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Old 05-30-2012, 12:50 PM
 
9,238 posts, read 22,784,270 times
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I've searched online and found very little on this topic. I know that if someone retires from your workplace, there is typically a party and a group gift, and sometimes if you've worked closely with the person, you might give them a personal gift.

So what do you do if your parent is retiring? My mom and my partner's dad are both retiring next month, and we're wondering about getting them gifts. My dad retired early a few years ago, and we never got him a retirement gift, and since it was close to Father's Day, I only gave him a Father's Day gift.

I'm usually very sensitive to observe the proper rules of etiquette, but to me, retirement gifts are something between co-workers and colleagues, not family and friends. There seem to be no "rules" published out there about what is proper in this suituation. I only found one Q&A website that suggested you send your parents on a vacation somewhere, but that's a little pricy. It also suggests buying them a membership to something.

Since there seems to be no "rule" out there, what would you do, or what have you done in this situation?

Wish the parent happy retirement, and maybe take them out to dinner?
Get them a card?
or buy them a present? Small present? Big present?
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Old 05-30-2012, 12:59 PM
 
Location: here
24,873 posts, read 36,020,612 times
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I don't know that a gift is necessary. Maybe take them out for a nice dinner to celebrate?
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Old 05-30-2012, 02:37 PM
 
Location: Mostly in my head
19,855 posts, read 65,582,737 times
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I would not give them a gift or would give a small gift to the unrelated retiree. That is, don't give your own parent a gift but give a small one to your partner's parent. More of a remembrance than a big deal gift.
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Old 05-30-2012, 02:40 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
29,627 posts, read 34,087,515 times
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I like the idea of a membership to something. Or you could do tickets to an event they'll have time to attend. Or if they've mentioned a hobby that they'd like to get started, you could get a gift related to that.
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Old 05-30-2012, 07:59 PM
 
Location: Wisconsin
19,480 posts, read 24,954,964 times
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Usually retirement gifts are more workplace related.

When I retired each of my children sent me a nice retirement card with a personal note.

However, I used to work with a woman that received a Rolex watch from her children when she retired. Obviously, her children had a lot more money than my children.
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Old 05-31-2012, 05:37 PM
 
Location: Vero Beach, Fl
2,976 posts, read 13,335,567 times
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Good question. A friend of ours who is a helicopter pilot took a woman on a 45 min flight from Fort Lauderdale down along the coast south of Miami and back again. It was a retirement gift from her husband and kids and a lifelong dream of hers. I wish you could have seen the smile on her face ... Sheer joy.

Aside from a gift like this, take a look at hobbies, racing, fishing, scuba, stamp collection, antiques, records (yes, before the advent of CD/DVD's).
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