Wife turning 40 need ideas (Cincinnati)

Hey guys,

So my wife turns 40 this April and I wanna do something special to celebrate it. The problem is I'm kinda having trouble coming up with something "special" enough. She's kinda hard to buy for because she's not impressed with flashy or expensive gifts. She appreciates the thought and time put into the gift. The other kicker is she's doing a triathlon that same month with her sister to raise money for The leukemia and lymphoma society so I want to celebrate that and all the hard work and training she's done for it.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Dan

Time to trade her in for a newer model.

I took my wife to Vegas for her 40th. Not so much for the gambling, but she is a huge Star Trek geek, and I suffered through,... I mean we went to see Star Trek the experience. As well as seen Mamma Mia live.

But it was mostly someplace she wanted to go, it was a warm destination away from our cold winter. And it was something significant and different from the norm. She can tell people, "I went to Vegas for my 40th"

So find something or someplace that appeals to her for what ever reason, and go. Just make sure she hasn't done it before, or been there before. I dunno? Sky diving? She is a runner, book a trip to Boston, enter her in the Boston Marathon?

Or even a small spa/resort or something near by and book a weekend.

Thats all I got.

Or buy her a racecar.

Gift certificate to the local tri sports store. She's going to want a wet suit.

As some one who just turned 40 last month, I say, keep it low key.

I have always thought that a girl was not really a WOMAN until they turned 40. Now they have life experiences, both good and bad, that make them much more complete and interesting people. A few scars temper people. 40 is much less traumatic than it used to be, so celebrate her womanhood! You don't say where you live, so can't make suggestions about trip and such, but a spa weekend is always good. You already know the rest of the story. Now, go give her a hug and a posey.

Miata

My wife set up a mock funeral for my 40th. Got picked up at a restaurant by a nurse and the grim reaper and loaded into the waiting Hearse (they are not air-conditioned in the back where I was). Brought back to our house where everyone and everything was in full funeral garb. Had a great time! Maybe not a good idea for your wife though.

Friday, two days ago, I just pulled off a surprise party for my wife's birthday. It was not a milestone birthday year but that helped to make the surprise all that much more of a surprise. The ruse was that my wife expecting that we were having 4 other couples over to the house. The 4 couples arrived at 6pm but then at 7pm the door bell just kept ringing as "unexpected guests" dropped in. All told there was about 75 people in the house. Because of the 4 couples, it did not seem odd that i was cleaning the house and getting party stuff ready.
It was a great time and pulled off flawlessly.
My theme was "bring a bottle of wine" and I asked guests to forgo gifts but rather bring a bottle. That way, we also had enough liquid to satisfy 75 when it appeared that we would only have 8 people. We now have 14 bottles still on hand for future parties.
I used a service on the web called evites. This kept the emails from coming back to me directly and the constant pinging of my phone for a new email. My wife is a teacher and much to my luck, the school website lists the work email of every school employee so I just lifted the email addresses of her coworkers right off there. For others, I went through the contacts on her phone and then sent text messages about the party to her other friends to get their email address as well. In addition I invited our mutual friends. With the evite service the invited guests could see who else was invited and who was coming (which seems important in the girl world.) I also asked the guest to forward the message to any others who I may had missed. That worked really well since a couple of teachers who had recently retired were no longer on the school list but word of the party got to them.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Time to trade her in for a newer model.

Exact words I was going to type when I first saw the title.

You win the internets for the day good sir!

Thanks guys. About an hour after I posted this my wife brought up her birthday and pretty much told me what she wanted. Made it super easy but I'm kinda bummed it won't be a surprise. As for trading her in , NO WAY ! My wife looks super hot ,especially for being forty and makes damn near three times as much money as I and she lets me dick around with my cars. I already have two miata so getting one for her would be over kill.

