And just to ensure my complete bankruptcy come 31 December, my parents figured they’d throw in their anniversary for good measure.

Secondly, but far more frustratingly, I find myself having to come up with gift ideas for the men in my life.

Women are so easy to buy things for and can almost always give you a whole list of suggestions with a wide range of price tags to accommodate everyone’s budget.

Men on the other hand, at least those in my life, are incredibly difficult to spoil. When it comes to the more reasonably-priced things my father would like, he has a habit of buying what he wants when he wants it, leaving nothing on the list but expensive camera lenses and the like.

I generally start hounding him for gift ideas (for birthday and Christmas) from about September and often find myself scolding him for having bought yet another item that could have been on the gift list.

My 24-going-on-16-year-old brother on the other hand doesn’t quite seem to grasp the idea behind a gift – or at least my idea of what a gift is. A gift should be something that you’d love to have but can’t really justify buying. That’s what makes it a treat when someone else indulges your guilty pleasure by buying it for you.

Okay, so perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he is completely incapable of coming up with a list of things that would be nice to have – but that he can’t quite justify buying – that is under R1 000.

Nevertheless, I will endure and am committed to coming up with something to surprise them.

Please, if you have any suggestions I’m all ears! Tweet me: @NickyBelseck