70th Birthday

Seventy feels like a birthday that actually matters. It’s different from the others. Heavy in a good way. Weighty. Full of history and a life well-lived. People understand this whether they like to admit it or not. It’s not a birthday you want to mess up with a gift card to Bathstore or something from the shelf end of John Lewis. We put together this gift guide because we understand how difficult it can be to find gifts worthy of celebrating seventy years without drifting into sentimentality or condescension. Ageing isn’t the punchline that gift goblins would have you believe. The lucky person celebrating seventy has lived lots of life, has made up their mind about the sort of things they like and will KNOW if you make some half-hearted joke and chuck a pair of socks in a basket. That’s why everything in this guide has been carefully considered. Did it recognise the recipient as an extraordinary person? Did it recognise them as the interesting, thoughtful human we imagine your seventieth birthday loved one to be? Not as just another cardiological milestone. Not as someone who needs reminding they’re getting old. Someone worthy of your time and consideration. Some of our selections celebrate life experience and memories. Things that honour a life well lived, rather than hiding from it. But some of our favourites are also about enjoying life now. About gorgeous design, blindingly good food and drink, things made with love that simply feel like a joyful celebration. NO filler. We didn’t want to overwhelm you with a giant list of ‘nice ideas’ so we kept this guide small. Seventy is special, it deserves better than to be the recipient of middling gift suggestions. The range of people celebrating seventy is special too. Not everyone wants to sit on an armchair and knit. Some people are travelling to far off places, picking up new skills, starting new adventures. The gifts here range from light-hearted to serious and everything in between, but we didn’t try to include things for every eventuality. Trust us. That’s boring and you’ll just end up tossing this browser window back down with a flurry of other well-meaning guides. Are you still here? Wonderful. If you’re here wondering what the hell you can possibly get someone who is already living their best life and whom you secretly admire for their incredible taste, fear not. We’ve done the hard work for you. Grab something from this guide and it’ll be just right.