Sentimental Gifts for Your Girlfriend

The most sentimental gift you can give a girlfriend is proof that you were listening. The bookshop she mentioned once, the grandmother she talks about, the laugh you would know anywhere. These 12 sentimental gifts for your girlfriend are built from details like that, and most of them cost less than a dinner out. Our top pick is a love song about her, because it gathers all those details into one thing she can keep.

Play a real Songbond love song

This one was made for another family. Yours would carry her name and your stories.

12 sentimental gift ideas for your girlfriend

1. A love song about her ($39.90). Share how you met, her nickname and the way she says your name, and Songbond turns it into an original song within 24 hours.
2. A print of her laugh. Record her laughing, then have the sound wave printed as art with the date underneath. Usually $30 to $80.
3. A day shooting film together. Two disposable cameras, a walk around your favorite places, and an album for the prints once they come back. Usually $30 to $60.
4. A charm bracelet of your places. One charm for each city or spot you have been together, with room to add more. Usually $60 to $200.
5. A sky map of the night you said I love you. The stars over your town that night, printed with the date and place. Usually $40 to $80.
6. A day trip to a place she mentioned once. The lake, the bookshop, the town from her childhood summers. The gift is that you remembered.
7. Her handwriting, engraved. Take a note she once left you, even a sticky note, and have her own words engraved on a bracelet or keyring. Usually $60 to $150.
8. A photo of her with someone she loves, framed. Her grandmother, her sister, her oldest friend. Ask her family for a photo she has never seen, and frame it for her desk or bedside. Usually $20 to $50.
9. A pottery class she picked. Ask what she has always wanted to try, then book it for two. Usually $80 to $200.
10. A special edition of her favorite book. Write a short note inside the cover about why the book reminds you of her. Usually $40 to $150.
11. The receipt from your first date, framed. If you kept it, frame it next to a photo from that night. Free to $30.
12. Her coffee order every Friday for a month. Delivered to her desk or her door, with a new note each time. Usually $30 to $60.

How to choose for your girlfriend

Look back at the last month of conversations. The right gift is usually hiding in something she said and has since forgotten. Then think about how she spends a free Saturday. Someone who plans every weekend will love an outing, and someone who stays in will love a thing she can keep close.

• If she is close to her family: the framed photo, the song or the special edition book.
• If she loves adventures: the film day, the day trip or the pottery class.
• If she keeps every ticket and note: the framed receipt, the sky map or the charm bracelet.

Start a list today

Most people struggle with sentimental gifts because they try to think of one on the spot. Start a note on your phone today. Every time she mentions a place, a food, a person or a memory, write it down with the date. In a month you will have more ideas than you need, and every one of them will belong to her. The same list makes a far better song, too. Small details like the nickname her dad uses or the way she orders her coffee are what make a song sound like one person.

Make her a love song

Create a love song for your girlfriend from the details you have been collecting. It is ready within 24 hours, and express delivery gets it to you in about an hour.

Also in the Journal: songs about the day we met and just-because love song ideas.