Gift Cards The Perfect Clothing Gift

While other articles in this series have been about gifts to buy for men, what I, as a man, really appreciate when it comes to gifts of clothing is not so much the clothes themselves but the fact that my wife has made the decision for me.

I don't mind making decisions and make them every day at work and at home. Shopping is also no problem so long as the shopping involves something practical like books, computer equipment, camera equipment, etc.

Clothes, however, are another matter. It is one thing to spot something that looks great and even fits once I have gone through the process of trying on two or three different sizes. But frequently what looks good in the store turns out not to go with anything else in my closet.

Over the years I have sort of managed to match up combinations of existing clothes for work but still have problems figuring out what to wear for more casual occasions.  My work matches are generally a semi-fixed set of tried and true combinations.  It is usually my wife, not me, who figures out new combinations for me.
As for sizes, especially pant sizes, I still remember my Goldilocks and the Three Bears experience when, as a senior in high school, I went shopping for a pair of dress slacks and tried on three different pairs in three different stores trying to figure out which pair I liked best.  The problem was I discovered that, while the numbers representing the size for each pair of slacks were close, the number that fit in one store was either a little too big or a little too small in the other two stores.  Ever since, I have always considered sizes on clothes, especially pants and slacks, to be more like random numbers than a precise measurement.  Of course my wife can go to the store alone, and pick out clothes for me, including slacks, that not only go well with the rest of my wardrobe but fit perfectly as well.
While my children are good at selecting and choosing their own clothes, they know that they won't get any useful information from me when they ask me what type of gift I want for some occasion and I respond by suggesting some new clothes.  When pressed for specifics my reply is usually something like - something that looks good.  This lack of precision generally results in a gift card.  
For me, at least, a gift card for clothes is really a perfect gift as, whenever I receive a gift card as a gift, my wife and I embark on a shopping trip together.  We not only get to spend a morning or afternoon together, but I get some nice new clothes without having to make any decisions while she gets to engage in her favorite pastime - shopping.