Men are notoriously hard to please when it comes to gifts. One hardly ever gets any emotion out of them. You'll be lucky if you get a rather curt "thank you." You can change all that, however, with cool guy gifts. These are guaranteed to send any man into raptures any time. They just can't get enough of guy stuff. All it takes is knowing the special man in your life, be it your father, brother, husband, or boyfriend, and knowing exactly what makes him tick.

The most obvious cool guy gifts are electronic gadgets. These are more than travel alarm clocks, mind you. These gadgets are the so-called "toys for the big boys", and these are guaranteed to have them salivating, let alone be in your service for a long, long time.

No matter what age or background, men can never say no to the latest gadgetry that the technical world has to offer. Consider game consoles such as the PS3 or the Wii, portable music and video players such as the iPod and Zune, and mobile phones and hand-held PDAs such as the iPhone.

If gadgets are too pricey for you, you can opt for collectibles. Now, these are very cool guy gifts. Of course, it has to be something that he is collecting such as Zippo lighters or DVDs. Take a bit of time to do a bit of covert research in order to find out what's missing in his collection or what he really wants to add to it. You don't want to end up giving him the limited edition Blu-ray disc of Close Encounters of the Third Kind only to find out later that he already has one. It ruins the impact of your very well thought-of gift.

Men often prefer function over style, so it's no surprise that they would view the items that they really need as cool guy gifts. Of course, this doesn't mean you should give him a bottle of deodorant or shoe polish. You have to be a bit more imaginative than that.

For example, you can determine that the man needs a new tie for formal occassions, or maybe a new magnetic money clip to replace his old and rather battered wallet. Men would be too dense to think about such things to actually take the time to shop for them, but they would be quite impressed that you anticipated their need, making them realize how much better their life really is with such an item. They will surely appreciate your foresight and won't be able to thank you enough.

So you see, cool guy gifts aren't so difficult to come by. All it takes is a little bit of imagination and familiarity to come up with ideas. A little research won't hurt, as well. Of course, don't forget to stick to your budget because at the end of the day, all it really comes down to is the fact that it's the thought that really counts most.