40Th Birthday Gift Suggestions - One Gag Gift, One Sentimental Gift

A friend of mine had a 40th birthday party for her sister. In the invitation, she sent a piece of stationery for the individual to write their favorite memory of that person. The guests arrived at the party, and the letters were collected. Those who couldn't make returned letters to the sister throwing the party. The letters were then read at the party, and the guest of honor had to guess who wrote the letter. At the end of the party, all of the letters were presented to the birthday girl in a lovely decorated box. It was a wonderful and much cherished gift.

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For my brother-in-law's 40th I ordered a scrapbook kit from QVC or the Home Shopping Network (forgot which one). The kit contained a scrapbook with packages of card stock, letter stickers and other embelishments along with envelopes and return envelopes. What I did was mail a package containing one page of card stock, stickers and embelishments to 24 of his family members, old college roommates and close friends. Each person adds pictures and created a scrapbook page using the contents of the package. They sent the page back to me and I put them all into the scrapbook. It was very interesting how different each page came out. My bro-in-law was absolutely floored when he got this gift.

Another suggestion if your friend is a board game fan is Photo Opoly. It is a board game that you personalize with your own photos. There's also another game called Gamesakes which I might do for my sis-in-law. Just do an online search for them.

Good luck!

Gosh, there are all kinds...night creme, bag of marbles (or bag to keep her marbles in), cane, plastic curlers, nose hair clippers, hemorrhoid creme, night-time eye mask, depends, flannel pajamas, mustache bleach, coupon caddy, and I am sure there are more.

For gag gift suggestions: denture adhesive, a cane, a package of depends, a zip up house dress, hearing aid batteries, wrinkle cream, metamucil, etc. Anything that you think an older person might use. You could also walk the aisles of any pharmacy store and find plenty of GREAT ideas.
For the sentimental gift: old photos and written stories of adventures you may have had together. This is always a fun addition to a party.

For a gag gift, they sell jumbo remote controls. You can give her one to help with her failing eye site as she gets old.

**How about $40. in pennies? That would be funny and usable as well.
**40 rolls of toilet paper (again usable and funny)
**I do like the previous marbles suggestion but I would get two bags (for when she loses his marbles)
**40 1 cent stamps (to prepare for the next rate hike)
**40 $1.oo gift certificates to everywhere (McDonalds, Del Taco, Yum Yum, etc.)
**a basket full of depends, denture cream, fleet(for constipation) preperation H, readers digest etc.
**a shirt that says "I am old and not afraid to use it" (I should get that one copywrited)
**a menapause survival kit with a big "keep away" sign, ice packs, advil, vodka(or ginger ale), chocolate, exlax, and so on...
I'll keep thinking I love this kind of stuff.

A remote with HUGE buttons is fun. A good gag gift is to give her 40 of something - prunes, adult diapers, boxes of jello, anti-aging pills, senior citizen discount coupons, senior vitamins, etc.
Sentimental - if you have the creativity for it create a photo collage. I've done this on the computer before, but you could do it on a poster board too. Find 40 pictures that represent 40 - a picture of WD40, the DVD cover for 40 year old virgin, a 40mph road sign, etc. It takes a little research - but google will help! I did this for a friends 50th and another's 60th. I did it on the computer and printed it and framed it for them. It came out really cool. If you want to see them, let me know. I'd be willing to do this for someone, since it's so much fun, but it's time consuming, so I'd have to charge about $100. Good luck.

I saw this at the airport - the birthday girl arrived and they had a wheel chair for her, and a bouquet of dried (dead) roses, they almost looked black. The lady cracked up and was wheeled down to baggage claim clutching her dead flowers.
Another idea would be to buy her a walker. You can find them at Salvation Army Stores
for around $10.
As for sentimental - anything that know that she would like would be appropriate.
I hope your friend has a memorable birthday!
Linda

A gag gift for a girlfriend? I went to a party and one gift was a wrapped Bra. There was a note attached that read: In case you need support!! or... I am there if you need support!
There was a laughter from the crowd of guests that this gag gift was well received...

I like the ideas of a house dress and plastic curlers or a box of Cherrios... Go for something girlish...
The other stuff is usually what a man gets.

As far as sentimental.. a favorite picture or memory is a sure winner. Include a note of where pic was taken and why it was special to you.

When I turned 40 my best friend gave me a great gag/practical gift. She filled a gorgeous red leather basket (I think from Red Envelope) with all kinds of wrinkle cream, Silver Centrum, hemmorroid cream (which actually is great for puffy eyes when baby does not sleep all night), and Depends. There were probably 4-5 different types of wrinkle cream and I used each one to find out which I liked best. The basket is great for my kids to pick flowers in our back yard. I thought it was thoughtful, practical and a nice dig on my age.