a gift idea for my wifes birthday?

You only have a short time to get this together but with help you could pull it off. Get her the gift card for a place she likes to get make up. Make 30 cup cakes follow link. or Make a cake with a make up theme. (get help if needed) If there is anything she wanted done that you have been putting off do it or give a coupon to have it done in x amount of time from the time it is submitted. Invite others to celebrate ask everyone to bring a dish and bring their makeup for a makeup birthday party. Even the guys. Make it fun. They can be whatever. Use decorations to make makeup props you can purchase from the dollar store. Make her a CD of songs that she *likes* and the two of you shared together over the years. Collect pictures of her growing up and of major moments and of the two of you together with kids as they came along. Put it into a DVD or album or picture screen. Tell her how much she means to you like you have done to us.

edit *likes*

edit 2: If there are a lot of people do the 30 cup cakes around another cake. Guys could be like Kiss, Alice Cooper etc. Make it fun for everyone.

Make a birthday treasure hunt. Buy her 4-6 small gifts within your price range. Gifts could be jewelry, spa gift cards, her favorite perfume, homemade coupons for a mommy's day off, massage, etc.. You could also include movie tickets, putt putt tickets, etc. A cute idea to get your 2 year old involved. If you have a digital camera, take pictures of your child holding an item in the house. That picture will be the clue for your wife to get to the next gift. Maybe you can hide a small pair of earrings in the silverware drawer. The picture of your daughter might be her holding a fork. Maybe you could hide a love poem, chocolates, and teddy bear in the bathroom. For the picture, you could wrap your 2 year old up in toilet paper. etc etc. Your wife will be so tickled by the "activity" and thoughtfulness of the gift that the actual items will just be cherries on top. Women are suckers for thoughtfulness.

If she's really big into cosmetics, she may appreciate a makeup tool. A great gift idea for makeup lovers is cues (clean under eye shields). It's a small shield that you apply with a drop of water after you apply your foundation. Mascara smudges and excess eye shadow will get on the shield, not on your skin. The shield just peels off & leaves your foundation in place, so no clean-up is needed. Eyeshadow fallout is a common problem during makeup application that can be a pain to clean up. It could save her time on her makeup routine. Check out the website below for more info.

I'm not a woman, but I'm a gay guy so we usually find it easy to answer questions about some things traditionally thought of as only appealing to women.

How about getting her some makeup from Bare Minerals which supposedly doesn't have questionable toxic ingredients in it? Or a good make-up brush set, if she doesn't already have one. Good skin care sets are always good too. I love 'em. I use Aveda skin care

you could give her a gift Card to Ulta, or an even better idea write her a love letter telling her what you love & admire about her and what a difference she makes to your life and the lives of others she will aprecaite the Sentiment . you can also write down your memories of your first date first kiss etc... along with that she is beautiful to you flas and all........