Thanks again guys!

jrw1621 wrote: Friday, two days ago, I just pulled off a surprise party for my wife's birthday. It was not a milestone birthday year but that helped to make the surprise all that much more of a surprise. The ruse was that my wife expecting that we were having 4 other couples over to the house. The 4 couples arrived at 6pm but then at 7pm the door bell just kept ringing as "unexpected guests" dropped in. All told there was about 75 people in the house. Because of the 4 couples, it did not seem odd that i was cleaning the house and getting party stuff ready. It was a great time and pulled off flawlessly. My theme was "bring a bottle of wine" and I asked guests to forgo gifts but rather bring a bottle. That way, we also had enough liquid to satisfy 75 when it appeared that we would only have 8 people. We now have 14 bottles still on hand for future parties. I used a service on the web called evites. This kept the emails from coming back to me directly and the constant pinging of my phone for a new email. My wife is a teacher and much to my luck, the school website lists the work email of every school employee so I just lifted the email addresses of her coworkers right off there. For others, I went through the contacts on her phone and then sent text messages about the party to her other friends to get their email address as well. In addition I invited our mutual friends. With the evite service the invited guests could see who else was invited and who was coming (which seems important in the girl world.) I also asked the guest to forward the message to any others who I may had missed. That worked really well since a couple of teachers who had recently retired were no longer on the school list but word of the party got to them.

Sounds like a lot of fun. I'll have to do this for her one year. She too is a teacher.

I totally f'd up my wife's 40th even though I tried my damn'dest to make it something significant and special. Combined fail on my part and all of her (selfish) friends. But here's what I was trying to pull off... surprise her with having all of her best friends (4-5 people) come in for her birthday. I chartered a sail boat (with captain) for a day trip for "us" and would've had all of her friends stashed on board below deck and had them come out once we were off shore. Food, friends, booze, sun, surf, dolphins, etc... it could've been great. Then I had planned an evening dinner with her (and my) family attending along with all of her friends. Sadly, none of her friends could/would make the trip and all of her family bailed. Ultimately, even the lame "weekend at a resort" substitution turned out miserably when one of the kids got the flu we had to leave 6 hours into the weekend. She understood much better than I did. I've promised to send her on a girls weekend to Vegas at some point, but her friends ain't exactly been responsive about it.

Anyway, if you're wife is into something like a charity, why not organize a charity related event in honor of her birthday in coordination with her friends and family. Get some media coverage, sponsors, etc. That said, if it's in April, you're on a very short timeline... too short IMHO.

My wife asked if we could go to Italy for her 40th next year. No objections here!

Vegas!

I see your wife gave you suggestions, but just a thought. Kind of in a similar situation as you last year. My wife turned 40 last September. Oddly enough, she's very athletic as well (weightlifter) and works in a school. Anyhow, she gave me some ideas, but like you said I wanted it to be a surprise.

Think about what she really likes to do and feed off that. You don't have to get a material "thing". My wife is a huge Philadelphia Phillies fan. Last year, the playoffs started right after her birthday. So my gift to her was 2 tickets to a playoff game, which we had never been to. I didn't tell her, I told her we were going out somewhere else and just drove to the stadium. She was shocked, and thrilled. Maybe do something around the triathalon and help her celebrate the accomplishment.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Time to trade her in for a newer model.

She's turning 40 and running a triathlon, he's making sure she's not going to trade up!

My wonderful wife took me on a cruise for my 40th and that was great because we have the memories...better than baubles IMHO. I am going to return the favor when she turns 40, but will up the ante with a trip to someplace romantic like Italy. We'll see all the famous sites in Modena, Sant'Agata Bolognese, San Cesario...

Is she in bad shape? What would it take to fix her? Mechanical or body work? A new one is going to cost a lot more and be more finicky. Make sure you crunch the numbers before trading her off.

My wife and I are 17 days apart in age. At every milestone we look at each other and agree to not throw any surprise parties. We turn "50" this coming September and will quietly go to dinner together rather than throw a big "over the hill" party.

darkbuddha wrote: I've promised to send her on a girls weekend to Vegas at some point, but her friends ain't exactly been responsive about it.

a buddy of mine only bangs married chix. he goes to vegas a lot, and says that almost every one of the (nearly 100 at last count) married chix he's banged in vegas was there on a "girls weekend" that was paid for by their hubbies.

YMMV.

Get her a soapbox derby racer 'cause it's all downhill after 40?

Singning Telegram - seriously...Ive found theres no better gift than one that makes the other girls in the office jealous. Nothing makes other girls in the office more jealous than a giant singing gorilla bearing chocolates.

you can thank me later

Pre emptive strike ! Do dinner a week ahead or the fun thing way before her birthday . Have the drinks with her friends a couple of weeks before that way all the pressure is off . try to hold it on her birthday / sunday and it rains every redneck in town is crying "" oh wait thats nascar 500 "" And don't want that fail on your books