Gift Guide- Why Not Ask Her Friends?

It's now just 5 weeks to Christmas and let's face it, there's always at least one person on our gift buying list who we struggle to come up with ideas for every year. I find that if you don't know someone very well or don't get to spend a lot of time with them, it's much more difficult to come up with gift ideas for them. Whether it's an aunt, brother, mother-in-law, grandmother, father or sister sometimes we just need some inspiration instead of getting them the same boring present we get them every year.

So when I heard about Ask Her Friends, a site that helps you to find the perfect gift for the women in your life I was intrigued to see if it would actually help to give me gift ideas. Ask Her Friends was founded by a man who once bought his ex-girlfriend a worm farm and I don't think he is the only one guilty of giving bad presents.

I decided to try out the Idea Map with the answers relating to my mother and I was actually quite surprised to see the results it gave. There were some really great ideas that I don't think I ever would have thought of including a gorgeous mirror and a magazine subscription. Donnacha also tried it out answering questions about me and found a few things he thought I would really like. You just follow the steps answering questions about the person you are looking to buy a present for and it gives you ideas according to your budget.  

One thing that really struck me about the Idea Map was asking yourself what life changes has the person gone through recently. Have they lost their job or gotten a new job? Have they recently moved house or had a baby or gotten married? It got me thinking outside the box and considering new possibilities. 

You can also search by budget and by category so if you have a general idea of how much you can afford to spend and the kind of present you want, maybe you heard the person say they wanted some new make up or homeware, you can search for ideas under those categories. 

I decided to show you some of my picks from the site for between £5 and £50 since most people have had to cut back on gifts in recent years, this shows the variety of gifts you can find for a small to medium budget.

Maybe you've gotten you mam or sister or girlfriend some perfume and you want to get her some other smaller presents too, then this perfume atomiser is a great present for under £10 because it allows her to dispense the perfume into a more handbag friendly container. 

I just love this chalk photo frame! I would love this as a gift and there are a few people I know would love it too. It's such a great change from an ordinary photo frame. I love giving photos as gifts, it's something I think everyone likes to get. There's lot of other great gift ideas on the Dutch by Design site, especially for anyone who is newly married or has just moved house. 

If you really can't think of anything to buy for someone, why not get them your favourite show on DVD. Something like Breaking Bad, Mad Men or Homeland. Great shows that they can watch through on a DVD box-set over Christmas. I really want to see the recent BBC drama series The Hour. Amazon have some great deals on at the moment and you could get most of your shopping done without even having to step outside into the cold! 

This Retro Sweet Box could be a really great gift for your younger brother or sister (although I'd love it too).  

These next two things would be great for the woman in your life that's make up and skincare obsessed. If you know they love make up but you have no idea where to start. This Nails Inc minis set is great because you have lots of different colours so you don't have to choose the colour, they get to decide themselves!

Like with the Nail polishes, this GlossyBox subscription is perfect for when you know what the person's interests are but you haven't a clue about those interests yourself. This is the more modern version of a magazine subscription and let's them try out loads of new products each month. I can't think of any woman who wouldn't love to receive this present. 

There is also a great blog on the site which discusses gift ideas and new online shops that you may not have heard of as well as a James Bond themed gift guide and a giveaway. One of my favourite parts of the site however is a section where women have shared stories of the best and worst presents they have received. This is a really great place to get ideas of what she'll like and what she really won't like! It's definitely worth a read if you're looking for good advice from real women, there are some really great ideas if you have a read through them.

What do you think? Would you try out this site or one like it? All we need now is a site like this for the men in our lives!

Check out the AskHerFriends Facebook Page for more regular updates.

Emma x

***Disclaimer- I was compensated for writing this post, however all opinions are honest and my own. It's a great site!