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So, my wife's 50th is coming up soon and I'm at a loss for a special present for her to mark the occasion.

I've tried to suggest a few crazier things like a tandem skydive, but she's not really into that sort of thing.

Unfortunately, her best friend has pipped me to the London theatre show I had earmarked.

I would have booked flights for a city break for just the 2 of us, but we have issues with one of the kids and sleepovers if more than 1 night.

So, suggestions please?

Thanks in advance...

tickets to a classical music concert or the theatre, and a hotel for the night to make  real trip of it. If hotel not feasible then budgetfor a taxi home . 

A concert or theater does sound like a nice idea. Maybe you could also consider a family photoshoot - hire a photographer to take some beautiful portraits of your wife with you and the kids. That way you're all included in celebrating her special day. Could also book her favorite restaurant for a meal together. 

Might be too much of the same (theatre),but how about a trip down to the Minack to watch something?

Not sure of your budget,  but a stopover could be Hotel, Airbnb,  or Treen Camping?

A lesson or series of lessons in something, say cooking where you make pasta then enjoy the meal at the end, dance lesson, photography school, arty drawing or painting etc... if it's not her thing ignore the traditional bucket list of brief adrenaline type experiences and do something more tangible where you can take something away after, or learn a skill. 

50 bars of her favourite chocolate

This of course can be adjusted for any birthday. If you are economically challenged then I recommend doing this as soon as possible.

Book one of those spa days, possibly including the best friend. They usually go down very well.

Just worked out that this would cost me at least £115.20 - ain't gonna happen 🤣

Edit: IIRC it would also be 11.52 kg of chocolate - aversion therapy perhaps.

Currys are doing some pretty good deals on washing machines now...https://www.currys.co.uk/appliances/laundry/washing-machines

I'll get me coat.😉

What does she like? 

I bought our lass earrings and a neckless from Alex Monroe, she loves them*.

https://www.alexmonroe.com

*I did get her to choose what she wanted from the website as it could prove to be an expensive guess on my part!

Here are some of the imaginative and innovative birthday gifts to my wife from recent years:

Salt and pepper pots In the shape of hedgehogs (£4 from a charity shop)

Some cheese

A sewing machine (she actually asked for this and specified the model)

A glue gun

A glass with daisies on it (also from a charity shop, Sue Ryder if I remember correctly)

A stapler

Glue sticks for the glue gun

A webcam

Peter Crouch's Autobiography.

Hope that gives you some ideas, it's just a matter of thinking outside the box. You'll be fine.

There's a pub near us that does really good food and a taster menu and you can stay the night, I'm sure other places do similar without costing the earth.

Cheers

Toby

My missus loved her Tag Heur watch, with diamond inserts.

Posh Lake District hotel with fancy dinner? Some good one night deals around!

Trip to Ireland? Cheap flights if you are near to Liverpool! I took a mate for a significant celebration not long ago…a day in Cork (great Guinness)!

A balloon flight. I had one for my fiftieth and it was bloody marvelous, flying over Bristol is spectacular and all the preparation of the balloon really adds to the occasion.

The only problem is timing - you won't be able to set a firm date and may need to postpone multiple times. 

Her onlyfans is amazing, thankyou for getting her all those things 🥰

Your wife may well be saying things that she likes as part of ordinary conversation. Listen to her carefully and maybe pick something based on that? 

Even though we were living in London at the time, I got tickets for the opera in Covent Garden and booked a night in a hotel, while my mother-in-law looked after the kids.

Bit boring but I took my wife away for the weekend with the kids and took them all to a posh restaurant for her dinner. I'd probably upgrade her golf clubs if I were posed with the same problem today.

I bought my wife a hoover for her 50th. A Vax one, that was from Lidl and was half price. It was too difficult to wrap, so I placed it on the toilet seat as surprise when she went to brush her teeth. 

How about something crafty she could get into as a hobby like a stained-glass or jewellery making course?

I saw a blacksmith experience a few years ago and always thought that would be an awesome present (for me, anyway). 

Where do you live?

If you're not too far from London, I would buy her a meal in a really good restaurant, and get the train home, if feasible, or book somewhere to stay. One of my favourite restaurants is Langhan's Brasserie, which is very close to Green Park tube station, so easy to get there. It is expensive, more so after Covid, and new ownership.

Does she like jewellery,  how about a bespoke handmade piece that represents something special to her,  loads of independent silversmiths etc around nowadays? Having said that moab tandem basejump looks like fun ! 

https://tandembasemoab.com/

I made my ex walk across a river in Scotland on her 50th. Where did I go wrong?

Who said romance was dead?

A lot depends on where you are.  Just the general region would help.

FWIW, for my wife's recent significant birthday I got her a meet the koalas visit at Longleat.  This was very well received.

T.

I got the Mrs a nice bespoke nature inspired necklace from a local jewler for her 50th, magnolia works out of a small studio in Headingly and makes beautiful stuff.

https://magnoliarestrepo.com/

Last year i signed her up for a 1 hour helicopter trial flight / lesson. Not cheap at £600 but someone bought me one a few years ago and flying a helicopter is one of the best things I have ever done. 

My wife loves family gatherings so I set up a surprise get together of about 60 in the garden for her 45th. Managed to conceal the massive preparation as a ‘just seeing if I still have all the bits for the gazebos’. Everyone brought some food too. Still talked about many years later.

This is a top idea, we have done a few days like this, pottery throwing being my favourite. 

Book it, you will love it. I have done a couple of blacksmiths days and loved every minute. Of your anywhere close to Leeds I happen to have a blacksmiths forge set up in the back garden, I'm always happy for someone to come for a play beating hot steel, I'm a long long way from being a smith but making a snal keyring is easy and free too. 

Good idea. She might have talked about things that she likes several times over the years.

I like the way you’ve taken the basic concept and moved it on a bit there. Hopefully not going too fast.

Thought about that, but it's a lot of money for 2 - I've done it in Egypt for a fraction of that cost.

And the issue is booking it, as you say.

Should have said - Reading area, so London easy to get to.

Already got a family dinner planned at restaurant of her choice.

Yes, she's said she wants some jewellery, but a bit evasive on what. She doesn't really wear much of it. She found a bracelet she likes a while ago, but then tried it on and didn't like it on her.

I did that for my last significant birthday (and it was ACE), but not her thing.

Like your thinking. I did look at booking her a tandem jump, even to the point of enquiring what I needed to get re-qualified so I could be on the same lift (I think my formation skills are too rusty to be allowed anywhere near her in freefall!), but she's not having it.

I don't think mine was that pricey but I was in a big basket with 8 or so other people.

I bought my sister a jewellery making workshop day for her 50th and she loved it: both the experience and the bracelet she made. I combined it with the same gift for our mum whose birthday was close to hers so they could go together - that kind of thing is better with company I think.

How about a gift voucher for a new husband who has the imagination to get a gift without resorting to asking random strangers on the Internet for ideas? 🤣

You hadnt married Jesus?

Obviously a new rack of climbing gear! 

😂

On my husband's 50th birthday I got him a digital camera and lens, no idea at that time whether he'd get into it but it turned out to be one of the best presents I've ever bought him - he uses it often and takes his job as family photographer very seriously

Also, I got him a sunrise alarm (which wakes you up by turning on the light slowly) and we both love that, but it's not very fancy