Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

Are you a woman aged 55-65? If so, can I pick your brains?

164 replies

DinosaurPotato · 28/12/2023 22:44

Hello all,

Hope you had a great Christmas. My mum has a birthday in January and ordinarily I don't buy anything until after Christmas as there are inevitably ideas from gifts others have got but this year nothing is standing out.

If you are in the similar age range, I wondered if you'd be so kind as to tell me your favourite present? My lovely husband got me some corkers some good inspiration there and although she is (obviously) a bit older than me, we have similar tastes! She's very active, likes gardening/walking/lunches/visiting nice gardens. Likes nice food but is very healthy so not definitely won't want too many goodies or alcohol just after Christmas. I find jewellery a bit tricky but have had success with earrings recently so feel have exhausted that avenue! She likes to read but I have just given her a few books. She got both of us such a thoughtful and varied selection of gifts for Christmas, I'd really like to treat her! Thank you.

OP posts:
IhaveanewTVnow · 28/12/2023 23:54

A colour/ shape analysis, tickets for Abba orca theatre show, make up, spa treats, night away in a hotel, meal out.

BestIsWest · 28/12/2023 23:56

I’m 60 and I got for Christmas/birthday and loved
A raku pottery day
A pair of DMs
Gardening tools (Hori Hori and snips)
A Lumie wake up light.
Jigsaw (of a painting of somewhere special to me)
Seasalt PJs

I would love Abba Voyage tickets.

Horsedoglover59 · 28/12/2023 23:56

I'm within this age group and I would love to be given tickets foe either Fascinating Aida or ABBA Voyager. But if a walker, I agree with new nice thick walking socks and a voucher for outdoor clothes shop. Or if she's had a busy Christmas, I personally would really appreciate a voucher for a spa day, and be very pampered and have a massage and my nails done etc.

catsmother · 28/12/2023 23:57

I'm late 50s but as individual as I was when I was 30 years younger and the best gifts I've had have been from people who've picked up and filed away ideas throughout the year from general conversation or comments I've made.

"Hobby" related gifts show thoughtfulness but can be tricky all the same unless you're very confident of what someone wants. I love walking but, for example, boots or leggings really are very personal and need to be tried on. I also love visiting gardens and gardening - but there's a hell of a difference between some random old garden ornament and something you'd choose for yourself. Ditto plants, because so much depends on the available space you have, soil, which way the garden faces and so on. I've had National Trust membership in the past but do check how realistic it is for the recipient to get to many sites .... I found most of the places I wanted to visit were often too far for a day trip.

I love jewellery and tend to go for more quirky stuff but quirky is in the eye of the beholder and it's dangerous to buy something "unusual" because the chances of getting it right are huge.

I would, however, be delighted if someone had taken the trouble to find out my favourite brands and had got me gift vouchers accordingly. In my case this'd be Shaun Leane (on very special occasions), Tatty Divine, Ottoman Hands or Wolf & Badger (who have numerous brands ranging from relatively cheap to 'when I win the lottery').

I love experimenting with perfume so a subscription to somewhere like Parfumado where you choose a different scent each Ormonth would be very gratefully received.

I'm always pleased to get any book from my Amazon wishlist and have no problem getting good condition secondhand books at all if they're ones I want.

Ticket wise, I'd be very happy to get tickets for any of the artists I listen to regularly - particularly as they're so expensive now but again, you really do need to know the recipient's taste. Age is no indication of this! My last gig was the Foo Fighters and Muse before that.

Things I would be disappointed to receive would be any art/ornament (unless I'd previously remarked on it), throws, scarves, gloves, anything 'twee' like Emma Bridgwater or Cath Kidston (subjective), towels, potted plants or tins of biscuits.

But I'm not your mum! Or any of the other women in the same age group as myself. Forget the age thing and just try to pick up cues, and/or sneakily turn the conversation round to, say, West End (or elsewhere) theatre shows, art/museum/history exhibitions, beauty treatments or restaurants she's not been to if your mum's interested in any of that.

EffortlessDelegation · 28/12/2023 23:58

I would also like adult lego, nothing too enormous though. Or a giftcard for the lego shop.

