Background: We are not normally a gift giving family. We get things for each other year round, for no special occasion, usually when we're together, so there are no surprises of unwanted or unusable items, and no needless spending. (something which will never be used.) My DH is a nurse, therefore, most of his co-workers have always been women.
Valentines Day was approaching and the girls were asking DH what he was getting for me. They wouldn't accept the nothing answer, and pressured him to think about something I really wanted. He had to mail order it, so had it shipped to one of them, but didn't tell what it was. When it arrived, he opened the box to inspect the contents. The girls were apparently shocked and dismayed that he would get such a thing for a romantic occasion. He made a lot of jokes about how the gift would be used, how we'd use it in dark places together, and told them that I would love it. I did love it, and still use it.
The gift was 600 feet of caving rope. To that point, the longest rope I had was 300 feet which I had won as a door prize. There were several deep pits that I wanted to rappel, but didn't have enough rope to make the drops. Off to the dark we go, to drop the pits far below. Now that gift was unusual in that we didn't normally give gifts. For my point of view, it was romantic. His co-workers thought he was nuts.