6 Memorable Retirement Gift Ideas

by | Nov 22, 2019 | Inspiration, Tips and Tricks

The moment a person retires after spending decades in the workforce is truly a momentous occasion. Retirement marks the end of a long, fulfilling career and the beginning of a new and exciting journey. It is the perfect time for them to kick back and pamper themselves – either by spending some quality time with their loved ones, travelling to their bucket list destinations or by simply enjoying the comforts of home after decades of working.

 

If you have a long-time colleague, friends or loved one who is about to step into their ‘never-ending coffee break’, why not help them celebrate this special moment in their life by giving them a thoughtful and personalised gift that’ll express your appreciation for them as well as well wishes for their future endeavours.

 

While there are plenty of options out there, finding the perfect gift that’ll please both men and women, make them feel special and are something that they can keep and cherish for a long time can be a daunting task. So in order to help you out a little bit, we have come up with 6 memorable retirement gift ideas that will put a smile on your retiree’s face.

 

Memory Photo Book

When a person retires, they have more time to focus on themselves, their family, hobbies and interests. Now that they have an ample of free time, they could finally start on that garden they’ve been meaning to make, work on their backswing in tennis or even take up a new and interesting hobby- like photography to record their daily happiness. Some might even opt to just relax at home and enjoy living in the moment. 

 

While they enjoy making new memories, why not give them something to look back on and double up their happiness. By giving your retiree a memory photo book, you’ll be able to remind them of all the good times they had in their working career. While there might have been ups and downs at work, surely your retiree must have had some beautiful, fun and memorable moments that they wouldn’t mind keeping.

 

For example, fond memories of their early days in the workplace, memories from team bonding trips and office parties or memories of receiving awards for their performance in the workplace. Finding photos of those precious moments and turning them into a memory photo book with heartwarming captions or fun scrapbooking items is a great way to remind them of the best moments they’ve had in the workplace and of the friendship they’ve forged in their career – something that is infinitely more precious than receiving a plain old card from the dollar store. 

 

Pro Tip: Receiving a durable and neatly bound photo book as a gift will make the retiree feel more appreciated as a friend, colleague or employee. It will also allow them to admire those pictures whenever they want – giving them the ability to relive their career life and proudly share those moments with their children or grandchildren. As a gift-giver, you’ll also be able to feel satisfied with giving a thoughtful and long-lasting gift that’ll allow them to cherish their career life journey in their golden years.

 

Thoughtful Framed Prints

 

Bidding farewell is never an easy thing to do. If you shared a particularly close bond with the person who is retiring or if you know that your retiree is planning to move away once they retire (Fun Fact: Downsizing the home and moving to a place with cheaper cost of living is quite a common trend among retirees), giving them personalised framed prints will surely serve as a great memento to remind them of the special bond you both share and would make a good addition to their new home. 

 

For example, pictures of your team, the best shots of you together with them, or an iconic picture of the retiree that’ll be a perfect way to make them feel special as well as remind them of the best moments they had during their work phase. 

 

If you don’t want to use photos, you can also opt to go for a more artistic route- like using a caricature from a photo or any scene that you want them to remember, fine art photos you think they might enjoy, or have a simple print with the signatures and well-wishes of all their colleagues framed for them to be displayed in their home. This thoughtful and practical gift will definitely put a smile on their face.

Quirky Retirement Mugs

Your future retiree’s morning routine must have looked the same for the past decade or so. Routinely it would look something like this; wake up early, attend to some personal hygiene (maybe get in a shave or a good cleanse), have breakfast (if they’re lucky), getting ready to head out (or alternatively, dropping the kids off at school) before finally rushing off to their workplace. 

 

Now that they’re about to be retired, their daily routine is going to be drastically altered. There’s no longer a sense of urgency –  no more mad rush to get ready because they’ve missed the alarm, no more having to wake up at 5 am and leaving the house by 7.30 am. At this point, there might not even be a need to send the kids off to school. They can take their time luxuriating in bed before getting ready for their nice, relaxing day. If you’re planning to contribute something that will help your retiree to kick start their day in relaxing comfort (and maybe with a chuckle or two), you should consider getting them a quirky, personalised retirement mug.

 

After working for so long, you’ll realise that one point, it seems like people can’t function properly without having their morning cup of coffee (or any other morning beverage of their choice). It’s a hard habit to break and even your retiree will fall back into these habits from time to time – so make the most of it by gifting them a unique mug that not only makes them smile, but also remind them of all the work they’re missing!

