The date is fast approaching and I'm getting a few questions asking what I'd like as a gift.
My wife has her side of it sorted, I don't know exactly what but I think it's some time away somewhere, likely with a Michelin starred meal, and that is just about perfect.
However...
In-laws and parents are requesting a gift to buy, they don't like to give money and I don't like to receive vouchers, so...
I'm told they'd like to spend £400 or £500 so not an insignificant amount of money.
The thing is, particularly over the last few months, I've wanted for very little. I live in gym shorts and t-shirts as I'm working from home, I have more than enough watches, my bikes are not really used enough to spend more money on bar consumables (I'm not asking for tyres for my birthday!). The only thing I seem to spend money on at the moment is running shoes and I'm not sure asking for a new pair of Nike's is the way forward either!
So in order to help inspire me, what did you get bought for your 40th?
Divorced 👌
**** all from my wife and family. See also my 50th.
I spent the day of my 40th riding my very first sportive.
Are you me? I could have written this same OP so watching with interest!
A weekend at a lovely boutique hotel in Krakow and a visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Maybe another posh weeekend away with appropriate food. If that's what you like then why not...?
Scotty Cameron California Monterey putter.
My partner bought me a Citizen eco drive watch - still used daily 18years later never changed the battery- and also the most expensive present ever. A weeks holiday in the Isles of Scilly. Expensive? Well, we have been back 16 times over the past 18 years......
I wanted to do a tandem jump. With one thing and another, that never happened, nor did the Michelin starred meal that my mum had planned.
I only have a few years left before 50, but I plan on spending that whole day somewhere we blue skies and light winds skydiving.
A guitar and a heck of a party.
a mistress??
I got a deposit on my FlareMax; My 3rd ever new-to-me bike and first in over 10 years...
Hand made Roberts road bike in Columbus SL (thanks Mrs Kilo)
Went to the Alps to ride my bikes.
**** all from my wife and family. See also my 50th.
An 'Outlaw' T Shirt, hoody, and cycling top. I had to the Ironman distance triathlon part, but I did get bought the clothes to show I'd finished....
Something I wish I'd learned years ago,
Experiences rather than gifts. That sort of money will get you a hell of a track day! You know better than I do what you're into but there's red letter days for all manner of tastes. I flew a helicopter for my 40th.
a bottle of whisky something the same age as you? Or at least out of the ordinary - not in itself an experience but I remember with who and when I drank mine.
I don't remember. We didn't do a lot, I wasn't really in the mood I think.
VD
I'd take the money.
Might be asking a bit much to ask for coke and hookers from the inlaws/parents.
Mine is next year, the last thing I want is fuss and a big event. Might book a guided trip away somewhere, would probably get a cake on top of a mountain or similar, that'll do me.
Experiences rather than gifts.
We also went to the Ghent 6, on the night of my 40th one of the riders was killed right in front of us. Obviously I’m not implying Mrs kilo arranged a human sacrifice for my birthday.
Experiences rather than gifts.
Hmm, maybe. But, I was bought watches on my 18th and 30th birthdays. I still wear them both and they still make me smile when I see them on my watchbox each morning. An experience is a fleeting memory after a while...
I’d take the money.
So would I ideally, but it's not an option. They want to buy me something.
Maybe another posh weeekend away with appropriate food
The sensible, if a tad boring option
a bottle of whisky something the same age as you?
Replace whisky with Port or a good red wine and we may be on to something, though £400 on wine is a tad excessive!
At the time I did want a nice bike. A Steve Potts 29er if you're interested. Instead I ended up buying a cheaper bike and went to Molini with friends. I'll remember that holiday at lot longer than I'll remember a bike no matter how nice it would have been. And I still have the bike.
My family clubbed together to get me a paddleboard. Great present, lovely to be out on it and it's been used loads.
I got myself a trip to BPW with loads of friends - & some money that I bought myself a GPS watch with that lasted approx 3 years.
