40th Birthday Gift - Son

katey this is a timeous thread for me as I also have a son turning 40 this year - so if you don't mind, I shall be reading the suggestions alongside you

That's a generous amount! And my son and yours have the same special way ...

Don't know if this is any help but for my daughter's 40th we bought her 40 shares in A G Barr the manufacturers of Barr's Irn Bru. She has always loved the drink and now feels justified in consuming copious quantities and encouraging her friends to do the same. She has the framed share certificate hanging on the wall and looks forward to her twice yearly (very small) dividend cheques.

Perhaps your sons have a favourite food or other product and would like to have a stake in the company? It is a gift that keeps on giving year after year.

No way could I spend £500 on a birthday gift even a special one like a 40th.

My son was 40 last weekend and I wanted something a little unusual but within my budget. I bought him a Buffalo Horn Mug - only for cold drinks, made by the company who make the stuff for Game of Thrones. The mug comes in different large sizes, there are also drinking horns etc. It might be called a Soldier's Mug.
He was delighted with it (believe me, I'd know if he was just being polite) and said he reckoned he'd take it in to use in his office as it was so unusual (and show off to colleagues).

The size I bought holds about a pint and cost about £40. I also tucked £100 into the mug

We gave son and daughter cheques for their 40th, son bought a car and daughter had orthodontic treatment. Daughter also got a framed CD of the number 1 hit from the day she was born. Son got a piece of our old kitchen door, it was where we used to measure him and mark his growth.
It is difficult because by the time they reach 40 they usually have most of what they need.
DIL used her cheque to fund a holiday in Iceland.

£500! Good grief, words fail me!

Why on earth would a birthday (even one with a "0" on the end) make ANYONE think that they had to/should spend that amount

What on earth are you thinking of, woman! (Sorry if this offends, but really!)

Well, now I feel really mean. We stopped buying the adults in the family birthday presents when the grandchildren arrived. Me and DH never knew what to get them and they seemed to have everything anyway. I should add that we don't expect them to buy us presents either!

I think I have remarked before ( many many times ) we do have a huge differential in members wealth on GN and I am very sorry to say that some posters do like to let us know. Remember the poster with family holdings of £200,000 of premium bonds? And the rest. When we have threads about being offended, I am offended by boasting and flaunting of wealth.

When my eldest son turned 40 last year, I gave him a voucher for a meal and wine at a lovely, intimate French restaurant in town. He seemed really thrilled by the present (as did his partner). They texted me with a photo when they were at the restaurant. I was babysitting.

I should add that the voucher was for a meal and wine FOR TWO!!

ann I'm with you.

Hear, hear, phoenix, annsixty and Lona. There's a particularly cringeworthy thread on Mumsnet at the moment where people have been asked how much they have in savings, and some of the bragging and boasting is just awful. Mind you, I did like the one that answered something like "eleventy billion pounds"

The city break sounds lovely, if you can easily afford it. Likewise theatre tickets or a spa day, with babysitting thrown in. My son would love the idea of the shiny £1 coins, but he certainly wouldn't be getting 500 of them!

Coolgran I love the sound of the mug made by the people who make stuff for Game of Thrones. If I google, will I be able to find where to get it from? Or perhaps a link?

Five hundred one pound coins would be a bit bulky! I gave GS 100 shiny new one pounds in a pirate treasure chest for Xmas a couple of years ago. He as delighted. But not sure about for a grownup man!

I think we should mind our own business about how much OP wants to spend.

Our eldest DD was 40 in January. She said she and her DH were going on a city break to Rome (but I knew that would never happen) so we had a family meal shared with her cousin who was 40 a few weeks later and myself and his Mum (my dear sister) paid the bill.
I wrote her a cheque for £40 and gave her a photocopy and said I would give her the real thing when she booked the break. . . . I still have it! Lol!

£500! shock Good grief, words fail me!

Why on earth would a birthday (even one with a "0" on the end) make ANYONE think that they had to/should spend that amountshock

Sorry posted message too soon. I love your comments Phoenix!

My MIL gave her DS2 (my BIL) a cheque for £1000 for his birthday every year for 20 years.

I bought one of my brothers his own star for his 40th and the other his own Scottish Lairdship (we're Scots). I think it cost around £50, but I can't remember for sure. Both were well received and the certificates are now framed and hanging on their walls. At the time the ideas were quite new, but I think it's popular now.

PS I am another one gobsmacked at how much some of the amounts mentioned.

We bought DS a new barbecue for his 40th as he'd worked really hard landscaping their very steep garden to make it safe for the DGCs. That was six years ago and it's still going strong

Way, way under £500 though

I think by the time your children get to 40 they should be spending lots of money on your birthday, not the otherway round.

Note to my children: It's a big one this year

What the flip is wrong with giving away with a bit of money to your adult children when you get older? A birthday seems as good a time as any.

Are you all tight-wads?

OMG I wouldn't normally jump in, but how do we know that kateykrunch hasn't saved up to splash out on her son's birthday gift?! We just don't know.

For a long, long time, my stock reply to my children were "I/we can't afford that". As a "late bloomer" I finally ended my working career in a well-paying job, and it gives me great pleasure to be able to shower people with gifts spoil my children (and other members of my family) for once in my life.

As someone else pointed out, what that amounts to, is my business ...

I was looking forward to this thread, and so far some of the suggestions and replies are lovely.

I would think poor Kateykrunch has run away to hide! It is surely up to her how much she gives her own son.