My husband buys anything he wants or needs so he’s impossible to buy a gift for! Looking for some ideas, open to spending up to ~$1,500. Birthday is in the summer.
Interests & about him:
-loves sports (football/baseball) .. thought about a suite at a baseball game said he doesn’t want that for his birthday..lol
– fishing
– golf (thought new clubs could be a good idea! But then he went and bought a whole new set last week)
– works in business, goes to a lot of work dinners, meetings, golf outings etc.
– he loves nice watches, unfortunately the only other watch he currently wants is $10k 😅
– travel, nice dinners
– video games
– loves a good scotch, whiskey, bourbon pr tequila
We’ll likely be having a party at the house for his birthday, but I’d like to get him something nice for this special birthday. Any ideas are greatly appreciated!!
**edited for formatting
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I’d be forever grateful if my wife planned a vacation for my birthday. I’m the vacation planner in the house, so if she ever took the initiative, It would be my most memorable birthday ever.
Bourbon distillery tour at buffalo trace. That’s travel and bourbon. I’m sure you could sweeten the pot with a nice dinner.
I just hosted a family and friends party at a popular bar in the area. I invited everyone on the down low and had a cake and decorations put in. we showed up at the place to “meet another couple for dinner” and when she walked in it was “SURPRISE”. I plunked a credit card down on the bar and everyone could order whatever food or drink they wanted. Tab after 4 hours of fun was $1200 with tip. It was a fun celebration. That was the “gift”
You could find a good booze that was crafted during his birth year.
Hard to buy for people that has just about everything they want.
Also a weekend getaway would always be fun and memorable.
Two words:
Hookers and cocaine 😆JK!
Ill second the vacation.
Yea, a long weekend… maybe do bourbon tastings.
That and a BJ. Best bday you could ask for.
See if you can buy old magazines from his birth month in his birth year. These certainly wouldn’t cost too much, but they’re fun to read.
I also buy everything I want or need as a man. That being said, I would get something for him that he does day to day or at least twice a week. For instance, I smoke cigars at a cigar lounge or go out for sushi by myself twice a week. I am also really into the gym and gym attire (sneakers, compression clothing, baseball caps)
Getting him something he partakes in frequently would have the highest impact. If I were you I would get him a high quality bottle of liquor to add to his drink rotation, a few cool new video games (this will require some research on your end), and take him out to a premier steakhouse (think Morton’s, Peter Lugers, Ruth’s Chris; take your pick) with an excellent cocktail list.
I also like all those things, does your husband need a buddy?
Get him a meteor. Or a fucking sweet knife. Can recommend both if you want.
Whatever he doesn’t have time to do but wishes he could do more. Could charter a fishing boat for him and his friends for an afternoon, though I don’t know about the price.
For someone who can buy whatever they want, I think you can get him something to show your affection (assuming you both love each other very much, of course).
$1500 can get you a nice custom watch. If you can have a strong idea of his taste, I think a watch designed/specified by his wife would still be quite sweet. I love telling stories about my watch, so maybe I’m biased.
If he would enjoy a golf trip with his buddies (or any kind of trip), $1500 could go a long way for 4 or 5 days, assuming the buddies are willing to chip in of course. It would take some coordination but months of notice should be workable. And that would definitely be memorable.
In any case, I think you’ve come to the right place. Happy early 40th to your husband!
What kind of fishing?
I think a lot of people are hitting the nail on the head. Weekend getaway to tour a distillery. He already has everything he wants that you could buy him, and chances are if you try to buy him something in his hobby range it won’t be the thing he wants. Experiences are always a safe bet.
Get him a track day to drive a race car really fast. I know you said nothing about cars, lol…I wanted this for my 40th. If he remotely likes cars, this would be an awesome and unexpected surprise!
Custom built wood whisky cabinet
Gosh, he’s exactly me. I am going to explain to you unequivocally what every good man wants: we just want you to tell us to go do our thing—hunting, fishing, golfing, etc—on our own terms, maybe with our friends, without any guilt or feeling like we’re slighting any of our loved ones. We want to hear, “honey, I want you to go and have fun; don’t worry about us. You love us, and we love you too. Call when you’re free, and don’t worry about anything. When’s a reasonable time to expect you’ll be back?” Then, don’t text or call or ask a bunch of questions the whole time. We love you; we really do, but we just need to enjoy ourselves without feeling like it’s at your expense. Even if he doesn’t act like it, if he’s a good dude, he feels like it. If you must give him something monetary, give him a gift card for whatever that thing is and a nice bottle of bourbon or whatever to enjoy while he’s doing his thing. It’s not more than this, and if you feel the need to do more than this, you are probably feeling that a lot more than he is. Trust me: “gift giving” is a prime love language of mine, and I feel this so deeply.
Some of the best 40th birthday gifts I’ve seen friends get (source: I am a 40 year old male):
A whisky tasting trip to visit several distilleries in Scotland.
A golf weekend with friends.
A great bottle of [insert whatever he drinks, scotch, run, wine, etc]. For this one to be a great gift, if you need to talk to his friends if you’re not super knowledgeable about the genre and find something that’s hard to find or that he has always wanted to try but wasn’t willing to splurge on.
-I was gonna say a suite at a baseball game but he said no.
-A 1:1 trip to run a big marathon or triathlon or whatever if he is into that stuff – just you and him, no kids. That would be a more relaxing way to enjoy that sort of thing.
-Custom socks with pictures of the kids. This is a much cheaper trip but we (dads) always love these.
-Hire a bartender for the night and host a surprise party at your house or a friend’s house. Surprise him by bringing in some good friends from out of town that he won’t expect to see.
