- Concert tickets – do you know his favorite band? Try to find the next time they come to town and grab a couple of tickets.
- Sports tickets – Grab a pair of tickets to his favorite local team and go their together and overeat and drink.
- Surprise party – pick his close family or close friends and get them to sneak to a set location at a certain time to surprise him. This minimizes the need for additional gifts.
- Woodworking class – Is he into word working or flirting with the idea? This woudl be a great starting point. Or if he’s already good, it might be good to pick a specific project class…like building a guitar, or turning bowls on a lathe.
- Gun Range – This one may be controversial…but regardless of your thoughts on owning guns, going and shooting one is a fun experience. It gives you a new respect for the engineering involved and the sheer power they possess.
- Amtrak trip – this would set you out as a unique and creative girlfriend or wife. Who thinks to go on trains anymore?! Maybe take a week off and enjoy a ride.
- Stand-up comedian tickets – a lot of guys like standup, but have never experienced going to a live show. Don’t know who he might like, take a peek at the podcasts he listens to for ideas (most hosts are comedians it seems), or find someone to “try” together.
- Online course (ex: Ed X) – if your boyfriend has career advancement or career change desires, this could an interesting starting point for them. May be a good idea to just do a gift card, or “coupon” for the course of his choice since some may be more highly valued by their companies than others.
- Hotel stay in town? Next city over? – This would be fun little get away, especially if you feel like you’ve already exhausted all the restaurants and venues in your town.
- Subscription to a documentary streaming service (ex: Curiosity Stream) – we’re really only familiar with Curiousity Stream because we actually received this as a gift ourselves. It’s got awesome documentaries, and it’s super cheap (~$1/month)
- Quantified self gift (example: Withings, Fitbit, myFitnessPal, etc.) – Great nerd gift who’s into fitness as well. These things are fun and addicting and your guy will likely end up healthier for it.
- DNA/Blood Testing – this could be a “thing” or an “experience” I suppose, but this is a unique gift that I’m sure he’s not expecting. The link I show sends you to Circle DNA, but there are a lot of options out there.
- NFL/NBA/NHL/MLB TV Packages – if your man is a big fan and doesn’t have these yet, you may just make him cry. This is one of those many things, we really want it, but can’t always justify buying it. When our girlfriend/wife makes that decision for us it’s a release.