My
Problem
My Husband’s 30th Birthday was
coming up in less than 2 weeks and I wanted to make it special but I didn’t
have much time. We had booked a trip to New York for both our birthdays so I
couldn’t spend much money but I wanted to make the day special for him. What to
do?! Obviously I turned to the internet! Any variation of the words ‘Husband’s
30th Birthday gift ideas’ brings up suggestions of experience days
and people asking the question I wanted answered as well as lots of shopping
sites. I did find some inspiration in my search though; (http://mmetripp.hubpages.com/hub/My-Husbands-30th-Birthday),
30 gifts for the 30 days leading up to his birthday, but wait, I only had a
week! I decided I would give him 10 presents a day over the bank holiday
weekend (his birthday was on Bank Holiday Monday), by this time it was the
Tuesday of the week before so I only had 6 days!
The
Mammoth Task
So I started thinking of 30 ideas for
presents for my husband. I wanted to link the presents in with the year he was
born or the number 30 (just to make it more difficult for myself), so I set to
work. I started writing ideas down whenever and wherever they came to me. Some
of my initial ideas were 30 sweets, a DVD of a film released in the year he was
born, a book published the year he was born, 30 quiz questions. I had already
booked a table at a steakhouse and arranged with my Mum that we would make a
birthday cake for him and I also decided to count the birthday card as one of
the 30 presents – yes, I quickly realised that 30 ideas was going to be
difficult!
The
Result
So here is what I came up with, in the
order I gave them to him.
1.
A helium balloon with ‘30’ on
it. I attached a tag that said that he would receive 30 presents over the next
3 days to celebrate his 30th birthday.
2.
30 love heart sweets
3.
A pass for 30 days off the
washing up (I’ve managed to keep to this so far, 13 days on!
4.
An apple – this was one of my
last ideas! The Apple Macintosh was first sold in 1984 so the apple represented
that.
5.
A big badge with ‘30’ on it.
6.
An x-men comic from the month
he was born - My husband likes x-men so I thought he would appreciate this.
7.
2 packs (15 in each pack) of ‘Animal’
biscuits (the biscuits in the shape of animals, not pet food!)
8.
30 paper clips - again, one of
my last ideas!
9.
30 anagrams – My husband likes
and is very good at anagrams so he enjoyed this.
10.
A poem about turning 30. If I
had, had more time I would have tried to write one myself but I found a funny
one on the internet.
11.
30 stickers for his World Cup 2014
sticker book – he may be 30 but he’s a big kid.
12.
A book about the year he was
born (My Year Series).
13.
The top 30 boys names from the
year he was born (his name was number 2).
14.
Ghostbusters on DVD – this was
released in the year he was born.
15.
30 quotes – I wanted quotes
about going 30 but I could only find about 25 so the others were just about
birthdays.
16.
A photo album – empty, with a
note saying that he should fill it with 30 photos over the next year.
17.
A poster for the film Terminator
(released the year he was born). He plans to get this framed.
18.
I put together some facts about
the day he was born in a Clip Frame – things like the top 5 in the charts, who
his football team played that day etc.) as well as details of where and when he
was born and how much he weighed.
19.
Balloons and banners – when he
came downstairs on the morning of his birthday, there were balloons and banners
with ‘30’ on them in the lounge and on the door outside (I think he appreciated this!)
20.
A birthday card (with ‘30’ on
it, of course!)
21.
A tv trivia quiz from the
decade he grew up in.
22.
A £30 donation on his behalf to
a local charity.
23.
A £30 cinema voucher.
24.
A New York City guidebook (we
are going to NYC for our 30th birthdays)
25.
A Cake – my Mum is very good at
making cakes so she helped me make an NYC themed cake
26.
A match day programme from a
football match his team played 2 days after he was born – I think this was my favourite present.
27.
Royal Mint Coin set from the
year he was born.
28.
A photo frame with pictures of
us.
29.
An item from his amazon wish
list.
30.
A Meal out at a Steakhouse.
I couldn’t have done all this without help
from my neighbour who must have taken in about 10 parcels over 3 days, numerous
friends who helped me with ideas, Tracy, Sarah S, Sarah G & Stephen J. My
Mum for helping me make the cake, my Dad for printing things that my printer
wouldn’t and my Mother in law for giving me valuable information! http://mmetripp.hubpages.com/hub/My-Husbands-30th-Birthday for inspiration and I took a few ideas directly from here. Also the ebay
sellers who posted items quickly so they arrived in time.
If I could do anything differently I would
give myself more time to plan because I was very busy over his birthday weekend,
sorting everything out, that I didn’t see him as much as I would have liked. In
the end I spent around £180 (excluding the meal) which was more than I intended
to spend but I think it was worth it, it made his birthday weekend special.
I hope that people who are looking for
ideas for 30th birthday gifts will find inspiration here. I enjoyed
putting it all together and I hope he will remember his 30th
birthday in years to come because of this. However, I won’t be doing this again
for his 40th!!
