Present for MIL's 60th Birthday? £50 Budget

[CoffeeMum]

DH and I are really stumped about what to get his Mum for her upcoming 60th birthday - especially as money is tight, and we only have £50 to spend. I say 'only £50' because it's starting to seem as if this does not go very far in getting a decent present! We have ruled out foodie/booze gifts as they won't last and don't seem right for a landmark birthday. We wondered about photo frames, possibly filled with pictures of the grandchildren - but they have recently moved and done lots of their own photo frames - and it's not really a 'gift about her'.

We really like the idea of jewellery as she can keep it, but £50 really doesn't seem to go very far here. I've seen plenty of things I like, but nothing really special.

It's a bit depressing as DH's brother is splashing out out a really expensive gift, so we are worried ours will look a bit shit, no matter what we get

Any ideas would be much appreciated! Thanks!

For my parents' special anniversary I put together a scrapbook of their lives together and I phoned all their family and friends for special messages and little stories/memories which I then put into the book. It was time-consuming but they loved it and I know my mum wants me to do something similar for my nana's 90th birthday in year or so. I got the children to make their own pages and my niece, who was a small baby, contributed with a handprint.

Hi cath, what an absolutely lovely idea, they must have been thrilled

At the risk of it sounding like a copout, I am SAHM to two kids under 2, so i barely get time to clean the loo, let alone embark on something like that. Shame really, as it's the kind of thing I love doing but just don't get the chance to do - used to make homemade cards etc, no chance of that these days! But thank you for the suggestion - maybe i'll have time to do that for her 65th!

For my dads 60th birthday i got him a personalised newspaper front page with a picture of him and a big heading 60 today.
The website is inthepaper.co.uk, doesnt cost alot and its a nice keepsake..

Is she in to ornaments? My MIL likes the Royal Doulton figurines - you could get one of her name - depending on what that is or one of her birthstone - something to treasure
Sorry I'm not advanced enough to be able to ccreate a link!

What about an "Experience gift" - tickets to a show, for a beauty treatment etc?

Does she have a nice garden? Something for the garden?

We have bought personalised wine from here

www.celebrationwines.co.uk/

They have always gone down really well.

Hello again all, sorry to come back to the thread so late, but thank you for all your suggestions - some great ideas here.

Flier, i think you have hit the nail on the head with the garden idea - that's brilliant, as they are doing alot of work in their garden, and a rose bush, or something they can look at for years to come would be lovely.

The other ideas are great, but not quite right this time...I'd be a bit worried about ornaments as MIL's taste is ahem, a bit different to mine , and I wouldn't want to get it wrong. They are also wine buffs, so i'd be scared to get them wine, and DH's brothers gift is a really lavish 'experience', so if we got something like that it would really highlight the difference in our budgets.

Thanks again all, and nice one Flier - you have sorted us out i think, ah, i love Mumsnet!!

glad to be of help coffeemum. Also, we got my mum and dad some solar powered lights (they were in the shape of robins which were significant to them), but I'm sure you could get any type.
Hope you manage to get something suitable