We Asked UK Retirees: What Makes A Good Retirement Gift?

What makes the perfect retirement gift?

You’ve known for a few months that Joe was retiring. It came out on an email to the company, and it was the source of some conversation on your Slack channel about two and half months ago. But now, all of that time that you had has dissipated and Joe leaves in three weeks.

It would be plain embarrassing if Joe’s 25 years of faithful service to your company was marked by a collection of people’s pocket  shrapnel and a few cans of lager, accompanied by a card that was signed by just six people that same day. You might not even get that given that very few people carry cash anymore and most of your office now works remotely.

Hang on….did I just say ‘YOU might not even get’? Yep, I did, and for good reason because despite not being the closest person to Joe, there seems to be only you that recognises that someone needs to make a move, and that needs to be right now. So suddenly it’s on you to sort this and  you don’t want to be running around the last couple of days trying to get something together.

How can I collect for a retirement gift?

You have a dilemma now. Do you make an executive decision on what to get and order them online regardless? You might not get any of the money back, but at least you know the gifts are coming because they take a few days to arrive so they need ordering NOW!

But that’s really unfair - why should your bank balance take the hit, a hit it may not recover from. Yes, the business may come to the rescue and yes, perhaps everyone will pay the tenners that they pledged……but maybe they won’t, and then maybe you are a couple of hundred quid out of pocket and yes, Joe will feel valued and cared about so the outcome will be what you want, but that’s entirely because of you and your ‘date night’ budget.

There is an alternative! Collctiv allows you to create a payment link, share it anywhere and then sit back and watch the money roll in. Those paying in don’t need to download the app, create an account or activate an email. Collctiv is Apple and Googlepay compatible, so if people have this activated they literally tap to pay and within seconds you have the money in the collection. If they haven’t, they simply add in their card details and within 10 seconds, you have the money in your collection!

It simply couldn’t be easier. Give it a try! Download the Collctiv app here.

You’ll soon find your phone lighting up with notifications that Emma has paid in £10, so has John, and Angela…..suddenly at a glance you can see you already have £80 and you only sent the link less than an hour ago!

Be warned though - like social media you’ll be checking your pot every 12 minutes or so….the ‘ping’ of someone paying in is addictive. You know it’s not your money, but still, it feels good! Not least because your confidence is growing with every payment that Joe will get the kind of gift that you want. The kind of gift that says ‘thank you, what you did mattered’.

What should I get for a retirement gift?

Time is running out and the last thing you can practically do is open up the ‘what should we get’ question to your work Slack channel, whatsapp group or Email thread!

You will either be met with radio silence or a barrage of ideas, most of which will be really, really bad. For example ‘why don’t we arrange for Joe to go to a disco, I love it’. Yes, you might, but at retirement age there’s a very good chance Joe won’t. So thank you, but no.

Or you get the scenario where a few people suggest a valid option, a few others suggest another, and another few a third. What do you do now? Do you have to play judge, juror and executioner? Do you have to be the one that sides with one group, to be talked about behind your back by the other two groups? Private whatsapp messages ahoy….

Nope, no-one’s got time for that, especially not you who has plenty going on already. And I mean PLENTY!

There’s a few things to think about. What’s Joe’s character like? Would he appreciate something funny? If so, why not take a look at our ‘The best funny group gifts’ here.

Is there someone who will just know? Someone you can have a chat with over a coffee to give you a steer on what Joe likes to do, or what he hopes to do with all the new time he’ll have on his hands!

Get this gold dust information, and then let Collctiv do the hardwork for you!

You downloaded the app which made collecting the money super easy and you have a surprisingly large amount collected with two days until the deadline you set on your last reminder to everyone.

You now have a number of options:
1) Withdraw the money - the most fundamental of actions, you can withdraw the money collected to your bank account which will land with you  in 2-3 working days to go ahead and buy whatever it is you want to buy.
2) Send the money - you can directly send over the amount you collected to the retiree (or if you’ve managed to rope someone else in under the guise of ‘I’ll sort the collection, you sort the gift’, you can send it over to them)
3) Vouchers - now we’re talking! You can get vouchers directly from your pot - not just any vouchers either! Tailored and hand-picked vouchers that will allow you to give a gift that shows the retiree that you’ve thought about them and most importantly that gives them an awesome amount of money to go and do something marvellous that suits them best! Read more about this in our vouchers blog here
4) Flowers - in conjunction with number 3, or as a standalone gift, flowers are a brilliant physical representation of the love and gratitude you feel towards the retiree and the collective feeling of sadness (and a hint of jealousy?) at their leaving. We’ve delved into this in more detail on our blog here
5) Gifting gurus - secure unique and thoughtful gifts tailored especially for the recipient from our wonderful friends at needi. Professional gifters, they will make sure your recipient is blown away by the gift, whilst your colleagues wonder if you are actually a superhero. Read more about needi in our blog about them here

Hopefully this has helped you in your quest to secure the best gift retiring gifts, and a reminder to download Collctiv today and see how we can help to remove the hassle from collecting for group gifts!
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Since 2019 Collctiv has helped over 350,000 people from 88 countries come together by making it simple for Organisers to collect money from groups. Whether it's group gifts, retirement presents or sports teams - download our free app today and start bringing people together!