70th birthday gift ideas for dad

[CoffeePleaseBlack]

totally struggling…!

my brother and his wife have bought him a meal experience at the four seasons so that sort of territory is out for me.

He’s into:

golf
fishing (sort of)
Books

any ideas would be amazing! he is extremely hard to buy for
🤦🏻‍♀️😬

A session/sessions with a golf pro? A day of golf; day of golf plus a meal at the golf club? Golf at a special club?

At this age I used to make up a hamper of foods/drink that he didn’t buy himself, usually from M&S

Some sort of experience - a day at a Falconry always seems to go down well.

Have a look on Etsy for his hobbies and get something personalised for him if your budget is smaller.

I find if someone has a hobby- golf, fishing etc, then they will have far more knowledge on the subject than me, so I try to avoid gifts with that theme. Unless you know he needs an XYZ golf glove or ABC tackle etc.

-If you are near the sea, a chartered fishing trip? But he might be into course fishing which is different again.
-An experience of some sort. I bought DH a learn to fly lesson 1 year. I paid for a 4 seater plan, so I could sit in the back too. Another year he bought me a learn to glide lesson.
-Voucher to a book shop
-Bird bath or bird feeder
-Hamper is another good idea ideally with things he wouldn't normally buy himself. Crackers, bacon jam, candied hibiscus flowers for champagne, ginger jam, elderflower cordial, nice hot chocolate, Japanse whiskey etc.
-BBQ cooking class/butchery lesson

You don’t say what your budget is but as he’s interested in books how about a vouchers for a book a month for a year? This is the sort of thing our independent bookshop does.

Hot air balloon ride? That’s what I’m giving dp for a big birthday. Depends on your budget.

A good fictional book may work. perhaps a movie at a cinema. Its just my opinion.

Hire a canal boat for the day with pub stops along the way?

I got my dad a silver sixpence keyring dated the year he was born mounted in a locket with a picture of his granddaughter inside. The locket was engraved on the back. It was from Etsy.

I think the best present I’ve ever done for my dad was a family tree. I spent months researching it (pre ancestry days!), drew up the tree and collated all the info I’d found along the way and then arranged a day trip to Norwich. He didn’t know anything about it but when we got to Norwich we stopped for coffee and I gave him everything I’d done and said we’d come to Norwich because that’s where his ancestors were from. He had no idea they were from there and we had a lovely day mooching around Norwich looking for places with family history, so houses etc. he was genuinely really moved and so surprised.

An electric heated vest/gilet/body warmer that can be recharged, for wearing when fishing.

Are you set on it being a surprise? Cos a golf club is a great gift, but you’d have to find out if he needs one and if so, which one? Set of irons? A new driver or a pitching wedge? Also depends on budget.

Something family related maybe? If you have old photo album, especially photos of his youth and childhood, you can reprint them for a photo book and there are programs that restore and even colorize black and white photos. Here are some tips on making old photos look new as well and if you ask other relatives if they can send more pictures in, you'll get a pretty solid album or a photo book of decades of his life. It could be very heartwarming and nice, especially if he's sentimental.

My dad is a similar age and loves theatre vouchers for his birthday.
I'm also in the situation where I have a sibling who can afford to take him to very nice restaurants. He genuinely enjoys going out for fish and chips or to the local deli for breakfast with me just as much as he enjoys the expensive meals.

If he likes jigsaws, you can upload your own photo on Photobox and they make it into a Ravensburger puzzle. I've just done that for my hard-to-buy-for elderly dad and he liked it.