1: Cut a hole in a box

(...)

Something that money can't buy or "half buy"? :)

You could ask for something to grow in the garden or on the balcony.

Plant it and then get someone to take a photo of you standing/sitting beside it.

Ten, twenty years on you’ll have a great souvenir of your birthday in 2016.

For a more prosaic idea, what about a double-sided mirror on a stand?  Regular image on one side and magnification on the other.  If you choose a table model you can take it on your travels by car and even by plane if you don’t have too much other stuff.  You may not really need it right now, but maybe in a a few years down the line ... Also, your  other half may also want to borrow it when staying in a motel.  They’re not always the best equipped when a fella needs a shave.

Hope this doesn’t sound too dreary – and many happy returns!

R.

Thank you very much Ritchie and Robi for your interesting suggestions. Well worth thinking about, although we already have five children in India whom we sponsor ranging in age from 16 down to 7.

Will have a long look at the offerings in the plant nursery and also the Oxfam website. Yes, good thinking that our purchases go to helping others.

At least if we do choose a plant, it should be well watered in!

Thank you for your good wishes = only two days after HMQEII [although not the same year of course] and coinciding with St. George's Day.

Tomato plants... choose your favorite kind and ask for that.

that will give you a summer of nutrition and yummyness

Thank you Charlie

Good suggestion..... however our nextdoor neighbour works in an agricultural nursery and gives us a dozen different varieties to plant every year, even the stripey zebra ones!!!

With regard to giving a ‘birthday present’ to a charity, what about gifting, say, a plant to a local care home for the less fortunate?  I feel that we often donate to world-wide charities while forgetting the less fortunate on our doorstep who may even be expats who have fallen on bad times.

Good idea Ritchie.

Will definitely think about doing this too - or even additionally to the other ideas

Time ! In this fast paced digital wold if you ask me, time is the best gift I personally would give someone,

Get together, cook a dinner that one likes ... chat about a subject one is intrested in .... maybe watch a memorable movie, or game (like Bridge for example) and try to gift the evning evening possible !

That;s what I do at least !

Ah, time, that precious commodity that eludes so many of us.

The personal experience of spending two birthdays on the trot entirely alone without even a phone call taught me a valuable lesson in maintaining contact in even the simplest fashion:  a cuppa and a chat or, nicer still, sharing a simple meal, can warm the heart and strengthen the resolve to carry on come what may.

Agreed, finding time isn’t always easy but its impact in fellowship can be much more enduring and endearing than any material gift.

R.

A bit expensive, but hey! since you already have everything...

Want to shit gold? I mean, LITERALLY? Just swallow one of these Gold Pills and all your glittery doo-doo dreams will come true. This product is totally for real-real and not just for play-play. The pill capsule will set you back $425, is filled with 24-karat gold leaf and dipped in gold. It’s brought to us by Tobias Wong and Ju$tAnother Rich Kid. Their inspiration is the (wo)man who has absolutely everything. Yes, the (wo)man who has everything… except for glittery shit. The rest of us? Well, the rest of us are trying to make ends meet and hoping to poop as discreetly as possible.

And is there a canine version for doggies who have absolutely everything ?

For Golden Retrievers?