To ask for your 50th anniversary gift ideas

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A shameless plea for help. My parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this year and I’m looking for the fabulous Mumsnetters gift inspiration.

They are in their 70s very active and would likely buy anything they particularly wanted. They like sports, music, theatre and are pretty game for most new activities. They enjoy hotel breaks a few times a year.

I’ll be clubbing together with my siblings and we have some time to save up but what do we get the couple who already have what they want? They are already considering hosting a lunch/party/night away to celebrate with the family.

Any ideas for what we could get them to mark the occasion?

I'd definitely go with an experience - depending on their interests - particular (Michelin starred?) meal / afternoon tea / theatre or concert / sports experience / etc.

Potentially a session with a professional photographer, so they can get all their dc, Grandchildren together ?

Is there either somewhere they’ve always talked about but never been (a landmark, city etc), or depending on them - could you get them something connected to where they got married/went on honeymoon - e.g my parents went on honeymoon to Spain - during the Franco regime and when you could only take £50 out of the uk - so would consider a luxury trip to the same place

When my inlaws celebrated their Golden Wedding, we put together a large gold box filled with ‘gold’ things. We were in a tight budget, so went for cheap things such as a jar of gold blend, a cd of ‘Gold’ by Spandau Ballet, gold playing cards, a box of All Gold chocolates etc.
Assuming your budget is bigger, you could add more expensive gold items. Gold clock? Gold champagne? Tickets to the Chektenham Gold Cup?

When my parents celebrated their 50th anniversary last year, I made them a gold album of family photos from the past 50 years, and got them some nice wine and chocolates and things.

Hope you're not my daughter, already said we don't want anything, ditto my 70th next week!

I bought my parents a word art thing from Etsy filled with words with meaning to them.

I liked it then thought they would think it was naff...it traveled with them everywhere for about 2 weeks so they could show it to everyone they knew!

Like this:
https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/223736727/personalized-50th-anniversary-gift?ref=searchrecentlyy_viewed-1

Some great ideas here, thank you. Keep them coming 👍

If you have time, you could do them a beautiful photo album - apple does one where you upload the pics. They then post it to you in hardback and glossy colour/black and white and it's lovely:

www.apple.com/uk/macos/print-products/

You could also get a nice 50th anniversary scrapbook/album and fill it with things as well as pics.

If you wanted an experience, maybe something like a spa day, or a voucher for afternoon tea at the ritz?

Otherwise there are lovely keepsakes like engraved champagne flutes, but if they've been together that long, I'm guessing they already have a houseful?!

As you say they are active, you could do them a weekend in London, say:

• nice hotel*
• trip down the Thames on a RIB (so much fun, go for the 50 min trip; you see loads that you can't see from any other angle and it's fab when the boat speeds up once it gets out past wapping!)
• theatre tickets (I recommend "the play that goes wrong", it's absolutely bloody brilliant! It's also right next to the Waldorf and One Aldwych or a 2 min walk from the Savoy for staying or cocktails in the bar)
• dinner (either a nice restaurant or a taster menu somewhere like claridges)
• brunch at Darwin at the top of the walkie talkie/sky garden (£40 a head but that includes unlimited starters and puddings AND unlimited bloody Marys)

• you can get 5 star city hotels like thread-needles much more cheaply at the weekend