Gifts for the Woman Who Has Everything, Including a Bathtub

Before her birthday, Royal's wife said, "just in conversation and out of the blue", that "I really need to get me a bath pillow". Bob's wife "had been wanting something just like the full body bath pillow." Paul's partner "owns every bath product", so there "were no more bubbles or smellies I could buy", and he bought her the pillow for Christmas instead. Royal's answer came before the birthday. Bob's wife had been saying hers for a while. Paul's came from the shelf: nothing left to buy there. A woman who has everything will still name the thing she hasn't got, usually in passing and not when you ask. One commenter in a thread about a wife who buys whatever she wants keeps a note on their phone of everything their partner mentions liking, and at Christmas buys whatever is still unbought.

If you missed yours, here is what other givers did.

If she takes baths

1. The Bathtub Pillow

Chelsea's wife "doesn't bathe without it." Daniel: "Just what the wife wanted!" The Bathtub Pillow is a square of mesh roughly the footprint of a laptop, under four inches thick at the roll where her neck goes, with nothing inside it to hold water, so it washes like a towel and hangs up by its loop. Seven cups on the back are the whole risk: they grip a smooth tub wall and nothing else, so a stone or textured wall is a no, and the first time, somebody has to wet the wall and press every cup down before the tub fills. Nancy's daughter "said it slipped around and felt itchy", so Nancy gave her the tray to go with it, "and she loves that!" It comes in a black holdall bag, not a gift box, so wrap it.

2. The Full Body Bath Pillow

Only for a long, deep tub. The Full Body Bath Pillow is four feet of the same mesh with 17 cups, and Tracey's sister found that "more water is needed in the bath than usual." Matthew's wife "didn't like it cause the bottom tries to float up. She preferred just the pillow." Edward's wife "enjoys it", but he wished "they used better suction cups". If you don't know how deep her tub is, number 1 is the safer buy.

3. The Bamboo Bathtub Tray

Suzanne bought the Bamboo Bathtub Tray for her daughter to use when she visits, and posted her daughter's review inside her own: "I've had one of these before, but this is 1,000x nicer." Pulled out, it spans a tub up to about 41 inches across; pushed in, just under 30. A rest tilts a book or a tablet, there's a slot for a glass and a loose dish for the soap, and it folds to go under the sink. Susan: "the cloth bookrest/wire is a bit short & doesn't look the sturdiest. I would be careful with large books." A tub with a glass enclosure can defeat it: for one buyer, at its narrowest it was "too wide to fit between the wall and enclosure", and it only fit with the door open. Ben's wife got a splinter from "a corner on the hinged side", and Dawn's was "Broken right out of the box", so check the hinged edge when it arrives, not on the morning. In 2024 John paid the return shipping himself on an unopened tray; the return policy now comes with a prepaid label. The box it comes in is printed with bamboo leaves and does for wrapping.

4. The tray and the pillow together

Mary's daughter-in-law "was tickled pink to receive this!" Jacqueline's kids "waited a long time to build their perfect master bath", and for the tub in it, "This tray and pillow were just what she needed". Sold as the Bath Tray and Bath Pillow, they arrive as two packages inside one carton, the tray's printed box and the pillow's bag. On Alex's, a 32-ounce tumbler full of water "was too much for the glue joint outside of the hinges to bear", so tell her that before she loads it. If she has either half, buy the other on its own.

5. The Luxurious Bath Lover's Set

Alessandro: "My wife loves her bath lovers gift set". It is the pillow and the tray with a Palo Santo candle and three jars of bath salts, lavender, sage and rose, in Mediterranean Dead Sea salt. The candle and the salts travel in our printed gift box and the tray and pillow in their own packaging, all inside one carton, and an Etsy buyer whose set was a gift this spring wrote that the contents "are fine, but they arrived as 3 separate beat up boxes in the shipping box". Michael's tray, in February: "The bottom part of the wood isn't finished, not even sanded." If she already owns the pillow or the tray, the salts and the candle are sold on their own.

6. Serenity Now

Serenity Now is four bath bombs, eucalyptus, lavender, lemongrass and rose, and three small jars of the salts, in the gift box. Kirsten, in December: "I wish the bath bomb/salt set had a stronger scent." So, for the woman who finds most scents too much, that is a point in its favor.

