Women, too, want the gift of power tools! These ideas are for women who love to DIT (Do It Themselves) with their own power tools – or who need to hear “You Go, Girl” in practical ways.

Here’s a quip to write in the card, if you’re buying a power tool for a woman who owns her own home:

“There is something permanent, and something extremely profound, in owning a home.”  ~ Kenny Guinn.

An unavoidable part of owning a home is having to upgrade, renovate, and do basic maintenance around the house –all the time! Those household chores are much easier to DIY if women have the right power tools.

The tools don’t necessarily have to be pink, such as Little Pink Drill pictured, but they do have to be safe and reliable.

Power Tool Gifts for Women Who Do It Themselves

Buying a home as a single woman after my divorce was daunting. As if the prospect of paying a 30-year mortgage by myself wasn’t enough, wondering how I would be able to do routine maintenance and home improvement projects on my own kept me up at night.

Once I realized that my desire to own a home of my own was greater than the fear associated with it, I took the plunge.

Despite my initial worries, after I got the first project or two under my proverbial tool belt, I knew I was well on my way to becoming a “DIY Diva.”  Perhaps you have one or two such women on  your gift list – we watch HGTV or the DIY Network, we’ve got home improvement magazines lining the coffee table, and we’re on a first name basis with the salespeople at Lowe’s and Home Depot.

Power tools make great gifts for new DIYers, mainly because we don’t already have a vast collection of equipment and we generally don’t even know how many different gadgets are available to help us with our home improvement projects.

Here are some gift ideas which are sure to delight (and empower) the women on your gift list…

Power drill

She won’t be drilling for oil, but there’s no end to the number of ways a power drill will make her life easier! The first tool I bought was a power drill. I’ve used it to put together furniture, replace the hardware on kitchen cabinets and drawers, prepare large pieces of artwork for hanging, build garden boxes for my square-foot-garden, install hardware to hang curtains, and much more.

When buying a power drill for a women, pick one of the smaller, lighter-weight varieties, such as Black & Decker Cordless Drill.  A battery-operated drill with a rechargeable battery will give her much more flexibility.  Most come with a standard bit and both a flat and Phillips screwdriver head. For a few extra dollars, add a small collection of drill bits in other sizes so she’ll have sizes on hand for a wide variety of projects.

Electric Hand Sander

It never occurred to me that I might need an electric hand sander, but once I bought one to help repair the walls when I removed the tiles from my kitchen backsplash, I knew I’d find lots of other uses for it.  I’ve used my sander to repair holes and cracks in my walls, particularly after deciding that I’d hung a picture in the wrong place.  I’ve also used it to smooth cut edges and eliminate the risk of splinters in many of my woodworking projects.

When buying an electric hand sander as a gift for a woman, don’t forget to buy a multipack of sandpapers in varying grits and a dust filter to protect her from inhaling the dust as she sands away.

Wet-Dry Vacuum

This handy power tool is a perfect gift for women who need to do any type of home improvement project that generates a lot of dust or sawdust.  I bought mine when I was tearing out the kitchen backsplash tile and it made clean up so much faster and easier.

A Shop-Vac Wet or Dry Vacuum is also a great tool to have around any time there’s a plumbing fixture that leaks. I’ve also used mine to vacuum the inside of my car between visits to the car wash.

Weed Whacker

Whether the homeowner on your list has a small yard or a large one, chances are she has weeds somewhere! A Black & Decker weed whacker is a great power tool gift for women – she’ll use it all summer and spring.

Choose one that lightweight, is easy to start and maintain, and one that doesn’t have too much kick if she’s not used to using heavy-duty landscaping equipment. Her back will thank you, and so will her neighbors.

Many women feel a great sense of accomplishment and empowerment when they take care of their homes themselves, especially those of us who were raised to think that home improvement projects and lawn care were “man’s work”.

Give the single women homeowners on your list a gift that says “You Go Girl!” And if you want to make her feel like a woman, consider a small bottle of spring or summer perfume, as well.

Is a power tool a good gift for women? Comments welcome below…

Written by Sydney Tyler Thomas, a writer and small business owner living in Virginia. She is author of The Joy of Soulful Knitting: Reflections on the Art of the Craft. You can also visit Sydney at her blog, New Calling.