What would be a good birthday gift, under $50, for a stylish, hip woman in her early 50's?

Fancy scarf, jazzy tote bag?

A spa gift certificate for a manicure or pedicure or facial maybe.
Or, a gift certificate at her favorite boutique.
Maybe with a bottle of wine or champagne.

Go to an art gallery and get her handmade jewelry….If not,get me that XD

I like @lucillelucillelucille‘s suggestion. Big statement necklaces are popular and there’s some really beautiful stuff out there.

How about a pair of TOMS.

I got my sister a mirror that was hand decorated, for her bathroom.

What did she get you? That might give you a clue as to what she thinks is a nice present. Not suggesting you give her the same(!), but maybe from the same shop?

@Stinley: she gave me a framed picture which I like a lot – she said she got it on the street in NYC (we live not far from NYC) and a $25 gift cert to Macy’s.

@Coloma: I can’t do a gift cert or gift card due to me telling her I already had the gift and my daughter messed up the wrapping so the reason why I did not have it with me when she gave me hers was that I had to take it back into the house to re-wrap it. Plus I don’t want to do “dollar for dollar” and get her the same thing she got me.

$50 dollar gift card to a nice restaurant. Then, you can meet her there and she can pay for your dinner.

Wallet

Beach bag

Beach towels

Set of hors d’oerves plates. A friend once gave me a set with an Italian theme, I love them.

Fragrance? Gucci’s Flora is pretty. There are a lot of fragrance gift sets in the stores right now for Mother’s Day.

Does she use barrettes? Other hair accesories?

T-shirt from your city.

A massage.

Oh, I got a Fossil lunch bag purse-thing for my birthday, and I LOVE it! They cost about $30 and are very unique.

How about a shawl? Maybe one like this? You could include a decorative pin for holding the shawl in place.

Or a decorative crystal perfume bottle, like these?

Or what about a subscription to a home decor magazine? Here is a list of several to choose from. Just find that that matches her taste and purchase a copy. Fill out one of the subscription cards inside of it and then wrap up the magazine as the present.

Pedicure :-)

She sounds like someone who would actually like a gift certificate however. A lovely art coffee table book, two beautiful glasses to share with her husband…. Sounds like any gift to her should include the gift receipt so she can exchange it if she wants! You already said you had a gift your daughter ripped the wrapping off remember! (maybe best to say you just said that as you couldn’t decide what to get her. I strongly recommend doing that.) People seem to love candles as well! Have fun!

@jca Are you annoyed she bought you a gift? Now you have to deal with this chore.

@JLeslie: No, I’m not annoyed – I really like the framed print (it’s my FB photo now if you want to take a look) and if I were on the ball I would have been shopping all along so as to find something economical and yet perfect. Actually she probably forgot all about the whole thing, but I try to be a person of my word, and I don’t want her recalling the time when I told her “I had your gift in my car but the baby tore the wrapping paper and so I had to take it in to re-wrap it.” Then she would realize I lied when I never brought the gift to her.

Get her a set of 12 -16 small plates or cocktail forks and cloth cocktail napkins. World Market or Crate & Barrel.

Do you have any restaurants or hotels that offer a “high tea” for lack of a better term?

Maybe the two of you could take a one evening cooking course (we have classes at some of the big department stores, the mall, and cooking schools and cooking equipment stores) where you prepare one particular dish, like sushi or pad thai or whatever it might be.

Membership to the local art museum.

Take her out to a chick flick movie and then out for dessert afterwards.

Take her to a wine tasting at a local winery.

Take a short train trip to a nearby town for a day of shopping or lunching or antiquing or museum hopping.

You’re on the hook for something wrappable, of a size that ccould be damaged easily, which means bigger box. Otherwise it would have fit in a gift bag after “the wrapping paper was ripped off.”

My mom loves getting gifts from Brighton, they have such a huge selection and most of it is really pretty, so it’s hard to go wrong.

@BarnacleBill It can be small and still wrapped.

@jca What did you finally do? Update please. :)

@Pied_Pfeffer : I didn’t get anything yet. I just had weight loss surgery and so my mind wasn’t on it, but this reminds me I have to do something soon.