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My friend's birthday is this weekend. I met her about a year ago and she's already promised me she's going to give me something for my birthday next month. I would like to give her something meaningful & useful but I'm really new to this gift-giving stuff 
She's a single mom with a 4-year-old son. She works long hours to support herself and her son. I would like to get her something related to this fact. However, having no kids myself nor really any experience with them, I'm not exactly sure what kind of gift would help out raising a kid. So basically I'm asking what kind of gift ideas would be good for a single mom?
   
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Get her a cool coffee mug with a coffee gift card and some nice smelling shit thrown inside. Single mom's are usually very busy and treasure their "Me" time. Give her a gift that she can use to relax and as a bonus every time she uses the gift she's thinking of you.
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Expanding on that, one of those insta-boil kettles are awesome. Instead of waiting 5 minutes for a cup of tea / coffee she waits 3 seconds ^_^
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On November 14 2013 15:05 Capped wrote: Expanding on that, one of those insta-boil kettles are awesome. Instead of waiting 5 minutes for a cup of tea / coffee she waits 3 seconds ^_^ How does this work? It takes 68KJ (250 * 4.2 * (90 - 25)) to heat a mere cup of water to 90C, which means that you'd have a power draw of 23KW, or over 10x that of a conventional kettle, to heat the water in three seconds. Most wall sockets are fused at 16A here in australia at 240V, which means you can only draw under 4KW of power (this is also shared between a few wall sockets. 30 seconds would be doable for a single cup though.
How do these work? I'm genuinely curious as I haven't heard of them before and was searching on ebay for one to no avail, before I calculated that it was completely improbable.
edit: seems like you should only draw 2.4KW out of a wall socket here lol.
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On November 14 2013 16:22 Rollin wrote:Show nested quote +On November 14 2013 15:05 Capped wrote: Expanding on that, one of those insta-boil kettles are awesome. Instead of waiting 5 minutes for a cup of tea / coffee she waits 3 seconds ^_^ How does this work? It takes 68KJ (250 * 4.2 * (90 - 25)) to heat a mere cup of water to 90C, which means that you'd have a power draw of 23KW, or over 10x that of a conventional kettle, to heat the water in three seconds. Most wall sockets are fused at 16A here in australia at 240V, which means you can only draw under 4KW of power (this is also shared between a few wall sockets. 30 seconds would be doable for a single cup though. How do these work? I'm genuinely curious as I haven't heard of them before and was searching on ebay for one to no avail, before I calculated that it was completely improbable. edit: seems like you should only draw 2.4KW out of a wall socket here lol.
Magic...
its also like 2 minutes though
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On November 14 2013 16:43 MysteryMeat1 wrote:Show nested quote +On November 14 2013 16:22 Rollin wrote:On November 14 2013 15:05 Capped wrote: Expanding on that, one of those insta-boil kettles are awesome. Instead of waiting 5 minutes for a cup of tea / coffee she waits 3 seconds ^_^ How does this work? It takes 68KJ (250 * 4.2 * (90 - 25)) to heat a mere cup of water to 90C, which means that you'd have a power draw of 23KW, or over 10x that of a conventional kettle, to heat the water in three seconds. Most wall sockets are fused at 16A here in australia at 240V, which means you can only draw under 4KW of power (this is also shared between a few wall sockets. 30 seconds would be doable for a single cup though. How do these work? I'm genuinely curious as I haven't heard of them before and was searching on ebay for one to no avail, before I calculated that it was completely improbable. edit: seems like you should only draw 2.4KW out of a wall socket here lol. Magic... its also like 2 minutes though
I dont know how it works. They do exist though, they're very fast, maybe not 3 seconds but closer to a minute then 5. I always assumed it was something to do with storing energy for bursts and bigger, faster heating elements.
Heres the thing ive used: http://www.tefal.co.uk/All Products/Breakfast/Hot Water On Demand/Products/Quick Cup Deluxe Black/Quick Cup Deluxe Black.htm
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I started giving small gifts to my female friends. Just buy her like 5 presents in total, consisting of stuff like:
- Some candy - A candle in a fancy color - A gift card (like 5 or 10 euro's) to a perfume store or anywhere where you can buy some random stuff - A nice card on which you say "happy birthday" - Some random thing you think is funny and fits her personality (Like pink socks, or something funny for her kid that's really cheap)
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On November 14 2013 16:43 MysteryMeat1 wrote:Show nested quote +On November 14 2013 16:22 Rollin wrote:On November 14 2013 15:05 Capped wrote: Expanding on that, one of those insta-boil kettles are awesome. Instead of waiting 5 minutes for a cup of tea / coffee she waits 3 seconds ^_^ How does this work? It takes 68KJ (250 * 4.2 * (90 - 25)) to heat a mere cup of water to 90C, which means that you'd have a power draw of 23KW, or over 10x that of a conventional kettle, to heat the water in three seconds. Most wall sockets are fused at 16A here in australia at 240V, which means you can only draw under 4KW of power (this is also shared between a few wall sockets. 30 seconds would be doable for a single cup though. How do these work? I'm genuinely curious as I haven't heard of them before and was searching on ebay for one to no avail, before I calculated that it was completely improbable. edit: seems like you should only draw 2.4KW out of a wall socket here lol. Magic... its also like 2 minutes though
I dunno, because my kettle takes about a minute to boil a bit over a cup of water, and it's just a standard (cheap) electric kettle.
