When a person finally reaches the point at which he or she retires, it really is a milestone. If you have someone in your life that is getting ready to retire, you likely are wondering what type of gift to give. There are seven categories from which an ideal retirement gift can be drawn.
Years of Service Gift
For generations, the most common type of retirement gift was one focused on years of service. This type of gift oftentimes was given by an employer. However, that was during a time period when most people spent the greater part of their working lives in one, or perhaps two, jobs.
With that noted, a years of service gift is still a solid choice, even if it doesn’t officially or formally come from an employer. This type of gift could come from family, friends, or colleagues and will still have a nice impact.
Examples of years of services gifts include things like a watch or some type of jewelry. Silver is a solid choice when it comes to this type of years of service gift.
Hobby Gift
If the new retiree enjoys some type of hobby, a gift related to that endeavor is wise choice. People have a wide range of hobbies in this day and age, some of which are easier to find an appropriate gift. For example, if a person is a wine connoisseur, you will likely be able to come up with some obvious options.
If your associate has a hobby you are not particularly familiar with, reach out to that person. Ask him or her what type of item would be highly useful in the pursuit of that hobby.
Travel Gift
If the retiree is fond of travel, or has indicated a desire to spend time traveling once retired, considering giving the individual some type of travel gift. Examples of these types of gifts include luggage, passport holder, or personalized luggage tags. Books about possible travel destinations are solid ideas.
Depending on your relationship with the retiree, and your own budgetary considerations, giving a trip is a wonderful gift for a retiree. If the cost of a trip is beyond your own budget, odds are you will be able to organize people to collectively buy this type of gift for a retiree.
Experiences Gift
By the time many people reach retirement age, they have accumulated a good deal of “stuff.” Another idea for a perfect retirement gift is something from the experiences category.
Examples of what you can consider giving from the experiences category includes tickers to a concert, theatre, or sporting event. A gift certificate to a nice restaurant is another idea.
You can take one of two approaches when you give an experience gift. First, you can take the retiree and his or her significant other, if there is one, to the experience. Second, you can purchase tickets and let the retiree plan the specifics with whoever he or she would like to take.
Industry Gift
Another category of retirement recognition is the industry gift. As the name suggests, this type of gift is something associated with the industry or profession in which the person worked. This type of gift does hearken back to days gone by when an industry gift was more commonplace. As with a years of service gift, some years ago, this type of gift was quite commonly given by an employer as a means of commemorating the work of a retiree.
Charitable Contribution Gift
Many people heading into retirement have spent at least part of their working career in support of some type of charitable organization, at least in some manner. In other words, there is a strong possibility that the retiree has what is best described as a favorite charity.
If that is the case, you might want to consider making a contribution to a particular charity on behalf of the retiree. If the retiree doesn’t seem to have a favorite charity, you could ask the individual if there is one he or she would like to see a donation go.
Social Gift
This is something of a derivation of the experience gift. A social gift oftentimes is something added to another type of gift.
In basic terms, a social gift is one in which you invite the retiree to join you for something like lunch or dinner at some point in the future. You could be creative and make a coupon which the retiree can redeem at some point in the future for a social connection of some sort.
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Jessica Kane is a writer for Silver Superstore, home of the internet’s best flatware.
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