15+ Romantic Gift Fails for Story Ideas

Valentine’s Day got my crazy-writer-brain thinking about romantic gifts and how, oh so often, they can go wrong. Whether its V-day, Christmas, a birthday, anniversary, whatever, these are gifts that maybe shouldn’t be given—unless specifically asked for, of course. In fiction, a romantic gift fail could drive the plot forward in a telling and amusing way—it’d say to the audience, hey, this guy, gal, or robot isn’t right for the main character. Here are some not-so-great, unasked-for gift ideas:

• A treadmill—a co-worker received one for her birthday from her husband and it did not go well for him

• A kitchen aid mixer, unless of course, your significant other is into baking. Otherwise, it’s a not-so-gentle shove into the kitchen

• A cookbook, another shove into the kitchen, again, unless they enjoy it

• Wrinkle creams, duh

• Hair regrowth treatments

• Subscription to Jennie Craig or Nutrisystem or the like

• Recycled jewelry—this can be sweet, like a family heirloom, or creepy, like jewelry that used to belong to other girlfriends/boyfriends or bought from a pawn shop, making it a badge of a failed relationship

• Spanx

• A gym membership

• House cleaning supplies

• Anxiety teas, pills, gummies, etc.

• Products for excessive sweating

• Awkward self-help books

• Anti-snoring products

• A framed picture of the gift giver--without you; kind of cocky, right?

• The same gift over and over again showing a minimal amount of thought, effort, creativity

• Really, anything that says to the person, you need to change

More ideas on gift-giving can be found here.

How might the wrong gift propel your story? Share your awesome story ideas below.

Looking for more ideas? Check out www.coffeebrained.com