UKC

In the office , all the youngsters ask for a donation if it is someones birthday, and then they 'surprise the birthday boy/girl ' with a card and a thoughtful gift (That usually amounts to about 50 quid)

Snag now is, that I will be next, and I'm really difficult to buy for, as I am a bit older, dont drink , not interested in football or anything like that.
If I want something I will just go out and buy it. I also already have £2,000 worth of gift bonds still to spend, so not short of shopping problems.

Any day now I expect to be pumped for info on my likes, and dislikes, but I would just like to tackle this head on and just tell them not to waste their money on me, but that might not be taken well.

Has anyone any suggestions on what they could buy 'me' that perhaps we could all enjoy?

(n.b Strippers are now banned from the workplace)

In reply to Jim C:

Hey Jim, for a win-win situation how about a donation to a charity such as MRT or one of the Nepal ones? That way you, your colleagues and the charity all get a brucie bonus.

Just a thought. Tony

In reply to Jim C:

Book tokens are possibly seen as a bit boring, but an hour in a book shop choosing a few books can be a real pleasure, especially if you have free money to spend.

In reply to Jim C:

>, and I'm really difficult to buy for, as I am a bit older, dont drink , not interested in football or anything like that.


A personality?

In reply to Jim C:
Well, surely, there must be something you do like? How about some climbing gear? Walking or mountaineering gear (seeing that you say you are a mountaineer?) Maybe some really nice fat warm gloves. One can never have enough warm winter mountaineering gloves. New rock boots, new walking poles, one of your favourite outdoor photos blown up on canvas? Vouchers for music or books? If everything fails the charity suggestion seems fine..

In reply to Jim C:

Oxfam goats. They're always on our list. We got a herd of them from our wedding list!

In reply to Jim C:

Massage and a happy ending?

In reply to gribble:


What do they taste like?

In reply to Jim C:

How about a hamper?

In reply to The New NickB:
Thanks Nick, but I said I have already got £2,000 of vouchers to spend

In reply to krikoman:


Nice thought, I will ask my wife what she thinks.
Not sure how I can share that with the others in the office though!

In reply to Heike:

Thanks Heike, I have 6 outdoor jackets, five pairs of boots two sets of crampons, innumerable rucksacks etc. etc.
I will probably soon be spending over £1,000 or so on a new touring bike , so money is not the issue, making my mind up which bike is.

As I said in my OP , if I wanted/ needed something , I would have bought it, Long before now.
That's why my ( grown up) kids can never think of presents for me.

The 'works gift' is only £50 quid. My gut would have been , just miss me out, or just donate it to the MRT , but that would probably not go down well with them.
( I will not be entering into the spirit of the gift giving receiving thing ! )

I really don't mind at all donating for gifts for others, (that like that kind of thing) but I am just not a good receiver, especially as I get older.

In reply to ByEek:


That is on the right lines, but not quite right, something that they can buy, and we can then just share it round the office without offending them.

Tomorrow's birthday boy is a 'good Whisky' fan, so that was easy for them, they just found out which whisky he would savour, and got him a bottle.

In reply to Father Noel Furlong:



Cheers for that.
Some things money just can't buy, I guess.
( slinks offline to quietly cut my wrists)

In reply to Jim C:

Tell them you've converted to " good whisky ".

Thank them.

Send the bottle to me.

I'll drink it.

Win Win.

In reply to Jim C:

First world problems eh?

In reply to Jim C:

Mountaineering in Scotland, Early years. New book by Ken Crockett covers Scottish mountaineering history up to WW1.

Published by SMT.

Or a guide book to the Donalds and Marilyns, might start a craze at work.......or not.

Faced with the same problem my daughter got me an Airfix kit, I'm sure the bits were bigger 45 years ago!

In reply to Jim C:

At least you've still got a sense of humour. What about an 'experience'? Off road driving, flying lesson or race session at a track?

In reply to Jim C:

Have you done Go Ape?

It's a great day out, less than £50 too, unless you want to take your wife along too in which case it'll be a bit more.

I worked for them for 3 years as an instructor.

In reply to Trangia:

There is a new one at Loch Lomond Shores called TreeZone . Looks like fun, I was chatting to one of the instructors a few weeks past as I was passing on my bike.

But ByEek has perhaps sorted it for me with his 'hamper' suggestion:-
http://shop.savethechildren.org.uk/product/school-supplies/

In reply to coinneach:

Some conversion, they know from nights out, that I'm TT.

Nice try though.

Just in case I change my mind, what IS your idea of a good bottle if Whisky?

In reply to Yanis Nayu:

Between your First World comment , and ByEek's hamper suggestion, the solutions of a Hamper of kit for Third World Schools emerged.

Many thanks for all that replied .
( even if it was with a blatant totally selfish request for me to spend my birthday gift money on you, on your favourite whisky Coinneach

Edit :- I forgot to mention ( credit) Tony the Blade who mentioned charity right from the get go. Good on you.

The others in the office are not so into MRT Tony, but everyone likes to give the gift of education, good team work from UKC.

In reply to Jim C:

Nice one)

In reply to Jim C:

There is no "bad whisky"

Only "good whisky"

And " better whisky"

Not being selfish though . . . . I would have tried not to enjoy it.

In reply to Jim C:



good one

In reply to Jim C:



You'll get charged extra for a threesome, I'd imagine.

You could video it and then post it to Facebook or YouTube, then everyone in the office would get to enjoy it too!!

Just a thought.

In reply to Jim C:




A knife!

In reply to Jim C:


That's not the point!

In reply to krikoman:


Very good

In reply to The New NickB:


It is for me.
People wanting to buy me presents, or asking me what I would like , IS a problem that does my head in.

1) I don't much like receiving presents. I tell my kids to save their money at Christmas, I'm happy with a bar of fruit and nut.
2) I'm not particularly short of anything ( that they could afford to buy me)
3) My wife , and family don't want me buying things I might like, as they are short of ideas already.( my birthday and Fathers Day coming up)
4) I already have money to buy what I might want.
5) On top of that I have got the £2,000 of gift vouchers that I only have two years to use up. Books are always good, but I have a backlog already.
(I'm just a hopeless shopper, I get bored, so my wife and kids will spend most of the vouchers , but not on me.

In reply to Jim C:

Alton towers water park. If you can't enjoy yourself there might as well cut your wrists

In reply to Kassius:

No problem enjoying myself, I just don't need money to do it.

Anyway Sorted, I have discussed it with the rest of the office and we are going for : Alzheimer’s http://www.alzscot.org/
(As my mother is a sufferer, and it is Alzheimer’s Awareness week )

In reply to Jim C:

if you have everything, been everywhere a dont really want anything, why are you that bothered???

In reply to Jim C:

Good for you, a worthy cause.

In reply to eivrol:


He didn't say that. Stop stirring.

In reply to eivrol:


You are correct, I have been everywhere, and have bought everything that I can buy (for fifty quid