My favourites are some spectacularly inappropriate presents bought by husbands for wives such as rape alarms,a dog basket, deep fat fryer, earrings for a wife of many years who had never had pierced ears, and the clever husband who had checked his wife's bra drawer before buying her a bra, but failed to notice that he had checked one of her maternity bras!

As Telegraph writer Jasper Gerard notes “women spend more time thinking about what men are thinking about than men spend thinking at all” but are no better than men when it comes to the present stakes.

It all sounds rather desperate...but not so if you are a canny user of Whatidlove, the online gift wish list website. It is so simple to set up a wish list for Valentine's Day or for any occasion, and put anything from anywhere on it. Then all you have to do is let your nearest and dearest know the list number, and they can buy gifts for you from your list.

Customers who have discovered whatidlove have been very generous in their praise of the simplicity of the site, and how useful it has been in their gift buying. The contributions facility makes it easy for people to list more expensive items, such as those a Jimmy Choos you always wanted, and for friends and family to make contributions towards something you really want.

How perfect is that! No raiding of underwear drawers required to buy your loved one a gift that will make them happy and set the scene for a day of romance.

Nicola Ellison, an SEO and Online Marketing specialist. Based in Bristol, UK.