Gift for single 50 year old friend ...

[PinkLadyFriday]

I desperately need ideas for my 50 year old friend. She’s lovely and gentle, doesn’t drink and over the years I’ve saturated the candle/scarf/chocolate options. Any ideas Mumsnet friends?

Would she enjoy doing something with you such as the theatre? A homemade voucher for dinner and the cinema with you? Tea on a river cruise?

Restaurant voucher?

Haha cross post, there's a theme! I am a similar age and single, I love spending time with my friends and a promise of a lovely afternoon out would be my ideal gift.

Jigsaw - if you want it to be a little more special, you could get a personalised OS map puzzle
Tote bag
Chilly’s water bottle
Recipe book
Whittard tea/coffee selection box
Coffee table book e.g. Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Depending on budget I would go for a Voucher for afternoon tea, theatre tickets, nice gloves & hand cream such as clarins, Laura mercier etc, jo malone candle, Ugg slippers, nice scarf.

God I'd hate to receive a jigsaw, tea selection or a tote bag. You do realise that 50 is hardly in your dotage right?!

OP, with nothing much to go on in your op, I can only suggest what I've recently received for my birthday ... doesn't involve afternoon tea or a wildlife photo though

Jonathan Adler acrylic pill
Hermes lipstick in orange brûlée
Dior bath oil
Diptique snow globe

Definitely swerve the scarves unless she wears a new one every day. I dont wear scarves ever and was given loads for my 50th. Sadly not much older and they are all in the local charity shop.

Do watch the voucher idea. One of my gorgeous best friends gave me a lovely spa voucher. Sadly I was mid throes in divorce and struggled with the head space. The voucher expired pretty quickly - the company did extend by 3 months but that voucher expired unused.

I have done luxury hampers - (made them up myself) - I always hoped if one thing didnt work then perhaps another would be a treat.

I’m in my fifties. In my life I’ve been variously single and part of a couple. I’m honestly struggling to think of any area where my tastes were different according to whether or not I was in a relationship.

Clothes?

Food?

Books?

Travel?

Art?

Theatre etc?

My preferences in all these things have evolved as I’ve matured - but they haven’t changed with my relationship status.

Anyway …

Gucci lipstick. (Perfection in perfect packaging. Obvs, unless you’re certain of her preferred shade you’d have to choose one of the neutral options.)

A generous amount of really fabulous cheese.

Tea from somewhere like Postcard Teas.

Books. If you’re old friends you must have some idea of her taste in reading? Usual suspects: Folio Society, Persephone Books, the shortlist for any established literary prize.

Santa Maria Novella soap.

@LiterallyKnowsBest you'd choose Gucci over Hermes?

You are not living up to your username here ..

A handbag a girl can never have enough

Does she have any hobbies or interests beyond her 50yo singledom?! Because that's not a huge amount to go on - potentially she might love anything from a beautiful copy of Don Quixote to new bungee cord for her surf board! Throw us a frickin' bone here!

@Isthisjustnormal she's GENTLE!

[quote TubbyCustards]@Isthisjustnormal she's GENTLE! [/quote]
😆 What does that mean exactly?

The Hermès lipstick packaging is fine enough, but the little Gucci rosebuds … 😍😍😍 And actually one of the best sheer colours I’ve ever used.

Actually - I have to say after decades of enslavement to the House of H, I have over the past few years found Gucci’s mad kaleidoscope of brash bad taste just ridiculously appealing. It’s all very 70s’ - so I feel completely at home.

I am also intrigued by the idea that a single 50 year old has specific gift needs!

A pile of Persephone books novels
An Hermes mail varnish(or a few from Nailberry as they are on Black Friday sale for a tenner each)
A plant for the garden
Drinking glasses from Anthropologie

I’m having fun imagining that the intended recipient secretly lives a wild, vodka drenched, screaming rows, walk of shame life - and is only ever quiet and gentle in your company, OP!

😈💥

@LiterallyKnowsBest

I’m having fun imagining that the intended recipient secretly lives a wild, vodka drenched, screaming rows, walk of shame life - and is only ever quiet and gentle in your company, OP!

😈💥

That's exactly what I was thinking! From reading the opening post I was expecting a Miss Marple character.

I would think that a trip out at your expense and with your company would be something really nice for her to have.

l am in 50s and single, and l much prefer going out and doing something such as eating out, cinema , coffee, theatre etc with a friend than just buying and receiving pointless gifts.

@Samedaysame

A handbag a girl can never have enough

I can honestly say this would be an abysmal present for me (long married, but I agree with Literally this is not relevant here). I'm 60 but this would also have applied at any previous point in my life. Ditto makeup and in case it pops up on the thread, ditto scented candles. I have one handbag and use it all the time until it's too shabby and then I move on to its replacement, which I will have already purchased as meeting all my requirements and taste. The idea of having to move everything from one bag to another more than once a decade appals me.

papercraftworld.com/

These are really cool and fun to make, if you're after something a bit different?

How is her being single relevant?

Fucking hell, those paper things are horrific!

(Sorry )

It’s true, like Moonface, any birthday celebration with friends would more probably involve a cocktail bar - though I’m equally happy with a bottle of single malt shared over an evening at home. So my gift suggestions are more the sort of thing I might receive from younger relatives. (Except the soap.)

I'm HOOTING at those sinister looking craft fox things.

Not all 50 year olds like crafting you know. I've never made a single thing in my life

I always say that if anyone ever thinks I might want a jigsaw puzzle it would be better to shoot me and have done - but a surprising number of MN posters seem to find them perfectly acceptable. I can’t honestly claim that endless Netflix hours are morally or spiritually superior …

But I’m pretty certain must women in their fifties are not defined by chasteness, gentleness and teetotal-hood - so it’s hard to say what the OP’s friend might like.