Anna Turner: A present headache | Canterbury Opinion | Local Voices from Canterbury, New Zealand

Last week, it was time to complete my most dreaded task of the year- shopping for my boyfriend's birthday present.

I hate shopping for males. Don't get me wrong, I like giving presents.

But even after years of birthdays and Christmases knowing what to buy him is a nightmare. The problem is, as I'm sure is the case with many couples, he likes practical things and I like sentimental things.

I'm pretty big on birthdays (I have been accused of trying to stretch my birthday into a whole birthday month), whereas he's pretty low key on the whole affair.

He would quite happily accept a chainsaw or a blender for a present. He probably wouldn't even mind if I just gave him a pair of socks and a box of beer.

But I've steadfastly refused to buy him those things, and it's not just the thought of him cutting down half the trees in the garden stopping me. I like presents to actually mean something. What is the point in buying someone something they could just go out and buy themselves?

Presents can be a minefield for relationships. I have a friend who gave her man the wrong type of cologne for Christmas and he broke up with her. On Christmas morning!

Just to compound issues, I'm also a bit of a perfectionist. Every year, I want each present to be the best present I've ever given.
And I've tried my hardest over the years: tickets to his favourite band, weekends away, the latest Xbox game - which I even dutifully watched him play for an entire day.

One year I even gave him a ukulele (he has five guitars but I thought he might enjoy a mini one), which seemed like a good idea until I discovered ukulele music is actually incredibly annoying.

But this year, I ran out of steam.

I broke my rules and gave into pragmatism. He received some new bindings for his snowboard. It didn't really seem that exciting to me, but I did enjoy the added bonus of going for a skiing weekend to try them out.And, guess what? His reaction to the practical present was just as, if not more, excited as it has been over something I've put months into thinking about. 

But, I couldn't resist being a bit unpredictable. I also threw something a bit quirky into the mix. Later in the month, we'll be attending a murder mystery dinner theatre evening - complete with a haunted tram ride, themed meal and a live cast of murder suspects.

He looked amused when I pulled that one out of the bag. Old habits die hard I guess.