My current DH and I have agreed from the first year together to not try to buy. We get what we want, when we want (if money allows). My late DH would NOT buy me the big mixer I wanted -- would NOT buy me appliance (and controlled the purse strings). He would buy me jewelry that was expensive. After he died, the first Christmas my children went together and got me that mixer that I'd wanted for years. :) The jewelry has been given to my kids because living in the country, I don't wear jewelry! --- the mixer is still being used --- and every time I get it out, I remember the love from my children.
Another story -- my dear father never knew what to buy. One year he bought my mother a fishing pole.....she likes to fish, but didn't think that was "good" enough. So on his birthday, she bought him a coat --- a nice velore that she wore to parties :). Years later, he died, she remarried. Her current DH buys her jewelry --- she has commented that all it does is sit in the jewelry box.......yip -- he won't fish, boy does she wish he'd give her a fishing pole.