I am trying to find a birthday gift for a woman in her late twenties. (Los Angeles)

February 22, 2007 11:56 PM

Trying to find a birthday gift for a woman in her late twenties. (Los Angeles)

I'm a terrible gift giver and I've recently started dating a woman in her late twenties. We've gone out on a couple dates. Her birthday is coming up and I am trying to find a gift for her. Possibly something out of the ordinary.

I live in the Los Angeles area. So store suggestions are welcome.

Since we just met a few weeks ago and only been on a couple dates, I'm not looking for an expensive gift.

posted by MediaJunkie to Shopping (16 answers total)

Flowers. If you find a good florist, it won't be ordinary.
posted by awesomebrad at 12:12 AM on February 23, 2007

I think you are going to have to be a bit more specific than "a woman in her late twenties". What are her interests? What's her style?
posted by Joh at 12:13 AM on February 23, 2007

For an LA florist, I recommend Empty Vase, they have some beautiful, modern, slightly unusual arrangements.
posted by Joh at 12:14 AM on February 23, 2007

Silver jewelry is nice, always appreciated, and it makes less of a statement of commitment than gold or anything else. You should take a look at the jewelry section of Etsy.com and find her a cool, unique, handmade necklace. you'll get bonus points for supporting independent crafters.
posted by Brittanie at 12:23 AM on February 23, 2007

Or maybe not — I missed the "couple of weeks" line. Your call.
posted by Brittanie at 12:24 AM on February 23, 2007

Third the flowers. Or chocolates or something edible, or possibly a cd or book. Jewellery or anything expensive would be creepy, considering you just met.
posted by Sar at 1:03 AM on February 23, 2007

There are a bazillion gift threads on AskMe... any of them fit the bill?
posted by IndigoRain at 1:22 AM on February 23, 2007

If you are going to go the flowers route, you should go downtown to the flower district; your money will go a lot farther there than it would at a regular floral shop. Be sure to get there early, though! But if I were your lady friend, I always love stuff from the Giant Robot stores on Sawtelle. They have a lot of neat and unusual little gifty-things, as well as t-shirts, books and other stuff. You can get an idea of the kinds of things they sell here.
posted by kitty teeth at 5:56 AM on February 23, 2007

Friend, if you are coming here for gift ideas then you are in serious trouble. If you want a unique gift, then you need to think a little bit -- what do you know of this person? what experiences have the two of you shared? what memorable conversations have you had? The best gift is one that only you could possibly think to get for her, because it is inspired by something that was shared between the two of you.

If you can't think of an object, then make her a card with heartfelt art and/or writings.

Otherwise, flowers are nice.
posted by cubby at 6:15 AM on February 23, 2007

Send the flowers to her office (assuming, of course, that she works in an office, and that she's going to be at work on her birthday). Red roses would be creepy, but it's fun to have beautiful flowers at your desk.
posted by junkbox at 6:27 AM on February 23, 2007

I'm from LA (don't live there now) but I always have success shopping for gifts for people at Wacko/The Soap Plant in Hollywood. They have tons of neat, interesting stuff there.

Although, I have no idea what this woman's like, so if you could provide more detail... this place might be totally wrong for her!
posted by pazazygeek at 7:26 AM on February 23, 2007

Maybe a cooking lesson that the two of you can do together; in my area restaurants and kitchen supply stores (like sur la table) offer them. Here's a link of LA-area Sur La Table events and all their culinary events. Depending on what sort of class you sign up for, it should be less than $65 (which is probably what you'd pay for flowers anyway). And it guarantees you another date :)
posted by ml98tu at 9:27 AM on February 23, 2007

Correction to above: it would be $65 per person. That may not make it such a great idea unless you want to pay more or send her by herself. Sorry, I wasn't thinking clearly.
posted by ml98tu at 9:30 AM on February 23, 2007

cubby has it.

If you get her a gift that you can give any other girl, you have done a poor job.

Jewlery Flowers Candy = "I put no thought in to your gift and you are just like any other girl I've ever seen and I am just like every other guy you have ever met"

Look at what everyone is saying "Flowers would be nice"

Do you want her to open her gift and think "nice" or do you want her to open her gift and think "I can't believe he thought of me when he picked out this gift. This is so personal and it means something to me. Now I will let you pound my vag all night, and maybe we'll even try anal."

I should be charging you for this
posted by comatose at 1:16 PM on February 23, 2007

Thirding Cubby and also seconding the Soap Plant advice, assuming that she's the Soap Plant type.

Does she do funky? If she does, there are some pretty nifty jewelry options that are cool, wearable, and (crucially, in your situation) inexpensive-looking. Fernworks makes lovely things out of resin, bits leaf, and wire. And if you poke through Etsy.com, you'll find squillions of other pieces of cheap-and-spiffy jewelry. Just remember to avoid all precious and semi-precious stones and metals. Look for stuff made with fabric, recyled glass, bottlecaps, and the like.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 5:09 PM on February 23, 2007

I was going to suggest the same thing as ml98tu - cooking classes or some other out-of-the-ordinary date (hot-air ballon ride, horseback riding, concert tickets, etc.). It really does depends on her interests, but I'd probably stay away from jewelry.
posted by curie at 7:18 PM on February 24, 2007