If she doesn't

7. The eucalyptus shower spray

Someone who got the Refreshing Breeze spray for their wife wrote that "it is very good", then the con: "Not very reasonably priced for just a spray", though reasonable "in the long run" if it lasts the 150 showers "as claimed by the manufacturer". Jessica said she'd be returning hers over "the alcohol smell when you first spray it". A 4-ounce bottle for the shower walls, not the water, and the smell is strong and carried on alcohol; for a bathroom kept scent-free, pass. It comes as a trio with citrus and lavender in the gift box, the Aromatherapy Shower Spray Gift Set.

8. The Mindful Pause deck

Ann bought it as "a gift to an anxious friend." Allyssa: "Super excited to hand these out to my girlfriends!" The Mindful Pause deck is 31 cards on a wooden stand, 3.5 by 5 inches, a line on the front and a 30-second thing to do on the back, in its own gift box. Haley "didn't love the cards marketing other products throughout the deck"; Anna leaves those cards out when she uses the deck with groups. They're both right, and the rest of the deck is the rest of the deck. If she rolls her eyes at affirmations, skip it. If you don't know what they are, our page on them shows sixty. Tara's "took longer to arrive than expected", so order it early.

9. The Lavender Chamomile candle

Donna, in October: "It's not overpowering and is wonderfully subtle", and "A bit pricey but if I get close to 45 hours of candle burn it's worth it in my opinion". The Lavender Chamomile candle is seven ounces of coconut and soy wax in an amber jar with a brass lid, about 45 hours of burning, three hours at a time. It needs no tub, no wall and no measuring. If she's ever said lavender isn't for her, believe her.

Before you send one of ours

If it has to be a surprise, have it sent to you: Nathan's pillow "WAS going to be a Christmas present for my wife but the obvious packaging it came in to our door was NO surprise." If it's going straight to her, mark it as a gift at checkout, which gets her a free message, a packing slip with no prices, and the right to return it herself for a gift credit. For Christmas, order by Friday, December 11 (US addresses only); anything bought in November or December can come back until January 31 with a prepaid label, and the return policy has the rest.

From the other side of the gift

The receiver in a September thread about a cozy person who has everything put it plainly: "I have my own robe, plenty of blankets, don't like coffee or tea, won't do a pedicure or massage, and most of the other ideas are just extra stuff that would be regifted."

10. Dinner, the dishes, the trash and the counters

For the wife who buys whatever she wants, one answer was "A night with her feet up while you take care of dinner, candle lights, dishes, trash, counters. Add wine and music." The answer above it was that a gift is more special because it came from you. Lower down: "A night in a hotel room by herself".

11. A freezer of meals, if she's looking after someone

In a thread about a mother-in-law caring for her own mother, the answer with the most votes came from someone whose grandfather had just died: what helped was "people sending us proper home cooked food every so often so we didn't have to plan meals around caring. My best friend portioned it so it could be frozen and reheated quickly." Another commenter in the same thread: the problem "isn't that I don't have ideas or materials to care for myself. It's that I don't have TIME." If she's caring for a parent, this beats anything above.

12. An hour of massage, booked

Same thread: "My default is a voucher for an hour of massage. Everyone appreciates that so much and so few people are willing to do that for themselves." Book the hour yourself rather than handing over a voucher, and check first: the receiver quoted above "won't do a pedicure or massage".

13. Good tea, with or without the cup

For the cozy woman who has everything, one commenter's idea: "Go to a fancy tea shop and choose some cozy teas for Fall. Maybe include a fancy mug or teacup?" A 60-year-old in the other cozy thread agrees on the tea and vetoes the cup: "no mug needed, she will have plenty". The same 60-year-old hates most cozy gifts because they are "duplicative of nicer ones I already own", and the receiver above doesn't drink tea at all, so this one needs the same check as the massage.

14. An evening with her grown kids

Someone in that thread with grown kids: "I don't want or need gifts. I love nothing more than hanging out with my adult kids. Take her to a nice restaurant for dinner or lunch." If you're the grown kid, book the table.

If she hasn't said anything, and she has a tub, send the pillow. It's the one a wife asked for out loud, and the one Paul bought when there was nothing else left to buy. Eleni's never stuck, and she called it "the worst Christmas present I bought for someone.. I am completely embarrassed.." So check that her tub wall is smooth, have it delivered to you, and press the cups on for her the first time.