 

As personalised mugs allow you to add your favourite pictures, quotes or messages, you can use this chance to create a quirky retirement mug by adding quotes or sayings such as ‘You can’t scare me. I’m retired’, ‘The legend has retired’ or I’m done’, and pairing them with beautiful themes or sentimental pictures. 

 

Pro Tip: If you’re planning on giving someone a personalised mug that features unique design, photos, or funny quotes, be sure to choose a mug that’s resistant to colour fade and are long lasting so that your retiree can keep and cherish the mug for a long time. For example, at Pixajoy, all of the mugs provided are of the highest grade made and are coated with a special, ORCA certified coating – a type of coating that ensures the printed images on the mug remains vivid even after 3000 washes – which is roughly equivalent to 10 years, give or take. 

 

Luggage Tag For Trips

For people who have spent a good majority of their lives working, it makes sense that once they’ve finally reached retirement age that they would want to travel – see the world and experience new sights, scents and sounds. Now that they have the time and financial freedom to go globe trotting, nothing’s stopping them from living their best life.

 

If you know that your new retiree is planning to devote most of their new free time into travelling around different parts of the globe, be sure to send them off with well wishes and a stylish, personalised luggage as a gift

 

Despite the luggage tags being about the general size of a credit card size or slightly smaller, this useful travel accessory would make a great gift to bid farewell and safe travels to your retiree – allowing you to add a special touch that’ll remind them of you whenever they go on vacation.

 

As some of you may know, playing luggage bingo at the end of a long journey is never fun, and without an easily recognisable luggage tag, your retiree could be playing it for some time. Hence giving a personalised luggage tag with their picture, name or your special wishes with an attractive theme will make it easier for them to identify their luggage as well as help him to remember your thoughtfulness while travelling across the globe on their golden years.

 

Tempting Tumblers 

Once the earlier excitement of finally retiring finally wears off, your retirees will probably want to do a lot more than kickback during their newfound free time. Instead of relaxing or keeping idle in their own home, some might choose to pursue new hobbies – like gardening, learning a new language or painting. There is also a special few who might even resolve to become more physically active – often spending extra time at the driving range to work on their golf swing or going out on weekend expedition to hike, bike or even indulge in a bit of wanderlust by going camping or travel tours. 

 

Since they can now do whatever it is that strikes their fancy, they will definitely appreciate receiving something that will help them stay hydrated while they explore their new avenues of interests. This is where the personalised tumblers comes in. As a gift, it works both as being something that is extremely practical and useful as well as being a good canvas to showcase how much they mean to you (and how much you want the best for them). 

 

For the retiree, when it comes to embracing their new lifestyle changes – especially if they are dead set on participating in more outdoor activities – they’ll need a reliable tumbler to carry around their drink of choice; be it water, coffee, energy drinks or other beverages that will help keep them hydrated and active all day long.

 

In this case, by gifting your retiree a unique and stylish personalised tumbler that was designed with their favourite photos, motivational quotes, or anything really that exudes their personality – you will not only give them something that will help to keep hydrated and their drinks refreshingly cold or soothingly warm, but you they also be unable to help themselves from thinking about you when they use the tumbler.

 

Personal Notebook

If your retiree is one of those who have a habit of jotting down their everyday thoughts on a book or they are basically an aspiring writer, a personalised notebook will be a perfect gift for them. Generally, a retired person will have so many lessons and memories that they would want to remember for a lifetime or to be shared with their loved ones. With a personal notebook, they can do so by writing down their memorable moments, feelings and emotions they’ve had experienced in a great way.

 

This practical gift will also allow them to write down their daily activities after retirement such as their plans and thoughts to keep them on track and achieve a healthy and balanced lifestyle in their golden years. With wonderful pictures that reflect your fun time during your work phase, beautiful words that express how much they’ll be missed and the functional purpose of the book that allows them to use it every day, they’ll certainly feel special and you’ll surely be remembered for giving such a meaningful and thoughtful gift.

 

Pro Tip: If you’re planning to give your retiree a personalised notebook that comes with a specific page formats to fit their needs and interests, then deluxe notebook series from Pixajoy will be the best way to go. With the deluxe series notebook, you can find three different formats such as blank -suitable for those who loves to sketch and doodle, dotted-suitable for bullet journaling, and lined-perfect to structure their thoughts in an effective way.


We hope one of these retirement gift ideas make finding the perfect gift for your future retiree a little easier or maybe even make your retiree’s last day of work more memorable. To find more unique and remarkable retirement gifts, feel free to visit the Pixajoy website(or  Pixajoy Singapore)and choose your favourites! 

 

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