Gift for the guy who has everything

November 5, 2024 5:40 AM

Time to get a big client a splashy gift. But he has everything. What to do?

He's mid forties. Has money. Not materialistic, not into status objects, very casual comfortable person. Enjoys work, family, joking around, drinking alcohol (all types). Loves food - pescatarian, sweet tooth, but doesn't like to cook. Married with very young kids. Has a nice house in a semi-rural area.
A restaurant gift would be a bit of a hassle in this childcare-heavy season of life.
Budget maybe $200? Happy to go up to $500 if it were the right thing.
I've previously given him a fancy bottle of wine, and a snack subscription, which were both fine.
Thanks for any ideas!

posted by nouvelle-personne to Shopping (14 answers total)

my answer to these questions is ALWAYS throw that money to a local artist! (or Etsy / other independent artisan) and have them paint (draw, sculpt, etc.) subject: something related to his personality, geographic location, hobbies, interests, values or family. it sounds like you know quite a bit about him, but worst case scenario, it could be something related to his job / your working relationship (ex. if you're a realtor, commission him a painting of the new house).

custom handmade art that is meaningful to the recipient is never going to fall into the "ehh I already have one / have a better one, may as well toss this" category!
posted by seemoorglass at 5:52 AM on November 5 [5 favorites]

Married with very young kids. Get them an experience they haven’t had: a boat ride, horseback ride, train ride, rafting, 1 hr glassblowing class, behind-the-scenes tour of a museum, balloon ride.
posted by at at 6:01 AM on November 5 [5 favorites]

Former pescatarian here. My dad loves tinned fish so I got him a bunch of fancy tinned fish for his birthday this year and he was so thrilled.

The fish I chose were from Fishwife because they are known to be delicious and have really beautiful packaging so they make for a lovely gift. They have a really fun serving set gift with a fancy glass fish dish.
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 7:13 AM on November 5 [4 favorites]

Other experiences (depending on kid's age): pottery painting, go-kart racing, tickets to the big game, trampolining.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 7:35 AM on November 5

For a client in this price range, perhaps a bottle of good scotch? Some scotches that are solid choices. Liquor shopping varies from state to state because of different import laws so I don't have links or solid prices for you as it would depend on your state. Many of these scotches come in great boxes which makes it look like a solid gift as well.

Glenlivet 18 year
Macallan 18 year sherry cask or 12 year if too expensive
Balvenie 21 year portwood
Dalmore Port wood
posted by ichimunki at 7:56 AM on November 5 [5 favorites]

Came in to say really good scotch or something like a 21-25 year old sipping/premium rum.
posted by warriorqueen at 8:22 AM on November 5

Zoo or museum membership for the family?
posted by MadMadam at 10:57 AM on November 5

Red Breast 21.
I like the local artist ideas too.
posted by jeffamaphone at 11:34 AM on November 5

Custom cowboy boots?
posted by leafwoman at 1:13 PM on November 5

This cries out for "high quality curated artisan food basket". I will bet there is a shop somewhere in his county that sells small-batch custom food items from local purveyors. They might call themselves an Apothecary. Give them a budget and they will put together something nice with a personal touch.

Anti-recommending the gift of any kind of activity or tickets. With young kids, that just makes more work to schedule the dang activity.
posted by hovey at 3:18 PM on November 5 [2 favorites]

In my opinion anybody who likes to drink needs elegant ritual objects and a sense of ceremony to enhance their enjoyment and also to encourage moderation by making drinking more of an occasion.

And one of the most elegant of elegant objects associated with consuming alcohol is a glass, vacuum insulated Thermos ice bowl.

The linked bowl is chrome plated and has a capacity of 3/4 gal. I looked for this particular model for years and could never find it, and I’m kind of amazed to see one just sitting there on EBay right now.

But I can’t quite tell whether the seller doesn’t know what they’re selling well enough to mention the vacuum insulated filler, or whether there's some problem with it.

Here is an even rarer and considerably older gallon sized Thermos ice bucket with a rustic wooden bucket exterior, but this seller has a better idea what they’ve got and are charging accordingly, yet I still think it’s a good deal.
posted by jamjam at 3:32 PM on November 5

Cashmere scarf
posted by St. Peepsburg at 4:02 PM on November 5 [1 favorite]

Japanese whisky like a Yamazaki 12 or a single malt like the Mortlach 20 if you really want to splash out. Both of these are very good but not terribly common, so something of that kind would be good. You might also look to see if you can find a good vintage calvados.
posted by frumiousb at 9:12 PM on November 5

I second a gift basket, depending on how young the kids are. It isn't a good choice if the kids are old enough to gorge on the basket and the parents have to deal with the fallout.

With babies to toddlers, I find Zingerman's baskets go over very well with tired and hungry parents.
posted by miscbuff at 7:47 AM on November 6