What was your best retirement gift?

A much coveted Mulberry handbag from my work colleagues which just gets better with age and a pale pink KitchenAid stand mixer from my family which I use a great deal: its a lovely reminder of their thoughtfulness in marking one of life's big milestones.

I had a catered party for my team of lovely people and I took my closest colleagues to Ladies Day at the Cheltenham Festival. We had champagne, a super picnic, lost money on the horses and it was a real day to remember.

I was one of 75,000 staff being shed by my employer over about 3 years so meant that retirement dos and gifts, rather fell off the table.

Many of the those taking advantage of the very generous redundancy terms my employer was offering were people over 50, making the most of an opportunity of an early retirement.

I actually do not remember the day I left work. My last six months had been doing a maternity cover and in the week I left, as a further part of the company reorganisation scheme, they announced that the division I had been working in for the past six months was being closed down, so the woman, whose maternity leave I was covering was returning to work, to find her job no longer existed.

As it was I had so much happening on the home front at the time, that as I left work I was immediately engulfed in sorting a whole lot of family business so the memories of the day I left work were so unimportant, it passed almost without me noticing.

I never got any gifts when I left places because I avoided those kinds of occasions. So cringy. Academics never really retire - we continue to do consultancy with colleagues.

When I retired after 35 years working in the same place, I received one decent gift (that my DD had organised as they didn't know what to get me apparently) amongst a load of crxp. No leaving get together as it was me who usually organised them and about 6 signatures on a card, despite knowing dozens and dozens of people. It wasn't the monetary value that upset me, but the lack of effort. I nearly told them where to put their card

I worked as a Librarian in an FE College and had lots of nice emails from colleagues and teaching staff, and a lovely card and cash to buy theatre tickets from my team - however, the day I retired, Ofsted rang to say they'd be in the next day (😱) so people dashed in, said goodbye while photocopying their records etc, and rushed off...
I strolled out carrying my balloon (😁) and 23 years worth of accumulated junk (I'd shredded most of it by then) and drove home knowing that all the horror would be unfolding without me and I didn't have to worry about it...!! Phew.

I was given theatre tokens. It meant I could go see Lion King which had been way out of my reach before. I had a wonderful time and the happy memories of it keep coming back.

I 'retired' (taking my occupational pension) and returned on half time hours. My job had been of two halves so I automatically gave up one half when I 'retired'.
Unexpectedly (because I was going back to work with one of the teams, exactly as before) I received some very thoughtful gifts.
So it wasn't so much the physical gifts but the fact that many colleagues felt it was necessary to let me know how much they were going to miss me being around as much as before. I felt very humbled and a little emotional on the day.......... but one month later I was back and not forgotten .......

The cake.

A beautiful Waterman fountain pen I love handwriting, also a gorgeous cake, it had figures of DH and I sat on grass with our 2 cats, I have a picture somewhere.

Freedom.

After working in a nursery for 7 years I was given a compliments slip with the word "cheers" written on it.

At 71 I'm semi retired but as it's our own small family business I'm not sure if I'll ever completely retire and I'll certainly not get any presents if I do

I did get some generous presents, but what I really appreciatd were the comments from colleagues on the card which came with them.

a lovely silver necklace

I didn't receive any gifts or even a card from work colleagues or family. I nearly bought myself a card to cheer myself up, but thought it would actually make me feel worse, so I put it back on the shelf. To be fair, I had been made redundant along with the rest of my work colleagues, so they can be excused for forgetting my 66th Birthday!

I can’t remember anything other than a mug which I treasure. I feel awful that I just can’t remember!

Some lovely jewellery a gift voucher and a lovely signed card I had only worked in that department for just short of a year. No goodbye from matron .(nhs).

Over the years I have had three retirement gifts. The first came when I moved from Northumberland to a new post in Berkshire - the most lovely single strand of pearls which I still have (59 years old now!) the second well loved gift was 6 super crystal wine glasses which I still have (39 years old). The worst was a huge oil painting of Venice, I never had a wall big to hold it, why Venice? No idea I think my boss was house clearing!! The first two I have lovely memories of place and people.

Waking up the day after retiring, and realising I never had to get up for an early shift again.

Sleeping in late in winter and not having to commute to work at 5:30AM in a blinding snowstorm. Hospitals NEVER shut down. Ever!
USA Gundy

After 36 years of teaching no retirement gifts or acknowledgement from anybody apart from a bunch of flowers from friends and a spa treat from my head of faculty! But the freedom from planning, marking, assessing , disciplining is worth it all 13 years down the line !!!

No retirement gift for me, either. My job disappeared due to restructuring, and many of my colleagues had to apply for their own jobs which they had been doing for years. Many weren't reappointed, so there was a great loss of expertise! Everyone was so disheartened, any retirement "dos" for any of us just didn't happen!! At least I was able to use my skills in a voluntary capacity till lockdown, which I really enjoyed. So, like many other Gransnetters, my gift has been time and the ability to enjoy grandchildren, though it has been tempered by having to give a certain amount of care to DH!

A voucher, with which I bought a new DAB radio for the kitchen. I enjoy listening to it every day: Radio 3

The very generous voluntary retirement package that my employer set up that enabled me to leave work in my mid-50s with an immediate unreduced pension, an opportunity to use some of my generous redundancy package to buy further years and a 'retraining' grabt that enabled me to go back to uiversity for a year to study a subject i loved.