But I know that when it comes time to buy gifts for the men in our lives on Valentine’s Day, my girlfriends and I are always calling each other, stressed out, because what do you get a guy on a holiday that’s pretty much a feminine holiday? It’s tough. I honestly think that may be why a lot of women aren’t really big Valentine’s Day gift givers, especially if they are generous the rest of the year.

This kind of an excuse (i.e. ‘I didn’t know what to get you’) will land a guy in the doghouse for a solid week. This ‘punishment’ would be accompanied by a stern lecture about how ‘you just don’t listen, and if you did, you would KNOW what to get me.’ How about getting him something he would like (you DO pay attention to what he likes, don’t you?) or something that would be meaningful to him? It’s really not that hard and the ‘female nature’ of the holiday shouldn’t make it any harder for you. Cooking dinner, by the way, is a good start…

So men are supposed to come up with something original, besides chocolate and flowers, but you can’t splurge $20 for a simple romantic gesture? Worse than that, you can’t put forth the effort to come up with something to buy him? And cooking for him is nothing different from any other day is it? So what it boils down to is V-Day is just the status quo for women whereas men have to come up with something charming to give their women.

“But I know that when it comes time to buy gifts for the men in our lives on Valentine’s Day, my girlfriends and I are always calling each other, stressed out, because what do you get a guy on a holiday that’s pretty much a feminine holiday? It’s tough. I honestly think that may be why a lot of women aren’t really big Valentine’s Day gift givers, especially if they are generous the rest of the year.”

Ha. You’re complaining because of the feminine construct of this holiday you’re unable to figure out a gift to get your man. V-Day being a feminine holiday sets the bar low for you and your ilk; suck it up and go buy something. You’re just being cheap; just like a woman.

The utter lack of insight of women during this holiday is appalling. Women have accepted that this is their holiday, with the help of willing beta providers. Most men pay a majority of the household bills, a majority of eating expenses, a majority of entertainment expenses and we’re supposed to deliver the goods on yet another consumer-driven holiday? All for what? So that our woman knows we love her? How about if I just tell her that, and we’ll see what happens?

This year I bought my girlfriend a bottle of wine and some cheese. We stayed at home, watched a movie, and I got my dick wet. What did she get me? Nothing. Not that I’m surprised, but she retorted when I asked why I didn’t get a gift,”It’s a girl’s holiday.” And there you go. From the mouths of babes.

Hell, I had a pretty good girlfriend recently, but for reasons too complicated to go into (and who would give a shit anyway?), she broke up with me. So, were we still together, I probably would’ve spent a lot of money and attention on her, but it would have been because I wanted to because I cared about her. But, I guess I lucked-out because she dumped me right before Christmas. So not only do I get to save my money on Valentine’s Day, but I also got to take her Christmas present back to the jewelry store for a refund and bought myself some new clothes and a watch. Score!

Romance is mainly about being a good liar to woman, but meaning well(or not, but being a good liar anyway). Put on a convincing show, use the right emotion-evoking words, have a fantastic income and an iron-clad pre-nup and you’ll stay married always.

Short of that, well…Good Luck!

For starters, more than 15 years ago she forbade me – forbade me – from every buying her flowers on Valentines Day. Or on Mother’s Day (we have two boys, 13 & 6). Why? She knows well that the laws of supply and demand mean prices rise ridiculously. For the price of a dozen roses on one day, for example, I purchase flowers for her five or six other times during the year. Take, for example, a few weeks ago when an ice storm passed through our area; who would expect to get flowers then? No one, but she got a bouquet from me.

And as for gifts, she doesn’t wear jewelry often, so she’s told me not to buy her any. Fragrances? She has certain allergies that make it hard to buy for. A night out? Now we’re talking, but as she isn’t a fan of crowds, we’ll have a night out…. but certainly not this weekend.

So she’ll get cards from the boys and me (the youngest making his own), and soon a night out, but we really do not make a big deal in our house over this holiday.