@capped Ahh that looks like an instant hot water system idea (keep the water hot rather than boil when needed).
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Electric kettles take a couple of minutes to boil water. They have big, high resistance heating elements and if they're well made, they don't lose a lot of heat through the sides so most of the energy goes directly into heating the water. I think the electric kettle, a mug, and tea/coffee would make a nice gift set. Depending on your budget, other ideas would be a gift card for a massage, a mini spa, or a nail salon. Even better if you can arrange time where someone else is watching her kids so she can go enjoy the gift alone. You can buy nice "at home" spa sets (nice ones, like philosophy brand, not a walmart set) that would pair nicely with a bottle of good wine and/or fancy chocolates. My advice would be to think of things she likes, and get something aimed at her. As a single mom who works long hours, she probably very rarely does anything for her or purchases anything she wants just for herself.
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sign her up for a dating site
no way she could be offended by that haha
but seriously dont do that
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Make her a coupon for you taking care of her spawn for a Saturday and add some massage or spa shit she can enjoy that day.
Just a nice and tidy "day-off" coupon. If she works that hard AND has a kid, I'm sure she'll appreciate it.
Make sure not to lose the kid though, and if you absolutely have to leave it in a car for several hours, leave one of the windows a crack open.
If the little dude is having a laugh, maybe she'll see what a great substitute father you'd be and you can fill the (her) gap until she finds someone better. Win-win-win-win situation.
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On November 14 2013 21:08 Ideal26 wrote: Electric kettles take a couple of minutes to boil water. They have big, high resistance heating elements and if they're well made, they don't lose a lot of heat through the sides so most of the energy goes directly into heating the water. They actually have very low resistance heating elements, that way they don't need a big expensive (and potentially inefficient) transformer to get the same power output, as power is V^2/R.
I feel bad for derailing, but I love to educate!
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Bisutopia19157 Posts
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Coffee-related things are usually nice. A friend of mine told me his standard present is a scarf. Not sure where you live but women loooove teh scarf here. I also like to give bottles of wine. Normal people love their wine, and even if they don't, it's always good to have.
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On November 14 2013 16:22 Rollin wrote:Show nested quote +On November 14 2013 15:05 Capped wrote: Expanding on that, one of those insta-boil kettles are awesome. Instead of waiting 5 minutes for a cup of tea / coffee she waits 3 seconds ^_^ How does this work? It takes 68KJ (250 * 4.2 * (90 - 25)) to heat a mere cup of water to 90C, which means that you'd have a power draw of 23KW, or over 10x that of a conventional kettle, to heat the water in three seconds. Most wall sockets are fused at 16A here in australia at 240V, which means you can only draw under 4KW of power (this is also shared between a few wall sockets. 30 seconds would be doable for a single cup though. How do these work? I'm genuinely curious as I haven't heard of them before and was searching on ebay for one to no avail, before I calculated that it was completely improbable. edit: seems like you should only draw 2.4KW out of a wall socket here lol. Same way showers can produce hot water on demand... The water is already heated. With instant boiled water taps, it's just water that's kept a little below boiling. It's a shameful waste of energy to keep it heated all day just for convenience, but that's what it is. Hot water for your shower is a little less shameful since it's very well insulated, but I doubt a special kettle would retain much heat.
Coffee gifts kind of suck. That's what you get when you volunteer somewhere and they're like 'well I don't know have this thing.'
Get her a stuffed dragon or something for her daughter and her a thing that she would like based on things she's told you she likes in the last year lol. The best gifts are things we wouldn't just buy for ourselves, but that we actually kinda want. Coffee is something we can buy for ourselves, so it's a shitty gift. Maybe a really fancy coffee would be ok.
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I don't know how much you’re willing to pay, but most mothers would really appreciate a day off. So you can volunteer yourself to babysit or hire a babysitter. For her day off you can then get her a day spa ticket. Nice and relaxing, she would be very grateful.
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You have got to be kidding me.
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On November 15 2013 01:12 Djzapz wrote: Coffee-related things are usually nice. A friend of mine told me his standard present is a scarf. Not sure where you live but women loooove teh scarf here. I also like to give bottles of wine. Normal people love their wine, and even if they don't, it's always good to have.
+1 Scarf. Not too expensive, soft, and a woman seems to always need scarves.
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Bisutopia19157 Posts
On November 15 2013 06:10 ZeaL. wrote:Show nested quote +On November 15 2013 01:12 Djzapz wrote: Coffee-related things are usually nice. A friend of mine told me his standard present is a scarf. Not sure where you live but women loooove teh scarf here. I also like to give bottles of wine. Normal people love their wine, and even if they don't, it's always good to have. +1 Scarf. Not too expensive, soft, and a woman seems to always need scarves. Not if you live in Florida. Scarves don't keep beach sand of you. xD
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a roomba or those instant coffee making machines that make you use small satchels which look really hipster.
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