-Kidding/not kidding with this one because it’s not for most people but one of my friends got a threesome for his 40th.
My wife for my 40th. Took me out to dinner and turned into a suprise party. After dinner she took me and our dinner guest to a burlesque show. One of the best B-days In my life.
“When a man gets to be 40 they have two choices, get into smoking meat or WWII history”
Personally I went bbq/smoking meat. I got/(bought myself) a komado Joe (don’t buy that one, I can find you a much better deal, just message me and I’ll look around).
Basically my answer is a good steak and a BJ. But everyone is different.
A tee time at a course for him and a buddy he doesn’t get to go to often/ever.
Is money and object? How about a nice drink cabinet stocked him really good scotch? (Ask one of his buddeis what is really good scotch).
Also a hand written letter telling him him how much he means to you.
And a box of home made cookies.
The letter will mean more to him than any gift though.
Your husband sounds lame. Buy him a steak dinner and give him a blow job. Spend money on a hotel in the city and cocktails.
Does he like barbecues ?
If so, does he own either a quality smoker or a decent gas barbecue ?
Take him someplace for a golf vacation. I live about 30 mins north of pebble beach in California. The weather here in the summer is awesome and there’s a lot of good golf in the area.
When someone has the means to buy what they want the answer is usually to gift them an experience.
I agree with the commenters leaning into “experience” gifts. I think I’m like OP’s husband – if I want one I’ll get one, and hell, I don’t even know what I “want” in a gift.
But he shot down the nice baseball box outing, so…if it fits you as a couple (you’re not shoehorning yourself in), have a fishing day with him, give him a nice scotch (or whatever he’s into lately), maybe a piece of sports memorabilia if you’re able to snoop and find out (or already know) his “faves”, and bookend the day with something frisky he likes in bed. Scattershot approach, this would be a good one for me.
A monthly subscription service. Every month he gets a delivery of…….
Bourbon or Scotch of the Month!
Yes, you can have a monthly taste club delivered to the door. Bourbon, scotch or what have you as a birthday gift.
Bourbon of the Month Club | Taster’s Club
Scotch of the Month Club | Taster’s Club
A happy birthday message from his sports hero could be cool
Get him the watch! He’s 40!
If he is serious about his golf a Rapsodo for him to video and correct his golf swing – pair this with a pass for a local driving range.
This is why I keep a note on my phone and write down anytime my mentions that she wants something. Around holidays or birthday consult the list and go from there.
Baseball or football card, particularly of one of his childhood heroes. You could easily drop $1500.
You guys have some great ideas!! Going to look into a few and also some weekend trips! We will actually be at our family’s beach house on his birthday but maybe the weekend after
Perhaps a bit of head, a nice dinner and some peace
Choose a meaningful experience over a thing. His hobbies lend themselves to splurges.
Gun buy him a gun
Fishing trip for tunas? (Sorry that’s what I want)
Fuck your husband in the most wild way you can. Make sure he has food prepared for the weekend. Leave with the kids if you have any, and dont bother him for atleast 48 hours. When you get home, don’t bother him about what he did unless he wants to tell you. It’s like a guys spa day, but we dont want to go to an actual spa. Just let us do what we want in peace. It’s relaxing.
For my 40th my wife invited some friends to visit (they live 3 hours away) for the weekend and she hired a private chef to come to our house and make a 5 course dinner. It was amazing. She told them what I don’t like and they took it from there. They came with everything but cups and cutlery. Made an amazing meal, served us at the table and described every dish, cleaned up and were gone quick. We just sat around drinking and having fun. It went so well we did the same for my wife’s 40th. For hers we added the cocktail pairing and got pretty hammered over 5 courses.
For a friend’s 40th we went to Vegas for the weekend with friends. Had dinner at Gordon Ramsey and booked a pool cabana one day. It was a fun weekend but more expensive.
Since he seems to already have the “big things” (golf clubs, watches), maybe you could go a bit more personal and sentimental?
One idea: I actually make custom bobbleheads — you could create one that looks like him in his fishing/golf outfit or holding his favorite drink (like a mini version of him teeing off or celebrating with a glass of scotch!). It’s fun, super personalized, and something he definitely wouldn’t have already bought for himself.
https://preview.redd.it/c4a4pkrbpoxe1.png?width=1024&format=png&auto=webp&s=6daa1b3a561969a78192f7ffc37977c5f1065b03
Just thought I’d share in case you want something that’s both meaningful and one-of-a-kind for the party!
A bloody nice pen? Montblanc or similar?
Get him the watch. Yes, the 10k one.
A Golf Weekend at an expensive course like Pebble Beach or TPC Sawgrass
Fishing: Tops Knives makes this gorgeous little fixed blade called the Bull Trout. It’s great for cleaning fish and small game.
For the business meeting part: a really nice pen. Check out Tactile Turn.
What about a watch movement kit, way under budget, and it’s perfect for a watch guy who may also like the technical side of how a watch works. Seiko has a NH36 kit, and there’s a few others on the market.
Plan a golf trip for him and his buddies to go on. Golf trips with the boys are the best.
Trackday to race some sportscars? Combined with weekend/night away, dinner etc.
I’d get home the Lagavulin 8, 12, 16, 32 and 37 year old. Or a single bottle of pappy and a nice Cuban.
Road/plane trip to see his team play in another city.
Pack “naughty” items to wear at the hotel.
I see fishing on the list. So I’ll suggest a fishing charter in a new area. For $1500 you could travel somewhere and join a charter or book a really nice day on a big boat locally.
Make memories rather than buying another thing. Go with him, take fishing photos and hand out his beers.