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Retirement gift guides, by who is retiring

A boss, a colleague, dad, a teacher, a nurse. Each guide picks what suits the relationship and the budget, with the lead times UK leaving-dos actually run to.

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Two wrapped gifts with blank tags on a hall table beside a vase of tulips.

A team buying for a manager has a different problem from a family buying for nan, so each of these eight guides starts from the relationship, not from a shelf. Every one opens on priced prints, then gets into what to choose and why.

Retirement gifts for a colleague

An office desk in slatted sunlight with a blank card on a wooden stand, a mug of coffee, a notebook and pen, and a potted plant.

A colleague's leaving present is usually chosen by a group who don't agree, from a budget that isn't known until the envelope comes back. The guide's answer is to build the gift from what a workplace does know: the job title, the years and the place, which are the lines the name print sets in type.

Retirement gifts for a boss

A leather-topped office desk and a green leather chair by a sunny window, with papers, a stack of books and bookshelves behind.

A manager leaving is the one send-off where a team isn't sure how much feeling to show. This guide argues for being specific instead of warm: a photo of the building, the site or the ward they ran, turned into art and framed, says the years without gushing.

Retirement gifts for mum

A kitchen table by a garden window with a jug of garden flowers, a teapot, two cups and a folded cloth.

Her colleagues will mark the job. Her family can mark the person who did it. The guide starts with an old photo of her at work, in uniform, at a desk or on a ward, and explains why turning it into art suits an old picture better than a straight reprint.

Retirement gifts for dad

A garden workshop bench with hand tools on a pegboard, a ball of twine and a pocket watch, the door open to the garden.

Dads tend to retire without saying much about it. This guide suggests a gift that states the facts and stops: his trade, his employer and his years, set in type and framed, with no message to write and nothing he has to react to in front of the family.

Retirement gifts for nan

A wicker basket of knitting wool and a china teacup on a windowsill beside lace curtains.

Nan's working life may have started later and fitted round everyone else, so the years are rarely written down anywhere. The guide's first step is simply to ask: which job, where, and for how long. Those three answers are what the name print puts in type.

Retirement gifts for grandad

A worn leather armchair with a green blanket by a sunny window, and reading glasses on an open book on the side table.

Grandchildren rarely meet the working grandad. This guide looks for a picture of the job itself, such as the yard or the machine, even an old or badly lit one, and turns it into art so the whole family can see what forty years of a trade looked like.

Retirement gifts for men

A potting-shed bench under a window with garden tools, twine, a pocket watch and terracotta pots.

For many men the job was also the timetable and the company, and retirement takes both in one week. The guide suggests putting the work back in the room: ask what he'd photograph to show his career, then turn that photo into a portrait.

Retirement gifts for women

A weathered garden bench among roses in evening light, with a folded throw and a cup and saucer.

Her years on the payroll may not match the years she worked, with time out for children or a second career. This guide is about a plain, lasting record of her profession, her years and where she worked, made to hang at home.

Starting from the job

If you would like to start from the work, not the relationship, the twenty profession guides cover careers from nursing and teaching to the Royal Navy, each with what the job involved and the details worth naming on a gift.