I would definitely go for something experience wise as you are unlikely to forget.
I got @p20 tickets to Silverstone F1. His first ever time at a GP and watching his face through the whole weekend was worth every penny.
A baby. She's still going strong some 6 and half years later.
Promised ourselves a European weekend away at some point as Mrs G and I have both crossed the 40's!
Exactly the same words as molgrips typed. Too bleedin long ago.
Was to be a custom road bike, cancelled that when wife was diagnosed with cancer. She then bought me a Dirty Disco and we had the weekend at the TdF in Yorks. Brilliant.
An experience is a fleeting memory after a while…
You say that like it's a bad thing. No-one ever lay on their death bed thinking, "man, I wish I'd done less in my life." At that point I'd rather have jumped out of an aeroplane than had a nice set of pans.
Maybe I'm slightly biased but I'm in the process of moving house and I've got 40 years of accumulated shit to go through. Two Billy Bookcases full of DVDs and another of CDs, now mostly obsolete thanks to streaming services. And that's the more recent stuff. Anyone want a laserdisc player? Piles of Lego? An original Big Trak? It's a nightmare and I regret buying a lot of it, though I'm too idle to sell it and tossing it all out is killing me.
You say that like it’s a bad thing. No-one ever lay on their death bed thinking, “man, I wish I’d done less in my life.” At that point I’d rather have jumped out of an aeroplane than had a nice set of pans.
This.
I was going to get a big guided holiday this year but that obviously went by the wayside. Got a road bike instead.
Nothing
Never been one for 'experiences' like Red Letter Day stuff.
A nice holiday yes, but a lot of these experiences seem like a glimpse into a world you can't afford to live in. As Jim Bowen would say - "look at what ya could've won"! 🙂
I've had a few bought for me over the years and to me they also feel like forced fun, like New Years Eve.
But everyones different!
As for me on my 40th - just had a big party...
...and went bankrupt - that was memorable! 🙂
**** all from my wife and family. See also my 50th.
Generally I get enough to cover my wife’s birthday a month later, or the first school trip
We had a long WE in New York for my 40th, was pretty nippy as it was in February.
Never been one for ‘experiences’ like Red Letter Day stuff.
I got a load for my last big birthday (50th) as I had a big garden party so everyone felt like they should get me something. I cashed them all in for a full day rally driving in a Scooby at the Bill Glynne Rally School. I enjoyed it. 🙂
For my 40th I had similar (from my friends, Krakow was from my wife, see above) but it was a day driving a Lotus Exige around Silverstone.
A tandoori feast with friends at local restaurant. 10 years later we had another one, but ordered delivery for house party
Dinner at a barbecue joint with the wife, a gravel bike from the family (which I now realise should've been a proper road bike...), and a steak dinner with friends.
Perfect, really!
reading this it seems I'm not the only one who got bugger all on their 40th, couple of years until im 50 and I've basically said Le Mans is 100 years old when I hit 50 so I'm going!
we climbed a mountain in the lakes for my 40th.
bliss.
was with immediate family, no party, no real presents
had a few beers with the lads a few days laters. Nothing planned though
Ask me again in a few years; the day before my 50th, my daughter is 21. Could be interesting (or of course I could be replying to the latest email telling me where she is on her round the world travels)
But having a birthday so close to a child means you don't really celebrate (and there's 4 family bdays in 3 days at that time. Busy busy).
All I'd suggest is do what makes you happy. If it's sitting in a bath of baked beans, sipping warm lager, do it. If it's having a bash everyone you've ever met, do it.
A piano and lessons.
Still playing 10 years later and it's lead to the amazing experience of playing in a band: It was a group made up of work colleagues and we played to sold-out audiences of up to 300 work colleagues and friends. Amazing!
Missus got me a flying lesson. We threw a big party for 50 of my friends and family at the house so ended up with 7 bottles of scotch, and I bought myself a vintage Rolex.
A 1999 Marin Mount Vision.
