50 Gifts

[Challdell]

Hi
My Sister will be 50th at the beginning of March and we have just found out that she will be having her long awaited surgery 2 weeks before so will be unable to celebrate the way we / she had planned. She also will be pretty much out of action for atleast 6 months.

i have foolishly agreed with my Mum to give her 50 gifts as her present.

Im looking for various value of gifts but it’s not as easy as I first thought.
Has anyone done anything similar or lead me to where I can find some inspiration please?

Only advice is really wouldn't recommend this, it sounds massively overwhelming for somebody of 50. I'm sure she's got everything she needs, better to focus on one really lovely gift.

I'm also not a fan of this idea - I'd hate to receive 50 gifts, and I'd hate to organise them for someone else too 😄.

I think I'd try to organise a really thoughtful gift instead - so things for her to do while she recuperates (Kindle, voucher for books, art supplies, poetry books etc.).

Whilst I appreciate your mum’s good intentions here, I would imagine that opening and expressing gratitude at 50 gifts at just a few weeks post operative to be a bit of a chore before even getting into double figures.

I wld focus on one or two special gifts, with a couple of promises of lunch out/cinema/theatre when she is further into her recovery.

Echoing previous posters - I’d hate 50 gifts. Would rather have one thoughtful one: kindle, jewellery, kitchen aid, overnight bag etc

Sorry that sounds awful, so overwhelming and wasteful - and boring opening them all eventually! Get her 50 loo rolls if you have to do that, at least they will be useful!

Can’t you just buy her something nice?

I did 30 gifts for DH for his 30th and 70 for my father...!

I did a mixture of big presents - tickets for a concert, dinner out, bottle of champagne, nice wine, and then silly things like a multi pack of socks and wrapped each pair separately; ditto a set of 6 shot glasses (DH's 30th) and 6 wine glasses (DF).

I quite enjoyed doing it and they said they loved getting them, but seeing PPs maybe they were just humouring me!

You could do the 50 gifts but give her one each week.

Nope. If it really has to be 50 somethings, then give a photo album of 50 photographs in a ‘this is your life’ type vibe. Could include first school report/ a brownie certificate/swimming badge etc etc.
Thus it’s easier for the recipient to a) see b) store away in a book shelf.

I did 40 gifts for my friend’s 40th and it was really hard to do and ended up more expensive than planned.

I think she would be very happy with several thoughtful gifts as someone else said that will help her while she recovers.

I was at a friend's 50th birthday party and someone had bought her 50 gifts in a huge box to open.

For one thing, it took ages to unwrap and look at each thing which massively detracted from the rest of the proceedings. The quality of the gifts were as you would expect questionable as the expense of £1 each would work out to be pricey enough. And lots of them were 'jokey' since its hard to keep to an extended theme. I think most of them were put back in the box not to be looked at again. What a waste.
The rest of the presents were much more appreciated no matter how mundane.

Don’t do this - she will end up with 50 gifts she doesn’t really want as you run out of ideas

Buy her a couple of nice presents and 48 penny sweets

I'm clearly in the minority here but I think it's a fab idea, and she could open them over a period of few days, even 50 days!
My ideas would be
Candles
Reed diffuser
Hand cream
Makeup - mascara, lippy
Personalised wine glass
Cosy socks
T shirts
Earrings
Nail polish
Books
Slippers
Day cream/night cream
Pyjamas

I could go on.....

I'd rather have £50 than 50 gifts I didn't really want.

Agree with others I would hate hate hate 50 gifts.

It’s a nice thought but most 50 year-olds have specific likes and dislikes and would probably like fewer more quality gifts as other people have said. For example I wouldn’t want many of these for various reasons:

Candles - don’t mind cheap or expensive but prefer certain scents and hate others eg anything fruity or sweet
Reed diffuser - as above
Hand cream - got more than I need from various Xmases and birthdays
Makeup - mascara, lippy - prefer to choose these myself
Personalised wine glass - don’t like personalised things in general, I can remember my own name without a glass that says it, usually with a crappy slogan about gin o’clock or similar
Cosy socks - don’t mind these but again I have enough
T shirts - sizes vary from shop to shop and I prefer to buy my own clothes
Earrings - by the nature of the 50 presents thing they’d be fairly cheap and those irritate my skin
Nail polish - don’t use it
Books - love books so I might like this but how do you know I haven’t got/read them?
Slippers - got several pairs, seems to be another Xmas favourite
Day cream/night cream - only use certain brands
Pyjamas - quite like new ones but rather pick my own

I also detest too much stuff - it genuinely stresses me having to find space for it.

I would really really love one or two more expensive, thoughtful things that were right for me - much more so than generic ‘gifts’.

Edited for typos

Please don't! No self-respecting 50 year old wants piles of stuff. Why not plan a really smart trip (hotel stay, theatre, dinner etc) for when she has recovered - it will be great for her to have something to look forward to.
And just a bunch of flowers on her actual birthday, if you must give a "thing".

Oh my gosh, the stress of organising and storing fifty things all so my mum & sister could have novelty of 50 for 50 😮

I’d hate that.

Is there a magazine she reads, then you could give her a one year subscription which is about 50 magazines..

My friend did this for my fortieth - and I feel really ungrateful saying this but I hated it.
Understandably she had a budget so most of the gifts were small low value things that I would never use. I would have rather she had spent less money on something that I would have loved (I think I'm fairly easy to buy for - love plants, earrings, chocolate, scarves)

I’m doing this for my DH, this is my list so far

1. Picture
2. Holiday
3. Tickets?
4. Lego
5. Pen
6. Note book
7. Socks
8. Pants
9. Jumper
10. Book
11. Book
12. Bottle opener
13. Aftershave
14. Soap
15. Gym shorts
16. Gym top
17. Beer tasting
18. Wine
19. Chocolate
20. Chocolate
21. Game
22. Pyjamas
23. Slippers
24. Photo frame
25. Dressing gown
26. Scratch card
27. Shower gel
28. Beer
29. Coffee
30. Deck of cards
31. Plant

I’m over 50 and echo what everyone else has said - don’t do it . Even £50 smallish gifts is going to add up to quite a cost and who wants 50 gifts , I’d be looking at them and thinking to myself what you could have bought with that money - nice bag , new laptop etc . I was very unwell for the 3 months before and 4 months after my 50th and spent the day itself in hospital I’d have been very unimpressed if someone had then given me 50 things to unwrap and be polite about .

A printed photo book with 50 of your favourite photos of her and your family?

I really don’t get doing this, half of it will be rubbish or stuff you buy in your weekly shop!

It looks like some people would hate it but I’m trying to get nice versions of things he has or stuff that he will eat / drink so won’t add to the clutter. I’m also going to buy bits every month, I’ve got until November, so I don’t notice the cost so much!