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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?
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.
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.
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.
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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