Few things can measure the value of a relationship to a woman like the gift that you decide to give her for her birthday.
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Diamonds are a girl's best friend, as the old cliche goes, but nice jewelry isn't always in the budget. So if you're shopping for a woman, any woman -- wife, daughter, girlfriend, grandmother -- it's going to be thought that counts, not necessarily the price tag.
Here are a few ideas that will score you points with your favorite woman on her birthday without blowing a hole in your bank account.
Flowers
If you have $50 to spend, you can buy you a very nice foral display for your woman. At first glance, it seems very easy, but flowers can be screwed up.
One thing to consider is the meaning of the blooms. You should consider the depth of the relationship with the woman before you purchase them. Different flowers have different meanings.
"Many of the romantic sentiments conveyed by flowers seem old-fashioned and out of date by today's fast, cheap and easy standards, but women still like this stuff," suggests the Single Guy Advisor blog.
Also, don't overplay your hand with flowers. If you bought them for her on Valentine's Day and on her birthday last year, it could appear that you are getting lazy.
Candles
Scented candles can also be a successful gift. They can help strike a variety of moods. from sensual to celebratory.
"No other gift can be enjoyed extensively and can provide the light, scent, color, and warmth quite the way a candle can," according to the Hot Candle Home Gift blog.
Look closely at details when purchasing candles, such as color, aroma and size. These details could make or break the gift.
Arranging a variety of candles in a gift basket could be the added touch that really makes the gift sing in the eyes of the woman you're buying them for.
Wine
A fine wine can have a lot of sentimental meaning to a woman. But, be sure to spend your entire $50 budget on the bottle. You can by bottles of wine in some places for as little as $6 and an assertive woman can easily sniff out a cheap bottle of wine.
One option to make the gift even more meaningful is to add a personalized label. There are dozens of sites around the web that allow you to add your own photo to a bottle of wine. Some will sell you the wine and the bottle label together, others will allow you to simply buy personalized labels and you can add them to a bottle you purchase.
Either way, it's a great way to show the woman in your life that you put time, thought and effort into her gift.
Personalized Book
Heading to a bookstore and buying a book by your woman's favorite author is nice, but wouldn't it be nicer if she was the star of the book?
Businesses that give you the ability to produce a personalized picture book have skyrocketed over the last few years. You likely have plenty of photos of your women, so put them on the page to show her off and score big points.
Most offer the ability to upload photos and design the book right online.
Gifts For Under $20
It could be hard to impress some women with a birthday gift under $20, so your best bet is to go hyper-personal with a gift that truly shows how you feel about her.
Greeting Card
Cards are cheap, but it's what's in the card that counts. Think long and hard about the sentiment you are trying to convey with the card and what you write inside.
Handwrite your script out a few times on other paper so that you get it right when you finally put the message into the card. Remember, you only get one chance to write in the card.
Also, e-cards don't cut it. They're too easy. Your woman needs to know you put effort into this gift.
Frames
It's amazing what a nice frame can do for a bland old photo. You can get many very nice frames for under $20.
The key here, of course, is to find a photo that is meaningful to you and your woman. If you've got the budget to combine this with a heartfelt card and letter, it could be a really effective gift.
Time
Your time is free, right? Well, that's always up for interpretation. However, making a significant effort to spend time with your woman for her birthday could be a gift goldmine.
Make sure the time allotted is outside of your normal routine. If you usually spend an hour together with each other after work on Fridays, bumping that up to two hours is not sufficient.
To really hit the mark, consider taking the entire day off of work and taking her for a stroll in the park or renting one of her favorite movies. You must make a sacrifice of your time for her, that's priceless.
Whatever you end up getting, the key is to not let lack of money or creativity get in the way. A final piece of advice from the Gift Advisory Web site: Get "a gift that will show you that you love her either by demonstrating that you pay attention to the things she likes or through a full-blown romantic gesture."