The Retirement Gift Conundrum

I'm on a few networking boards and yesterday someone asked about retirement gift ideas. They were giving it as a company and had a decent budget, so I suggested some pricier items. I thought the list might be useful for everyone else, so I'm going to post my response to her. A retirement gift can be tricky because it needs to be meaningful, but you don't want it to end up being boring and overly traditional.

Here are my ideas:

1) If the retiree is into wine you could get a Unique wine holder, nice bottle of wine and a beautiful wine opener.

2) For a man, a Porsche Design Swiss Army Pocket Knife is a unique and gorgeous option. I suggested it to a few bosses who all purchased it for people and every time it was a hit. One of the models even includes a cigar cutter. As far as I know it can still be found at the Porsche Design Store on 2 Rodeo in Beverly Hills.

3) Since this person is going to have some time on their hands, if they like to read the Amazon Kindle Electronic Book Reader is a great option. I would also include a gift certificate for books to purchase for it. Alternatively you could get a special or rare edition of a book at Dragon Books located at 2954 Beverly Glen Circle in Bel Air or try Arundel Books at 8380 Beverly Blvd in Los Angeles and then get a simple, but elegant bookmark like this one to go with it.

4)If the person is going to travel, a high quality leather travel bag and/or document holder is always a good idea. One brand I like is Ghurka, but Coach, Kenneth Cole are good options as well. I really love this bag from a company called Billy Kirk that I read about in Vogue.

5)Cufflinks and a nice shirt are always a good classic option. You could go with this classic cufflinkset from Tiffany or if your busy is into music and is going to retire and start a band, get him these from Neiman Marcus. To go with it you could buy a shirt from Thomas Pink, Turnbull and Asser or go super classic with this Ralph Lauren shirt.

6) If you do end up wanting to go traditional and definitely do something that can be engraved, get this clock from Tiffany.

7) If the retiree is big into comfort and you have a big budget, you could get this cashmere robe from Saks and/or these cashmere slippers from Neiman Marcus.

8)My last idea, which also leans towards the more classic is to get the retiree a Mont Blanc pen. There are a bunch of local stores in California, but if you work in the city there is one in Beverly Hills at 439 1/2 North Rodeo. I would recommend giving some kind of leather diary to go with it. I like this place that sells them.

These items are admittedly pricey, but that is because the girl who posted the question had a decent size budget. The majority of these ideas could be modified and done on a less expensive level. I'll admit, this list is eclectic and that is on purpose because no one gift is perfect for everyone. You MUST always factor in the person and what you know about who they are and what they like. Nothing else matters more.