What do I want for my birthday?

A fucking mahoosive badge with “I’m a childish bastard & don’t give a fuck” written on it.
I have one & wear it every birthday just because I can.

This is why I’ve stopped gift exchanges… they put stress on the giver and the recipient for something that is supposed to be joyous. I prefer experiential celebrations – doing something to commemorate the moment.

If you or they insist on gifting, perhaps they could pitch-in and pay for an outing that you all spend together – concert, play, movie, sporting event, trip to the zoo or botanic gardens, cooking classes, etc. Then you have memories of a fun time spent together rather than an ugly shirt or extra mug that you feel compelled to keep but only serve to clutter the house.

Start a PEZ dispenser collection and get some new socks.

All the VHS laserdisc DVD sets of the entire pre-jar jar abrams Star Trek franchise, minus enterprise.

Lap dance?

How about tickets to an art thing or music thing you know is going on in the area that interests you, you could say its a father daughter thing. And memories and sharing them are the awesomest. Those aren’t always inexpensive but they can be.

Do what I did this year for a few friends, who like you and me, are food enthusiasts.

I bought a few bottles of fancy spices that I’d never tried before.

We’re lucky to have both a Penzeys and a Savory Spice Shop within an hour’s drive of my house, but your kids could get you a bottle or two at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods or even Bristol Farms

From Savory, I got several bottles of spices including chipotle pepper powder, mango powder, Tandoor curry powder, horseradish powder, a mole blend, some turbinado sugar and some true cinnamon (as opposed to cassia, which is what most common “cinnamon” brands are made of). Each bottle was in the $4 to $6 dollar range. If all of your kids bought one or two bottles, then you’d have a fine new selection of spices to add to your collection.

One that I bought a few months ago, before knowing about the fancy spice stores, was a bottle of smoked paprika. It is fabulous, very smoky and bears no resemblance to the bland, tasteless regular paprika that you see sprinkled on deviled eggs. It’s very flavorful, almost like chipotle chilies in adobo, but not very hot.

Savory had a huge selection of just different curry blends from all over the world, they also had a very large assortment of different kinds of chili powders. I had no idea!

They also have all sorts of rubs and salad dressing bases, that are interchangeable as flavorings for roasted veggies, or tofu or whatever you want.

Hey A.C. here’s a cookbook Deaf Smith County first cookbook I bought for myself. About 40 years ago.

Oh Happy B-day ! ! ! Chuckles

You mention that you’re a vegetarian. Are you also a cook? I, too, am a member of Club Veg, and I love the gift of a clever, creative veggie cookbook.

Get things to help your cooking or your outdoor activities. A new cooking gizmo, or walking sticks, or some fancy flashlight.

I was coming back to say happy birthday young man. But @Kardamom‘s answer triggered another idea, I recommend these just a bottle or a starter kit. http://www.quintessentialgourmet.com/

Lemon is a good all around choice but there are so many devine tastes its hard to choose.

Have them pitch in and make you a terrific dinner. That way, you get their company, a good meal, and it’s relatively inexpensive.
Happy almost birthday!

A kind word and good advice

Tell them you like cheese. Let them pick out strange stuff. A nice Brie wold be at the top of my list – and might be on yours too.

Also one year my son bought me a kit to grow 3 different kinds of mushrooms. That was fun.
And it was fun eating them too.

Family potluck. Bring a favorite dish and write a blurb or story about said dish.

Enjoy the food and company now. Enjoy the stories again later.

Extra credit: take a photo of each family member re-enacting their story.

Happy early birthday, AC!

They definitely shouldn’t buy you an ego, because yours is clearly intact. Perhaps a dictionary containing the word “modest” would be good.

Have them pool for an awesome 2 hour massage. Us 50’s peeps need all the massage we can get. lol
If you go for an hour of reflexology you will get the added bonus of a head/scalp massage to puff up your ego even more. haha
I go for 90 minutes of reflexology, foot and body massage. Bliss out to the 10th power.

Chuck’s been around for awhile and he’s a good guy. Back off, folks. ;-)

If you have young grandchildren tell your kids you just want homemade gifts from the kinder. Gifts for adults is so difficult a lot of the time. This year my husband’s family decided to pull a name out of a hat so everyone buys one gift. I hate that set up, not that I am complaining, but it is another idea if you want to try it among the adults. My family we don’t do holiday gifts at all except for giving to children in the family.

Back to ideas. They could pay for a year of Netflix. Movie passes. Fruit of the month club (makes me think of Everybody Loves Raymond). Binaculors that are small and fold up. Sweater, sneakers, hat, scarf. Maybe something for your car? My husband wants new floor mats, he would be so happy with that.

@livelaughlove21 Why do you say such a thing?

Modesty is for the moderately awesome. ;)

1D tickets? Preferably in Chicago on Aug. 29th with an extra ticket for my daughter?

World Peace and an end to hunger and poverty.

Well…go spend some time at thisiswhyi’mbroke

Great question!

@JLeslie I think @livelaughlove21 was joking.

@longgone Indeed, as I assumed AC was doing with the “I’m so amazing and awesome and brilliant (oh, and modest)” talk.

I keep a running list of the books I want or need to finish a collection near my Star Trek novel shelf. My hubby can just grab the list on his way to the used book store. ^_^

Thanks for the suggestions, jellies! I’ve used a few of these to suggest to my daughters. Now it’s all up to them.
Lurve to all!