How to: Spoil a gamer for his birthday

Today is my partner’s birthday, so I felt it was the perfect time to share a few things that you can do to make a gamer’s special day an extra special day.

1. Get creative with your baking

As far as creativity goes, this really takes the cake.
(Image Source: Life in a Day)

This cake is not a lie. Why have a regular birthday cake when you could have an awesome cake like this? This is a great example of what you can achieve when you think outside the *ahem* cube. There’s plenty more game-inspired cakes here.

2. Find some geeky gifts

New games. If they have any newly released games on their wish list, that will always get you massive brownie points (but try to first check that they haven’t gone and bought/pre-ordered it themselves in the excitement of it all!)
Razer – Gaming gear. The proper stuff. I’ve previously expressed my love for Razer, and I recently bought my partner a fancy mouse mat to complete his collection.
J!NX – Very cool officially licensed video game apparel. They have LoL, Diablo, WoW and more.
Random novelty gifts. There are also those handy sites like ThinkGeek and X-treme Geek that have a nice range of stuff to choose from. I mean, everybody could do with a lightsaber umbrella, right?
He will be a true eVADER of the rain!
(Image Source: ThinkGeek)

3. Try for something a little more crafty

If you’re feeling game, you could try hand-making a gift. An adorable Protosh plushie? A super sexy knitted Super Mario vest? It’s fun and much more rewarding to be able to put some extra love and elbow grease into a gift. I put a good month’s effort into making the Mario chess set for my partner, and although there were brief moments that I felt I was being a bit too ambitious with my project and wanted to give up, I was pretty darn proud of myself once it was finished and my partner really loved it too :) A Gamer’s Wife shares a lot of fun geeky craft ideas – definitely worth a look if you’re looking for some inspiration.

4. Don’t forget to factor in some gaming time

This is actually an important one to note. Being the ridiculously sweet and thoughtful partners that we are, we may be tempted to pack his birthday full of all kinds of surprises. Now, I’m not saying that this is a bad thing (really, my kudos go to all those amazing Partners of Gamers out there), but frankly, it’s a gift with a high return-on-investment. He gets to spend some time relaxing, while partaking in one of his favourite hobbies, with his friends, WITH YOUR BLESSING. You have a happy partner, you get some time to yourself too and it has cost you nothing. Call me silly, but I think it’s important :) As I type this post, my partner is happily gaming away.

Anywho.. good luck, have fun, and be sure to share any stories or tips that you may have!

p.s. Shout out to my gorgeous Birthday Boy <3

EDIT: In hindsight, there are way too many puns in this post. Apologies.

My Partner is a Gamer