60th Birthday Gift Ideas for Your Wife

Your wife is turning 60, and after all these years together you want the gift to match the moment. At 60, the best gift for your wife is usually time with the people she loves and a way to hold on to the story so far. The ideas below are built around family, comfort and memory, with a few for the years still ahead. Our top pick is a song about her, because it gathers sixty years into something the whole family can hear.

Listen to a real Songbond song

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

11 60th birthday gift ideas for your wife

1. A song about her sixty years ($39.90). The girl she was, the mother she became, the grandmother the little ones adore. Share the names, the stories and the sayings the family repeats, and Songbond turns them into an original song.
2. A weekend house full of family. Rent a big house by a lake or the sea and bring the children and grandchildren together for two nights. Usually $500 to $2,000, often shared among the kids.
3. A memory book written by the family. Each child, grandchild and close friend writes one page for her, then a print shop binds them together. Usually $30 to $60.
4. A return to where you honeymooned. Same town, same hotel if it is still there. Walk the same streets and see what has changed and what has not.
5. A really good reading chair. Deep, supportive and placed in the corner with the best light. Usually $300 to $900.
6. A rose bush for the garden. Plant a new rose on her birthday and let her choose the variety, so it blooms around this date every year. Usually $30 to $80 with the soil and feed.
7. The grandchildren's drawings, framed. Ask each grandchild for a picture of Grandma and frame them together in one wide frame. Usually $40 to $100.
8. A photo frame the family can send to. A digital frame connected to the internet, so the kids can send new photos straight to it from their phones. Usually $80 to $200.
9. A concert by a singer she loved at 18. Many artists from her youth still tour. Book good seats and a nice dinner beforehand. Usually $100 to $300 for two.
10. A grandmother's birthstone necklace. One small stone for each grandchild, with room to add more. Usually $80 to $300.
11. Her recipes in a family cookbook. Gather the dishes she makes from memory, write them down with her, add photos, and print a copy for each of the kids. Usually $40 to $80 to print.

How to choose her 60th birthday gift

Think about where her heart is these days. For many women at 60, it is with the grandchildren. For others, it is a garden, a good book, or time with you now that life has slowed down. Choose for that, not for the number.

• If she lives for the grandchildren: the weekend house, the framed drawings or the birthstone necklace.
• If she loves being at home: the reading chair, the rose bush or the family cookbook.
• If she wants the two of you to have fun: the honeymoon return or the concert.

A 60th birthday tradition worth borrowing

In Japan, a 60th birthday is called kanreki. It marks a full turn of the traditional calendar, a kind of second beginning, and families often give something red to celebrate it. You do not need to follow the custom to borrow the idea. Wrap her gift in red paper, add a red scarf or a bunch of red roses, and tell the family what it means. If the grandchildren are old enough, let them do the wrapping. It turns 60 into a fresh start rather than a finish line.

Make her 60th birthday song

Create a 60th birthday song for your wife from the stories your family shares. It is ready within 24 hours, and if the party is tomorrow, express delivery gets it to you in about an hour.

Also in the Journal: song ideas for milestone birthdays and anniversary songs for your wife.