What can I get for new partner's significant birthday?

[eewwdavid]

I'm with a new partner post marriage breakdown and he has a "big" birthday coming up. We've been together for almost exactly a year, so i didn't get him anything last year as I barely knew him! Things are going well so I need to find a balance between something that seems reasonably significant but that also doesn't seem too "heavy". At Christmas I got him a little piece of artwork with special significance which was well received but I then feel i couldn't repeat that.
I feel a bit more pressure because it's a special birthday too. We will do something, dinner or whatever, but I also want to get him a physical gift.
Budget about £100 i guess but doesn't need to be that much and I could stretch to a bit more! He is better off than me which i feel conscious of (altho he doesn't give a jot about that!)
Any suggestions gratefully received

Well, it would help to know his interests as you've not given us much to go on...

Need more info

need more info, what does he like doing? do you know his friends and family to ask their advice?

Oh sorry! I kind of avoided that, as his one main passion he has so much linked to, I don't think I'd be knowledgeable enough to get anything decent or that he didn't have already.
He is pretty cultural I guess, likes music, theatre etc...I could easily find a concert or event he'd enjoy going to and get tickets, but I think I'd rather get something he can keep?
He's a keen cook too, but it might be veering into the domestic to get something related to that.
If he was a girl I'd buy him something like lovely earrings...wish there was a male equivalent!

what age, there's a quite difference in being 30 and 70!

50 😁

what's his one main passion that you don't know anything about?

Personalised chef apron
https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/alphabetinteriors/product/personalised-posh-apron

How about a Single Handedly Made chopping board, or serving board(s)? Lovely object, great business to support, something practical but also beautiful. Admittedly not terribly exciting but depends on the person. My partner of same age would love this but he's very foodie.

Good knives or something Le Creuset

Thank you all!
@MiddleAgedDread it's pretty niche and outing so I'd rather not say...kind of a collector i suppose and very knowledgeable, so it's nor that I don't know anything, more that he knows so much more!

I had the same thing, but the other way around, it was my significant birthday. I’m not one for gifts as I think it’s quite stressful for the giver! My DP took me out for the day and we had a wonderful time doing an activity I really enjoys why not go for an experience rather than a gift?

@Itisallgoingtobeoki think I just feel a bit sentimental about this one and want something that he can look at / wear / have and know I thought of him when I bought it, if that doesn't sound too daft? He's quite sentimental too and has keepsakes/ smaller items that I've bought previously and he thinks fondly of

First edition of a particular classic book?

Original vinyl album from 1976?

• Songs In The Key Of Life (Stevie Wonder)
• The Ramones (The Ramones)
• Hotel California (The Eagles)

Etc...

You can get vinyl frames that are the exact size of the album to display the cover and/or vinyl on the wall.

A 1976 vintage bottle of port or wine?

Mine might be a bit odd but went down really well. A friend turned 50 recently. We both live in the same area, by the sea. I took him for a really lovely meal overlooking the bay (in a restaurant housed in the old lifeboat station).

Then at the end I gave him his gift with a card that I wrote something along the lines of "50 years of changing weather - here's wishing you nothing but clear skies ahead" in. And this was his physical gift that went with the card: https://shop.rnli.org/products/storm-glass?_pos=1&_sid=cd163134b&_ss=r

I thought it was all very thematic and also really good to support the RNLI obviously. He was chuffed to bits and pieces... only now I almost get a daily photo of what the storm glass is doing! With the meal everything cost me about £200 total I would say. Also no one else gave him the same thing, which is always the risk with milestone birthdays.

Totally get it! It would be a very boring world if we were all the same!

Thank you for all these lovely suggestions!

Does he wear nice shirts? I recently bought my DP silver engraved collar stiffeners which he absolutely loved.

We both like experiences so main gift was tickets to sporting event and hotel stay. we’d been together a little over a year for my last milestone birthday and he bought me a stay in an incredible location.

A good pen? Or one of those multi knives you can get engraved.

Why not a day trip away with an event, show. wildlife park... to somewhere you think he might like?
I think domestic appliances are a bit like buying woman a 'nice' iron!
I think it's slightly strange why after a year of knowing someone, you are struggling for ideas. Do you not see him often?

This comment made me smile. I clicked on this thread to see if I could pinch any ideas for a present for my DH. We’ve been together happily for over 20 years and I still never have any idea what to get him for birthdays or Christmas!

A bracelet

For the males in my life, I've bought them premium versions of the following for key birthdays:

• good quality scarf
• wallet
• cufflinks
• laptop bag
• brandy, whiskey etc
• pen

Cashmere scarf. Decent make. Magazine subscription for hobby. Very good leather gloves. Some very decent wine (unless that’s his hobby), Leather belt. Skin cream: a really good one or anything by Acqua di Parma. Colonia Essenza is fantastic.