When it comes to picking gifts during the holiday season, it’s a struggle to track down even the category of gift that’s going to be just-right for someone, much less the specific item. Here’s a little guide to help you get started on finding the perfect present for the fashionista in your life, right here at Best Buy.
Choose a classic
The best gift, I’ve always thought, is the gift that’ll make your loved one smile every time they use it. Sometimes, that’s an infrequent occasion (a gorgeous pair of cufflinks, for instance, might be used just twice a year by someone who favours buttons), but if you choose well, that smile can grace your loved one’s face almost every day of the week.
A great way to make that happen is with a classic timepiece. Watches, like bracelets, can be switched out depending on a woman’s outfit or the occasion, so while most women prefer to have one “staple” watch that they wear every day, there’s no reason to stop at just one. Timepieces have been around for much longer than you and I, and watches? Well, they’ll never go out of style. Not within our lifetimes, at least!
Best Buy carries more watches than you could shake a stick at, so I’ve picked out three of my favourites just to help get you started. First off, there’s the Bulova Classic Women’s Analog Dress Watch in Bone, which combines classic colours with a very minimalist watch face and a super-trendy double-wrap cream leather strap. The mixed metals and neutral strap of this watch make it easy to wear with any colour or any other metal, so it’s a great choice for many–not just women who favour gold, or women who favour silver, or women who wear a lot of colour X.
Then, for more traditional watch styles, there’s the Bulova Women’s Analog Dress Watch in Rose Gold (a trendy take on a timeless style) and the Caravelle New York Women’s Dress Analog Watch in Rose Gold (which is, again, a new interpretation of a watch style that’s been popular for years). I know I talk a lot about rose gold on the Plug-In Blog (and the old VIVA blog), but right now, it’s having a serious moment–it’s a great way to wear a classic style and have it look completely on-trend, and it’s the kind of colour chameleon that works well with both warm and cool tones.
No matter what style the woman you’re buying for tends to prefer, there is definitely a watch at Best Buy that is going to fit her wardrobe like a glove. Just do me one favour before you start hunting for the next watch to add to her wardrobe: make sure she wears watches, first!
Choose an umbrella upgrade
What do you get for the woman who really does just have it all? Well, that depends on the woman, but one of the things that I find is always a sure-fire hit is a fancy upgrade on an everyday item. Whether that means new baking trays (my last gift to myself), an engraved iPod (my last gift to my mom), or a brand new umbrella, the “everyday upgrade” is a nice way to say, “I know you don’t need anything, but here’s something I hope you’ll enjoy all the same.”
My favourite item in our house is, I kid you not, the perfectly-smooth lock on our front door. It’s one of those silly, simple things that inexplicably puts a smile on my face every morning, and the perfect umbrella can do the same thing for a rainy day.
Like a lock, an umbrella is one of those boring, standard items that people just happen to already own (with no recollection of when or where it’s from, or how they came to own it in the first place), but replacing it with a better version of itself can add the perfect tactile experience to your day. The right item, no matter how simple, can add the perfect feeling of completion to any day–it just has to feel well-made and luxurious and it can take your rainy day from drenched to refreshing.
My top picks for a great umbrella? The Bugatti Full-Sized Umbrella, with its extra-large canopy and chestnut wood hooked handle (how very Mycroft Holmes of you), or the ShedRain Rain Essentials Auto Open Full-Sized Umbrella in Red/Spot-On (because who said that umbrellas had to be boring?)
Choose an essential
Us women have it pretty tough. We make 70% of the male dollar, get charged more for goods and services, and, oh, hey, never get to put things in our pockets.
A woman’s handbag is her lifeline, and not just from a style perspective. We rarely get real pockets in our clothing (those front pockets on skinny jeans? Nothing but sewn-shut lies 99.9% of the time), so everything we need, from our phones to our ID, has to go in a bag. The research for my history of handbags article from earlier this year didn’t turn up anything on a handbag conspiracy, but hey, a part of me is still totally left wondering.
Best Buy carries a great selection of handbags, from hobo to wristlets, so if all else fails… I dare you to dig around in the Best Buy handbag catalogue to find the perfect bag for the woman or girl on your holiday shopping list! (The new line of Fossil bags is definitely going to make that job easier for you.)
And, well, if you’re a woman and you’ve just finished picking out the perfect watch for your girlfriend and selecting the perfect umbrella for your mom… why not treat yourself to a new bag for the holidays? (I’m eyeing the Fossil Leather Zip Clutch and the merlot Kenneth Cole Lasso Crossbody Bag.)
After all, you’re going to have to use something to help keep your hands free as you’re playing Santa all across this city this December!
