What's in a name...
It seems apt that the title of our first blog post is taken from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet seeing as though, as cheesy as it sounds, Man Drawer was born from love. If you’ve already read our ABOUT section, then you know the Man Drawer journey started while I was searching for gifts to buy Mr. T. Not just for him, but things that we could both enjoy.
For us it has got to a point in the relationship where we pretty much have what we need and after having a baby our perspective on the material side of life has changed. We have become careful with how our hard earned cash is spent and have had to try and make the money we earn stretch further seeing as though a large proportion of it has started to go on things such as nursery fees, nappies, Kinder Eggs and organic blueberries (anyone else’s child nails a whole packet in one sitting?!). Buying gifts for each other has become a luxury in itself, so if there is a gift we can both use or enjoy it’s a bonus.
As for the name Man Drawer - In every relationship it seems, there is a Man Drawer. My most favoured definition of Man Drawer has got to be from the Urban Dictionary
'A space, normally a drawer, in which all men keep their manly items. Such items include: Tools, Condoms, Porn Mags, Batteries, Keys and Padlocks…. Alternatively, a drawer at a girlfriend’s place where he keeps a few things for when he stays over’.
Google the words Man Drawer and straight away you’ll find Michael MacIntyre’s hilarious sketch where he talks about what the Man Drawer means in his household.
In our household, there are two Man Drawers. Firstly, there is one in the hallway in the console table. This is the drawer where we hide the ugly stuff. Batteries, extensions cables (I don’t know why we never use them), travel adaptors (about 7 of them, because every time we travel we forget to pack it, and we end up having to buy another one at the airport), and randomly the very last edition of the News of the World newspaper. I don’t know where else to put it, and for some reason I’m convinced it might come in handy for a history project one day when my son starts school (ridiculous, as he is only 2). It also contains an ‘I HEART ARSENAL’ flag, a gift I bought my husband which he loves. It was fine to hang this in his ‘bachelor pad’ but not quite in the Victorian terrace we now live in. The other Man Drawer is not actually a drawer as yet. Once we get around to buying furniture for the bedroom, the second man drawer will be my husband’s bedside table. It’s where he places his most treasured items that he uses every day. For now, it’s the mantlepiece in the bedroom. At the end of the day, he places his watch, wallet, cufflinks, wedding ring and annoyingly any receipts he has collected during the day on the mantle ready to pick up again the next morning. Not the receipts of course, he leaves those behind (Grr……..).
For me, the term Man Drawer seems to encompass all the ideas I had for a gifting range. The presence of the Man Drawer in a relationship seems to indicate a certain understanding and togetherness. You’re so settled you have both actually allocated space for the crap in your life and for the very special things you own. You’re no longer arguing about things like the EX, but instead discussing things like “oooo shall we buy a coffee machine for a treat’. You’re thinking of the other half all the time, and even feel pangs of guilt when you buy something only you can use (this excludes the massive Zara delivery you have just hid under the stairs). So, with all these Man Drawers in mind, Man Drawer was born.
We hope you find something that both you and your partner can enjoy from our gifting website. Apart from the Grooming section of course – but ladies – if you do have a use for a beard removal kit then we have one for you…. Although I’d suggest perhaps find a beauty therapist for a teeny tiny bit of advice….
Like our personal purchases, we take time with choosing our suppliers and partners. We love working with like-minded people, products with provenance, and invest in products that are both stylish and timeless. Telling the story behind the product and the companies which make them is important to us, so we’ll be using the blog to share those all-important stories so the value in the products can be seen.
More products will be added as long as our wallet allows it. We already have some new items and ranges planned which will launch over the next few months. If you have any suggestions of what we should include in our collections we’d love to hear from you.
Pretty chuffed about completing my first blog post. It’s been on my ‘To Do’ list for weeks.
Thanks for reading.
Mrs. T x
P.S Originally I had planned to title my first blog piece "Oh na na what's my name' (lyrics from a Rhianna song) but I thought quoting Shakespeare made me sound clever so I went with that instead.
