Half a gift (or a full demigift) for my sister's half-birthday.

March 14, 2023 7:53 PM

My esteemed older sister is turning 49.5 very shortly, and while I, her younger brother, don't have to get her anything (we don't normally exchange half-birthday gifts), I'm not going to pass up this opportunity to needle her about her approaching half-century for the first of two times this year. I'd like to find a fun but genuinely appreciable gift to give her for her 49.5th. My brainstorms so far, after the jump.

Ideas I've had, or which have been given to me, so far include: Getting her 49.5 of something. Giving her 25 things. Giving her half a $50 bill, and I'll give her the other half in 6 months. Half a book to read? (Anything I split in half should not be ruined by the experience.) A whole thing which is defined as half a thing, in the way that demi lune glasses are a whole pair of glasses but called half-moon glasses.

Her interests include running, city-hiking, and road biking, hanging with her dogs, reading mysteries (Tana French is an author she mentioned lately). Mostly I get her gifts related to running, which she does daily with one of her dogs, the one that wasn't built to disguise itself as an ottoman. She works at a hospital in a speech pathology/therapy kind of role.

By the time 50 rolls around in the fall, she'll technically be in empty-nest mode (though whether the youngest kid is actually leaving is in the air), but the kid will have graduated, at least.

Budget... crap, I'm a cheapskate. $20-25 is where I'd start.

posted by Sunburnt to Shopping (9 answers total)

For my brother’s 40th I sent him 40 twin travel packs of Advil. They came in a package of 50 twin packs. So you could definitely send 49.5 packs, or 49.5 actual Advil.

This could be done with other things (I considered flavored Kit Kats.) Advil felt like getting old.
posted by vunder at 10:10 PM on March 14, 2023

How about a 50 state quarter map, with 49.5 coins? I don't know how you would get 1/2 a quarter, you could also give it with 49 coins and save the 50th for the big day in 6 months.
posted by skunk pig at 10:47 PM on March 14, 2023

Run 4.95 miles with her and see who feels old.

Write 50 sentences to her and cut them in half, and give the rest later.

Get a puzzle made (maybe of the two of you as kids?) and give her half the pieces.
posted by bluedaisy at 11:22 PM on March 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Since she was presumably born in 1963, you could go retro and get 50 of these 60s daisy magnets to put on her car or fridge. Cut one in half.

There are other 60s magnets - that's just one that came up in my search. There are also lots of similar stickers, but I thought something easy to take off might be best.
posted by FencingGal at 5:40 AM on March 15, 2023

Ugh. I did the math wrong. She would have been born in 1973. Sorry.

Daisy magnets would still work (I remember the 60s and 70s), but you might want to go with more orange. Or get 50 mini disco balls.
posted by FencingGal at 5:51 AM on March 15, 2023

Best answer: Get a small amount of the nicest anti-aging face cream you can buy for your budget. It will needle her, as well as be useful. For one milestone birthday, I got a mug that said Life Sucks Then You Die and a bottle of good champagne.
posted by theora55 at 7:49 AM on March 15, 2023

Best answer: I quite enjoyed the book "Successful Aging" by Daniel Levitin. I think cutting it in half would be very cute and funny, but yes it's a sacrifice of a book!
posted by euphoria066 at 10:17 AM on March 15, 2023

Some utility/kitchen scissors come apart for cleaning (OXO example though I don't have experience with that specific item) for the "half now/half later" concept.
posted by adventitious at 12:45 PM on March 15, 2023

Best answer: One bookend, ideally one that's the front/back half of something, maybe her dog breed, like this random weiner dog one.

A 3-pack of beer.
posted by mgar at 2:06 PM on March 15, 2023 [1 favorite]