What do you give the over-50s who already have everything?

WHAT do you give as a present when one of your old chums reaches what we coyly call a “significant birthday”? Not another pointless knick-knack for a start. I’ve lost count of the people I know who are busily occupied clearing out the debris of decades on the grounds that a) they’re practically buried under it and b) they don’t want to leave their children the bother of dealing with it.

Nobody I know really needs another piece of pottery to put on a shelf and collect dust. Books, box sets and CDs are also high risk as they may already have them. There’s the temptation to mark a “significant” birthday with a “significant” gift harking back to the date at which the recipient was born. A copy of a newspaper for instance, or a first edition of a book from that year. But while this comes under the category of “thoughtful present” it is, frankly, rather depressing to receive some foxed, mildewed, tattered thing that is the same age and in the same sorry condition as you are.

A charitable donation is worthy but… well… a little dull. A voucher or tickets for an “experience” is a good idea as long as you know the person involved actually wants to spend a day learning to make sushi or go to a Michael Bublé concert.

On the whole the best gifts for people who won’t see 50 again are the ones they can consume there and then, unless they’re greenfingered in which case a trip to the garden centre is the answer.

So on balance, give the birthday boy or girl something to eat or pour in a glass. And share with you.