Christmas Gifts for the Farmer’s Wife

What kind of Christmas gifts do farmers buy for their wives? Are some good at buying gifts, do others either get nothing or presume the wife will get her own gift? Do they both buy practical things for the house for Christmas?

My darling husband came in last night with what he said was my Christmas gift – a free diary from our feed company. His excuse was that it cost him ?8,000, the size of the cheque he had just handed over for some feed. I have to admit I am hinting for a mini iPad. I bought a Samsung tablet about 18 months ago and it keeps giving problems with charging. I’ve been sorry since I bought it that I didn’t buy an iPad!

So, what can farmers buy that their wives will be happy with for Christmas? I think wives have to do some homework if they hope to get exactly what they want under the Christmas tree.

There is no point in a farmer going in to buy a ring or even a bracelet and on being asked for the ring size, holding up his little finger and saying it would be about the same as that! Believe me, it happens! My sister used to work for a jewellery shop and every Christmas Eve, the shop would be thronged with farmers all making a beeline for a particular sales assistant, knowing she would be able to tell them exactly what the wife wanted. Of course, the clever wives were the ones who had visited the shop a month before and had already picked out their present and told this sales assistant. So, you need to make friends with the staff of your favourite jewellery, clothing or lingerie shop, pick out your present and tell your husband about the very helpful XXX in such and such a shop and hope he agrees that he needs help. ?Result and everyone is happy!

Some women will love a gift of a cookery course, others will throw a saucepan at you for that gift so make sure that she’d appreciate it rather than thinking you are dropping hints about her cooking.

Do wives appreciate practical gifts? Hmmm, it depends I guess. If the hoover is so poor, she’d be better off with a sweeping brush (and yes, I’ve been there – I kill hoovers!), then a Miele or equivalent might be appreciated. I can’t see too many saying no to a brightly coloured Kitchen Aid but I’d hit my husband over the head if he presented me with a chopping board, no matter how fancy it was. A lot of dairy farmer’s wives do the calf rearing so I guess something like a quad and a portable teat feeder to go behind it might be considered a good present?! New wellies? – I guess they would have to be pretty special. Things like snow tyres or a new calving monitor are seen as necessities, not gifts!

Gifts for hobbies would be popular. If she has started tweeting, a smartphone or iPad is a must! If she likes taking photos, then a new camera or a lens or a photography course sounds a good choice.

If she likes reading and comfort – then either a kindle so she can download her choice of books or a selection of books from the local bookshop. It’s extra helpful if she has circled all her favourite books in the Easons catalogue first of course. For extra comfort and snuggleability when reading, you can’t beat one of these Zwartbles blankets.

It can be impossible to get a farmer away for a holiday or even a night’s break so I think booking a hotel for a couple of nights, arranging a babysitter or grandparents to look after the kids and presenting her with the booking form would be a lovely gift.

And for fun – choose a mug like this one with the message ‘You can’t scare me, I’m a farmer’s wife’! And there’s some fun t-shirts and hoodies on Zazzle too. Just bear in mind these are stocking presents – not the real McCoy!

And of course, every farmer needs to buy a copy of Would You Marry A Farmer? for his loved one. A good laugh and I promise it will make her glad that she married him!

What was the best gift you ever got? And the worst????

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