That undercount is worth knowing before you choose anything, because it tells you what the day is short of. A leaving card thanks her for the job. What usually goes unsaid is the shape of the whole working life: which profession she gave it to, how long she stayed, and where. Say those three things out loud and most of the work of the gift is already done.
The thing she is unlikely to already have
A woman retiring after thirty years is not short of things. She's short of a record. Photographs of the leaving do go onto a phone and stay there. Cards go in a drawer. What she probably won't end up with is a plain, permanent statement of what she did, in a form that can hang in a house rather than a corridor at work.
Her name, her profession, her years, set in type
The name print is that record and nothing else. You give four details: her name, her profession, her years of service, and where she worked. We set those in editorial type under a fixed Happy Retirement line, and print it here in Britain. There is no photograph to hunt for and no message to compose, which matters when the leaving do is on Friday.
A4 unframed is £14.99. A3 unframed is £28.99. Add a frame to the A3, ready to hang, and it becomes £69.00. The same four details go on a mug at £16.99 if you would rather she used it than looked at it, and a digital file is £9.99 if she is printing it herself.
When a painting is the better answer
Some careers have a place attached to them, a ward or a classroom she spent thirty years in. If you have a photograph of her or of that place, the portrait flow paints it in five styles and shows you every one free before you pay for any of them. On canvas that is £85.00, framed £119.99, or £34.99 on paper at A3. Choose it when the picture carries something the words cannot.
What we would do
If you know her career but not her house, take the name print: it suits any wall and it says the true thing. If there is a photograph you already love, take the portrait. Either way, order a fortnight before the send-off. Nothing is held in stock: printing runs two to four working days here in Britain, then two to five in the post, and the delivery is inside the price you see.
If the send-off is a work thing rather than a family one, the guide to buying for a colleague covers how a collection usually gets run. If it is your own mother retiring, the guide to buying for a mum starts from a photograph rather than from her job title. Both sit under who is retiring, with the rest of the recipient guides.
Related pages: retirement gifts for dad · for men · for mum · what to write in the card · funny retirement gifts
