I am answering this question on behalf of my wife and with the hopes of her getting a birthday surprise. For this answer, I would rather rephrase the question "how would my wife appreciate a serger" and start by answering with a mini-introduction to my wife.
My wife is the type person who never asks for anything for herself (hence why I am attempting to win this for her). She does more for others, wears the stained-by-kids clothes and makes them clothes instead. She always makes time for others and not for herself. She will serve visitors food and drink and neglect to eat herself. She is definitely a "giver" and as much as the kids and I try, we probably underappreciate her nature.
She is also someone who I believe is looking for a new and fresh start. Before our daughter was born, she worked for a non-profit doing Early Intervention (teaching) and counseling for children and families with 18 mo- 3 yr. olds with special needs. We had decided to tighten our belts so she could stay home and focus a bit more on raising our daughter after her birth. She was able to do this mainly because an opportunity arose for her to work from home with flexible hours (IT type work, not her background or personality). While this has been a blessing in many ways, it has also created a lot of stress on my wife, and has increasingly become something she does only because we need the money and not because she enjoys her work. We now have a son as well and our daughter is starting kindergarten and our son a preschool a few days a week this month.
Right now, our daily routine involves her working (multi-tasking) as much as possible during the day while teaching, etc. the kids (we aren't TV babysitting parents), but most of her work happens after I get home and late in the evening. We tag team a little on dinner, and the same with the kids, reading and getting them ready for bed. After the kids are down, I take on dishes and general cleanup and she heads off to the computer to work as much as possible (she only makes what she does, no salary). This usually means midnight is early bed for us. In fact, anytime we are both in bed before midnight, we ask each other, "which child is going to be sick or up in the night?" and inevitably the extra sleep evades us :)
We have talked about next steps and ways the two of us could work together to make money in place of her current job quite frequently. Having a serger would definitely allow us to team up better and explore opportunities to make clothes, etc. to sell and perhaps for her to move on from a job that is not near a passion. I believe that having this added freedom to create will also bring more enjoyment to her and allow her to continue to make clothes for the kids and hopefully more for herself.
I recognize that everyone has their reasons for needing or wanting a serger. I may not have been that eloquent in describing why our life (specifically my wife's) would be better either. What I can say is that if you are looking for someone who will appreciate the generous gift, whose life will be impacted very much for the positive, and a family that will benefit intangibly from such, my wife should be somewhere on your list to consider. Below is a short clip of our daughter and son attempting to answer this question as well. Thank you for your consideration.
