Hm ... I think I tend to get most excited about cool gadgets and electronics, though flowers, jewelry, and all those things you mentioned are nice, too, but I think they need to be given more sparingly to really be appreciated.

As for things like romantic vacations and dinners, I think those are best planned together rather than "gifts" ... I mean, I'm sure a surprise, if planned well, could be nice, but in general, it will probably work out better to do that sort of thing together, especially when the funds are coming from a joint account! When we go out somewhere, I always think of it as us "going out", not me being "taken out". I've always thought that phrasing is a bit odd ... doesn't come naturally to me.

Time and effort can be great gifts, too. My birthday was just a couple of weeks before our wedding, and I was so busy and stressed, and I still needed to get some camera accessories (extra battery and memory cards) for the honeymoon. So that was my birthday present from my husband-to-be. Even though it wasn't a surprise or exciting, it was the right gift, because what I needed at the time was not excitement, but the ability to cross things off my list!