What did you get/do for your male DP for his 40th birthday?

[Limth]

Just interested in what other people did for their DP's 40th birthdays.

A trip or holiday is off the cards.

But wondering what close-to-home stuff people did.

Shamelessly seeking inspiration.

Gave him a signet ring. He really liked it.

A flight in a Spitfire.
We got my brother a guided tour round the Arsenal home stadium.

I know you've said not an option I did do a trip (long weekend to European country and asked grandparents to babysit for the first time). Didn't buy him other gifts as he earns twice as much as me and buys whatever he wants, so wanted to do something he wouldn't normally plan.

I guess even if we hadn't gone away I'd still have gone for an experience over a material gift, maybe tickets for a future show or a day trip somewhere he wanted to visit? Meal in a fancier place than we'd normally go to?

Hopeful bump.

My DH IS 40 this year. I’ve booked a night in a hotel we both love and bought him a big Lego set which is something he really wants. I’ll probably get him something small and sentimental too.

I organised and paid for a BBQ at our house run by caterers. I got him a personalised cake made, and invited people I’d never met but I knew he thought a lot of, by going through his phone and pinching numbers.

He got a wallet that he wanted and we went out for a lovely meal with lots of family.

Someone I know did a year of 40 things. A biggish present on the day was one of the 40, and then a few things every month. A bottle of his favourite wine; replacements of his cycling gear; a meal out at favourite place; split up with really little things like favourite chocolate bar, some luxury popcorn he loves which is £5, etc.

I got mine a surfboard (he is a surfer; it wasn’t a midlife crisis thing 🤣).

He got me a piece of jewellery I wanted.

I think I got him his private number plate - 26 years later and it’s in daily use, so it’s been a good investment

It was lockdown then so we decorated downstairs, got loads of nice presents and I cooked his favourite meal

A painting by an artist he'd seen in an exhibition the previous year. I couldn't afford the actual one in the gallery so I contacted the artist to see what other pictures they had.

I got him a Garmin sports watch as he is into running. He loved it and still uses it now.

Night in a 5 star hotel then a surprise party in a nearby pub the next day.

The party was very relaxed and low-key - we had young kids then, as did most of our friends, so it was afternoon only. We were home with a take away by 7pm!

DP is 40 next week, usually we are away for his birthday but due to annual leave it wasn’t possible. I have however booked dinner, bed and breakfast in a lovely spa hotel about 40 minutes from home and have arranged a massage and wellness treatment. I’ve also got his favourite aftershave, some Lego, personalised chocolates (they’re printed with pictures of him throughout his life) and a t-shirt that has 1985 special edition on the front.

I bought my DH theatre tickets for a show in London and bought us lunch before the show

Well you said no trips but that’s what we did - albeit to a uk city about 2.5 hours away, one that is special to us for a couple of reasons. Whilst there I planned a mini ‘ale trail’ of some of the quirky/ interesting older pubs which is the sort of thing he likes best, and booked a lovely restaurant for the evening. On the way home I arranged for us to go to a museum/ attraction related to one of his big interests (military aircraft basically). One of his gifts was tickets to a big air show later on in the year too.

Other birthdays or gifts he’s enjoyed have been a brewery tour/ tasting, a super car driving experience and a stargazing/ dark sky experience in case any of those would be of interest.

For mine we both took the day before off work, went into town and shopped to choose my gift together then went got cocktails/ an amazing meal. The morning of he put up banners and balloons in the house, made a special breakfast and then we had booked a restaurant for a lovely lunch with family and friends.

Our children were pretty small and we were quite frazzled plus my husband is hard to buy for! I got him forty small presents (some super small, like
a book mark, bar of his favourite chocolates) and we had all his siblings and his folks around for a family lunch (luckily it was a nice day as they’d have struggled to all fit inside!)

Thanks all. There are some great suggestions.

@Mumofmarauders I'd planned to do the 40-things thing. I just need to think of 40-things. Or one thing that DP would like 40 types/versions of. So far, I have cans of pop, crisps and packs of Pokemon cards 🤣
Yes, my DP is 40 this year, not 4

For my DH I am going to do a day where we go into a local city for the day and I will have numbered envelopes containing options of different activities, places to eat etc and he chooses which to do.
So one option will be a choice of board games cafe and coke floats, the other will be the fancy cinema. The the same type of thing for lunch and an afternoon activity. I’ll end the day with a saucy one. I’m hoping it works out the way I see it working but in my head!

We went abroad for DH's 40th, but for other birthdays I've done. I appreciate that some of the experience things I organised did seem cheaper many years ago:

-Learn to fly a plane lesson. I bought it for a 4 seater plane so I got to go up also
-Learn to glide taster day
-A sailing day out of (I think) Portsmouth on a large sailing ship which we both went on
-A BBQ cooking course
-Billingsgate in London used to do cooking lessons specific for fish and seafood
-Leather belt, shoes and new wallet

I've never done the 40 things for 40, so not sure of the budget for each item, but keep an eye on the lidl and aldi random aisle, because I've picked up some of these items from there:
-Cooking apron
-Burger press
-Long handled, silicone tipped BBQ tongs
-Metal skewers which are flat- not round, so the food doesn't spin around
-Head torch
-Socks
-Scratch card
-Charity donation
-Bacon jam
-Chilli sauce
-Pork scratchings
-Jerky
-Flavoured jelly beans like jelly bellies
-Wall mounted or magnetic bottle opener

I had an artist do a pencil portrait of our two DDs.

A lesson in flying a helicopter.
Mine’s into Swiss Army knives, small cups which fit his coffee machine, boxed selections of various coffees, Italian biscuits to go with said coffee, various types of beer, binoculars, Stuburt golf tops if any of these ideas help.

Corporate hospitality at a big sporting event.

Thank you for keeping the ideas coming!

I really like the envelope idea. I might do something similar.

I'd like to plan a surprise trip somewhere but we're house-bound by an elderly dog at the moment.

What did you do in the end? Love these threads!