Brrrrr. In this cold weather, at least someone has some warm thoughts. Carrie writes us this simple question from somewhere in SoHo: “When’s the right time to give a gift in a relationship?”

There’s never really a wrong time to give a gift, but there are many wrong gifts that one could give. So you need to analyze where you are in the relationship before determining the proper present, and keep in mind that thoughtfulness always trumps costliness. If you haven’t even kissed your sweetheart yet, for example, an expensive or personal gift could be interpreted the wrong way and really creep out the recipient.

So let’s talk about some examples of appropriate gifts depending on the particular stage of a relationship.

If you’re hoping to snare someone in early, a small and inexpensive gift can pay huge dividends in the long term. Let’s say, on your first date, the two of you talked a lot about music, in particular, new local bands. So the next time you see him, burn him a CD of a new band that you talked about that he had never heard of. It’s a simple, thoughtful gift that costs nothing and takes almost no time to make. But now, when he goes home and opens his bag and sees the CD, you’ll be on his mind. When he eventually pops the music into his player, you’ll get another moment on his mind (we discussed the mere exposure effect in our very first AoS). All those moments add up, and only serve to heighten the attraction that you both feel.

For early relationships, we also recommend gifts for those people (and animals) associated with the relationship. Does she have a dog? Why not get the dog a bone? Sorry, folks, bad joke. But seriously, a gift for the dog eliminates any creepiness because, after all, it’s not for her, right? It’s for her dog. Plus, it shows that you’re thinking about the other parts of her life that are important to her.

As you enter more serious stages in a relationship, sometimes, the greatest gift of all is taking the person out to a really nice restaurant that he or she has always wanted to go to. You should always keep a list of such eateries in the back of your mind (or better yet, in MyDatebook), that you can reference when the time is right. Make going to that restaurant a special event by not treating it like any old typical Friday night dinner.

People are usually very picky about what they put on their bodies, so scents, clothing, and jewelry should be saved until you really know the other person and are certain the two of you are in it for the long term.

In closing, some words to the wise:

1) Beware of giving too many gifts too often. Every time you give a gift, you are, in effect, diminishing the special power that comes with giving a gift. So time them out carefully.

2) Give gifts when the person is least expecting it. Think about it. Everyone’s expecting a gift on Feb. 14, so when you give a gift on V-day, it can never be that unique, no matter how much time and effort you put in. But, giving a gift on April 6 will completely take your beau by surprise.

3) Guys, it’s obvious and clichéd, but seriously, chicks dig flowers. It’s in their DNA or something. But don’t use flowers too often, or she’ll start to expect them, and they won’t be nearly as significant as they could potentially be.

Give us some further suggestions of great gift ideas below.