60th Birthday Gift Ideas for Your Husband

At sixty, most men have stopped wanting things and started wanting time: with you, with the kids and grandkids, and on the hobby they never had room for. The best 60th birthday gift for a husband fills that time with something good. Here are 11 ideas, from a free plan to a family trip. Our top pick is a song about his life, because sixty years deserve more than a card.

Listen to a song from Songbond

This one was made for another family. Yours would carry his name and your stories.

11 60th birthday gift ideas for your husband

1. A song about his sixty years ($39.90). Where he grew up, the work he did for the family, the way he still holds your hand in the car. Share it, and Songbond turns it into an original song the whole family can hear at dinner.
2. A week at the lake with everyone. Rent a house big enough for the kids and grandkids and let him sit at the head of the table every night. Usually $1,500 to $4,000, often split across the family.
3. An e-bike. It lets him ride longer and further, with a little help on the hills. Usually $900 to $2,000.
4. Tickets to a band from his teens. Plenty of them are still touring, and hearing those songs live again is a good way to feel twenty for an evening. Two seats usually cost $100 to $300.
5. A rail journey he has always talked about. A scenic train through mountains or along a coast, with a night or two in a sleeper car. Usually $300 to $1,500 for two.
6. The tool he keeps looking at. The table saw, the drill press or the welding kit he walks past slowly at the hardware store. Usually $100 to $500.
7. A hot-towel shave at an old-school barbershop. A haircut, a straight-razor shave and an hour of being looked after. Usually $50 to $100.
8. Binoculars and a bird guide. Birdwatching suits a man with more free mornings, and it gets him outside every day. A good pair of binoculars runs $100 to $300.
9. The record that was No. 1 the week he was born. Frame the vinyl with the date printed underneath. Usually $40 to $100.
10. A year's pass to the parks or museums nearby. Free entry to the state parks, the zoo or the art museum gives you both a reason to get out. Usually $60 to $200.
11. Twelve envelopes, one for each month. Inside each one, a plan for the two of you: a picnic, a drive to the coast, a show, a new restaurant. He opens one on the first of every month until his next birthday.

Choosing a gift for his 60th

Look at how he spends his free hours now, and listen for what he says he will do when he finally has time. Sixty is a good birthday to give him a push toward it.

• If he is still working flat out: the barbershop, the rail journey or the twelve envelopes.
• If he likes to be outdoors: the e-bike, the binoculars or the parks pass.
• If family is everything to him: the song, the lake week or the record from the week he was born.

Getting the whole family in on it

A 60th is a good year to make the gift a group effort. Ask each of your children for one memory of their dad, and each grandchild for one thing they love doing with him. Put those into the song or the card, so he hears every voice in one place. For the bigger ideas, like the lake house or the e-bike, set up a shared fund and give everyone a date to chip in by. Let the youngest grandchild hand him the envelope at dinner. He will remember who gave it more than what was inside.

Make his 60th birthday song

Create a song for your husband's 60th. Share the family's stories, and his song is ready within 24 hours. If the dinner is tomorrow, express delivery gets it to you in about an hour.

Also in the Journal: songs for a dad's 60th birthday and milestone birthday song ideas.