EffortlessDelegation · 29/12/2023 00:00

Oh yes, a giftcard for my favourite jeweller (Alison Moore).

Custardcreamsandbourbons · 29/12/2023 00:03

Cashmere wrist warmers, theatre tickets, subscription to a magazine, breakfast at The Wolsey if you’re in london, monthly flower delivery, space nk voucher or goodies

peppermintcrisp · 29/12/2023 00:04

Why afternoon? We don't turn into pumpkins at nightfall! I'm just on my way home from a gig in a club, that's what this 50 something enjoys

I like to have a few liqueurs and a nice meal. I hate the last train home and it is too far to get a taxi.

Mediumred · 29/12/2023 00:06

I’m a teeny bit younger but once bought dd an ancestry DNA kit (adult friends were mentioning it on xmas day so anyone might be a bit interested, poor Dd is quite boring in her DNA but she enjoyed the process!)

DP (bit older than your range) I buy a Private Eye subscription every year.

FreshWinterMorning · 29/12/2023 00:06

EffortlessDelegation · 28/12/2023 23:46

I always think people 45-50+ who claim they enjoy going out at night/coming back at midnight or later, are people who didn't do it as a teenager/young person. I did it plenty, and CBA to do it in my late 50s!

How strange! Once a night owl always a night owl, I was always out late clubbing, at gigs etc in my teens and 20s so I am perfectly comfortable with late night travel and no way would I want to have my feet up by 7.

'Once a night owl always a night owl?' No, not me. Most people I know who have had a full and exciting youth/teenage years, and 20s and 30s, with pubbing and clubbing and partying CBA anymore with it.

As I said the very few I DO know who do this, are single, or people who settled down young and are trying to recapture their youth.

No need to go out all the time when you have everything you need at home. (I mean my DH.) 😄 I do like to go out - in the day/afternoons, but only very occasionally in the evening. I seriously CBA! 😆

Makemydaypunk · 29/12/2023 00:06

GoodOldEmmaNess · 28/12/2023 23:32

It's really lovely that you are thinking so hard about the right present to get, but why is it that there are so many threads on MN that ask what to buy for a woman in a specified older age range (usually around 60s or upwards)?
Why is it that just reaching a particular age is thought to mean that it is your age that will define the range of presents that are likely to be successful? Couldn't you just think in terms of her interests/hobbies/etc, as you would for a younger woman?
I'm sixty and I swear I didn't notice a point at which my age took over from my individuality and started to dictate my preferences.
I say this kindly because I'm sure that when I was younger I made this same error. It was only once I got well into my 40s that I really understood that old women were just me in five minutes time, not another species.

Thank fuck you have said this, I just don’t understand why the question needs to be asked, it’s no different to buying a present for a 40 year old or any age for that matter, it just depends on their interests and hobbies not their age, baffling.

FreshWinterMorning · 29/12/2023 00:10

Makemydaypunk · 29/12/2023 00:06

Thank fuck you have said this, I just don’t understand why the question needs to be asked, it’s no different to buying a present for a 40 year old or any age for that matter, it just depends on their interests and hobbies not their age, baffling.

Of course the question needs to be asked! Some gifts ARE age dependent. You can't buy for a 60 y.o what you would by for a 19 y.o. FGS! And you can't buy for an 80 y.o. what you would buy for a 35 y.o!

It's ludicrous to suggest we should not need to take into account someone's age when buying gifts. There's nothing ageist about that, and it's pathetic that a few posters are trying to underhandedly claim it is! Hmm

Fizzadora · 29/12/2023 00:11

Gloves. Proper gorgeous soft kid leather gloves with covered button detail. Well that's all I covet anyway and I have got pretty much everything else.
I know I will have to buy my own.

Time40 · 29/12/2023 00:12

I always think people 45-50+ who claim they enjoy going out at night/coming back at midnight or later, are people who didn't do it as a teenager/young person. I did it plenty, and CBA to do it in my late 50s!

Well, how about you stick to thinking just for yourself?

jannier · 29/12/2023 00:18

Spa day with my daughter.
Theater tickets
Day out with family.

notacooldad · 29/12/2023 00:20

I'm 58. I'm finding the suggestions of Rhs, magazines,posh mugs etc a bit twee and , I would die a bit inside if my kids bought me anything like this.

