Retirement Gift Ideas for a Coworker

When a coworker retires, you are often buying as part of a team, on a budget and on short notice. The best retirement gifts for a coworker say what they meant to the people who worked beside them, not just that the office will miss them. Here are 12 ideas, most under $100, that work from one person or from the whole team. Our top pick is a song from the team, because it holds the inside jokes a card has no room for.

Hear what a finished song sounds like

This one was made for another family. Yours would carry your coworker's name and the stories your team shares.

12 retirement gift ideas for a coworker

1. A song from the whole team ($39.90). Gather the stories, the nicknames and the running jokes from everyone, and Songbond turns them into an original song, ready within 24 hours. Split across a team of ten, it costs about four dollars each.
2. A memory book with a page from everyone. Each person writes a note or a favorite story, and you have it bound. Usually $20 to $50 to print.
3. A signed guidebook for where they are headed. If they are moving to the coast or planning a big trip, buy the guidebook and have everyone write a tip inside the cover. Around $20 to $40.
4. Their desk plant in a proper pot. The plant they kept alive for years deserves to go home in something better. Usually $25 to $60.
5. Their nameplate, mounted. Take the nameplate from their door or desk and have it mounted on wood with their years of service. Around $30 to $60.
6. Group tickets to the thing they always talked about. The team they follow, or the show they kept mentioning in the break room. Usually $100 to $300 from the group.
7. A jigsaw puzzle of the team photo. A light, funny gift they will actually finish on a slow afternoon. Usually $25 to $50.
8. A standing invite to team lunch. Put their name on the monthly lunch and mean it. It costs nothing but a seat.
9. A basket of their break-room favorites. The snacks, the tea and the candy they always kept in their drawer. Usually $40 to $80.
10. A starter kit for the hobby they kept mentioning. Fishing, bread baking or birdwatching: whatever they promised to start once they had the time. Around $40 to $150.
11. A video of messages from past and present coworkers. Reach out to people who left years ago too. Free, or up to $50 to have it edited.
12. A donation in their name. To a cause they care about, with a card that tells them so. Any amount works.

How to choose for a coworker

Start with how well you knew them. A coworker you shared an office with for years deserves something personal. Someone you only knew from meetings is better served by a group gift and a kind card. Keep the budget comfortable for everyone on the team.

• If you were close: the song, the memory book or the mounted nameplate.
• If you are buying as a team: the group tickets, the video or the donation.
• If money is tight: the puzzle, the standing lunch or the snack basket.

How to run a group gift without the stress

Pick one person to collect money and one to collect stories, and set a clear deadline a week before the last day. Suggest an amount, like $10 or $20, but make it clear any amount is fine. For a card or a song, ask each person for one specific memory rather than a general wish. One line about the time they fixed the printer with a paper clip is worth more than ten lines of best wishes. Give the gift at the send-off, and have one person say a few words.

Make a retirement song from the team

Create a retirement song for your coworker. Collect the stories, send them in, and the song is ready within 24 hours. If the send-off is today, express delivery gets it to you in about an hour.

Also in the Journal: songs for the retirement party and thank-you songs for a friend.