If it ends up being a devaluation of his gift that is bugging him, is is possible to work out a way to create some memento of the gift so that he can feel validated?

Early on, Brewer gave me a bathrobe; wrong size, wrong style, wrong fabric, you know--basically really nice, but not for me. I kept it, and have used parts of the fabric for other things. It had really great tassels too, perfect for lamp pulls!