by Dave Poon
Your groomsmen are your best friends. They've seen you fall on
your face with girls when you were younger.
You've played football
with them, or gone fishing before the sun came up. You've all nursed
hangovers together. So you need to come up with some groovy groomsmen
gifts to show how much you appreciate them.
To thank your buddies for standing up for you on the biggest day
of your life, you should choose gifts that express your
feelings. Of course, as we all know, guys don't often express their
deep feelings verbally. So, the best way to get across those feelings may be to pick out individual
gifts for different members of your party. After all, each of your buddies is unique and should
be thanked in an original way.
Keep personalities in mind for these gifts. If one of your
buddies is a teetotaler, don't buy
alcohol-related items like shot glasses or beer steins. Likewise,
if one of your buddies loves music and cultural activities like
museums, you wouldn't want to buy sports-centric gifts.
You're shooting for a reaction like, “Wow man, this
is cool! I can use this!”
One time-tested idea for a groomsman gifts is the Swiss army knife. At some point
during your day, you are probably wishing you had a screwdriver
handy or pocketknife to open a box or even a pair of tweezers to
fish that paper clip out from your keyboard. A Swiss army
knife makes a great gift because first of all, they're
cool. And second, they're genuinely useful and practical. This idea pretty much enjoys universal appeal; it's probably a winner for all your groomsmen. Plus, you can make it extra special by
personalizing these knives with some type of engraving.
If you do have some social-drinker groomsmen, shot glasses and beer steins are a good bet. Personalize
them with the wedding date or a thank-you from the groom.
Personal
flasks are regaining popularity as well. If one of your buddies
enjoys his beer, great groomsmen gifts for that interest include
his own beer brewing kit — or even a six pack of the month club where
he gets a unique beer to sample each month.
Do your buddies enjoy guy nights out playing poker? Maybe he'd enjoy some game-related items. How about
personalized playing cards? Or special poker sets complete with
the poker chips and cards in a handsome carrying case?
Then there
are the fun, useful novelty type of gifts like shot glass
checkers, where you use shot glasses instead of checker pieces to roll over your opponent and leave him begging for mercy. (If you happen to think of a drinking game along the way, well — it happens.)
Perhaps, instead of tangible groomsmen gifts, you could plan the
ultimate guy trip. An offshore fishing trip or a camping trip might
be fantastic fun and a great last “hurrah” for you,
one last guy thing before getting hitched. Commemorate it with a personalized engraved compass for each of your groomsmen. Maybe that way you can still find each other for a guy's night out after the ceremony!
Be sure to have a budgetary plan in place before you head to the store, though. Then have fun picking out those items that get across the feeling of “Hey,
you’re my best buddy and I appreciate you.” No matter
what you settle on, your friends will appreciate
the thoughtfulness — and you might even get to skip the man-hug.
