Flowers are great, but if you want to make the woman in your life feel extra special on Valentine’s Day, check out these gift ideas that are sure to make her sweet on you.
Home Sweet Spa
Want to indulge her with a spa treatment, but Burke Williams isn’t in the budget this year? For an intimate do-it-yourself spa experience, draw her a hot bath, fill it with her favorite bubbles, and let her Zen out with candles and dreamy music. Continue the papering by wrapping her up in luxury with the Soft Hugwear Spa Wrap. $15. Walmart.
Tonight’s the Night
Slip her into something more comfortable with a pair of cuddly Bedhead Cabin Fever Pink Pajamas, made of 100% fine cotton flannel. The top features a notched collar with a button front and a small chest pocket. Pant includes comfy adjustable drawstring waistband. $120. sleepyheads.com.
Not Her Grandmother’s Pearls
Give her a lasting gift of beauty, originality and quality with Brian Nagourney Pearls. The designer’s unique pieces are each handmade with fresh-water pearls combined with coral or turquoise and a variety of stones, strung on a contrasting macramé cord, fusing modern, traditional and primitive styling. The line is priced between $49 and $299. briannagourney.com.
Chocolates with Heart
Give your Sweetie something to savor with organic Shaman Chocolates, unique for their delicious flavors and their social responsibility. All profits from the sale of Shaman Chocolates help support Huichol Indian villages in Central Mexico allowing them to keep their ancient traditions alive and ensure their economic survival. Sold in two-ounce bars ($3) or gold-colored gift boxes which include eight beautiful flower-shaped solid chocolates for $8.95. shamanchocolates.com
Tag, She’s It
Show her how special she is to you with a handcrafted Circle of Love Tag, with a custom-made pure silver tag pendant hand-stamped with “Forever,” “Cherish,” or “True Love” on the front and personalized with your first names and date of union on the back. $65. mommytags.com.
Plug and Play
Your Valentine will love you so much if you give her the Lenovo Y450 ideapad she’ll want to update her status on Facebook to “married.†This powerful yet slim and lightweight (4.5 lbs.) laptop has enough features to keep the IT geek happy but is a perfect turn-key computer for the cyber novice. And it’s a looker, with a textured black outer casing, sleek white keyboard and palm pad and a shiny black illuminated slide bar. It’s also one of the most eco-friendly computers on the market, meeting rigorous RoHS standards (restriction of Use of Hazardous Substances) and featuring low energy use and heat emissions, earning it a Gold EPEAT rating. All that plus Intel GMA 4500MHD, DVD writer, Windows Vista Home Premium, 6-cell long-life battery, three USB ports, audio jacks, VGA, Ethernet, six-in-one memory card reader, HDMI port, eSATA, FireWire 400 port and an ExpressCard/34 slot. Starting at $599. Lenovo.com.
Crock for Betty
If your hostess with the mostess loves to entertain but hates a mess, she’ll love Calibowls, perfect for finger foods, with a non-slip bottom and patent-pending wave-like inward-curing lip design that prevents spillage when foods are scooped out. Comes in ceramic or BPA-free plastic in a variety of colors and sizes, $14.14 to $50.50. Available at specialty retailers nationwide and calibowl.com.
Very Personal Computer
Remind her how much you love her every time she sits at her computer or uses her iPhone with an electronic device skin, like the Skinit Hugs and Kisses 2, that can personalize almost any laptop, cell phone, iPod or gaming device and make it truly hers. Chose from hundreds of designs or create your own, and change them out easily with no sticky residue or harm to the device. $14.95 to $29.99. skinit.com.
Stirring Up Good Feelings
Get cozy together in the kitchen and stir up a wholesome, satisfying meal in a bowl with the England Soup Factory Cookbook: More Than 100 Recipes from the Nation’s Best Purveyor of Fine Soup (Hardcover) by Marjorie Drucker. The cookbook is a savory collection of classics like Spicy Chickpea and Butternut Squash, and a variety of vegetarian recipes, all which have easy-to-find ingredients, simple instructions and plenty of mouth-watering photography to showcase how to present each soup. $15.75. Amazon.
Love’s a Brewing
Perk her up her morning with flavorful coffee and a bit of art with Illy “Love Difference Mediterraneo†medium roast ground espresso in limited edition artful Pistoletto Foundation Cans which support Ethiopia’s coffee-growing communities. $28 for two-pack 8.8 oz cans. Illyusa.com.