Gifts I have enjoyed this year include tickets to see The K's, a record player and vinyl, flight gift vouchers, new lights for my mountain bike, a Paramo jacket ( expensive but from Dh), new ear buds, make up from Bobbi Brown.

What kind of walking does mum like? Does she do fells or mountains? Maybe an OS or AllTrails subscription for her phone. I have both and they are amazing.
What about a personalised OS map?

Theatre tickets - for an afternoon performance!
Why afternoon? Isn't she allowed out after 19:00hrs?

My best present this year was a go on the Zip wires in Snowdonia! Amazing!!!!

I always think people 45-50+ who claim they enjoy going out at night/coming back at midnight or later, are people who didn't do it as a teenager/young person. I did it plenty, and CBA to do it in my late 50s!
I always think that people who come up with statements like this are a bit daft tbh.
I have never been an early bird and it doesn't look like I'm going to change now I'm pushing 60!

Makemydaypunk · 29/12/2023 00:21

FreshWinterMorning · 29/12/2023 00:10

Of course the question needs to be asked! Some gifts ARE age dependent. You can't buy for a 60 y.o what you would by for a 19 y.o. FGS! And you can't buy for an 80 y.o. what you would buy for a 35 y.o!

It's ludicrous to suggest we should not need to take into account someone's age when buying gifts. There's nothing ageist about that, and it's pathetic that a few posters are trying to underhandedly claim it is! Hmm

Oh give over, at 19 I liked music, fitness, sport, fashion, cinema, reading, makeup and beauty, and here’s a revelation for you, at 56 I still like those things and shock horror I’m pretty sure I will like them at 80 years old as well, just because you live your life by the age on your birth certificate doesn’t mean others have to. Stop judging everyone by your own parameters.

FreshWinterMorning · 29/12/2023 00:22

jannier · 29/12/2023 00:18

Spa day with my daughter.
Theater tickets
Day out with family.

If you DO book something like this @DinosaurPotato make sure you go with her. (And you organise any travel.) Don't just lump the tickets on your mum and leave her having to organise everything and find someone else to go with. That's no gift then - that's a burden.

Diggerdriverless · 29/12/2023 00:23

A trip for the two of you to the Chelsea Flower Show? I also like really nice chocolates I don't have to share

Ladyof2022 · 29/12/2023 00:23

I am 65 and my favorite present was a miniature helicopter which flies around indoors, which is chargeable via USB. It has brought me so much fun and laughter.

CraftyGin · 29/12/2023 00:23

I am turning 59 next week, and I have never had an expectation of birthday presents. My mother always rolled Christmas and birthday into one.

My idea of a safe present would be perfume.

notacooldad · 29/12/2023 00:24

Of course the question needs to be asked! Some gifts ARE age dependent. You can't buy for a 60 y.o what you would by for a 19 y.o. FGS! And you can't buy for an 80 y.o. what you would buy for a 35 y.o!
The word that stick out in your paragraph is ' some'
Any one between 19 and 80 can have perfume Ugg slippers afternoon tea, Spa day, a gift voucher gor Next, a bottle of trendy gin etc.

IHateLegDay · 29/12/2023 00:25

My mum is in that age bracket and for her birthday this year, I booked a spa day for the two of us and she loved it. We each had an hour long treatment of our choice, full access to the spa facilities and pool and an afternoon tea.

Manyandyoucanwalkover · 29/12/2023 00:28

My best presents include a Kindle, tickets for the Halle Orchestra, a Radley handbag with matching purse and a new radio which picks up the new DAB + stations.

BestIsWest · 29/12/2023 00:29

If you DO book something like this @DinosaurPotato make sure you go with her. (And you organise any travel.) Don't just lump the tickets on your mum and leave her having to organise everything and find someone else to go with.

Yes I agree with this. My DD lives 60 miles away so any time with her is precious to me and the best gift. She bought me a pottery day but better than that, came with me, and organised the transport. Not that I’m not perfectly capable of doing it myself or finding a friend to go with but it made it more special.