You put in these long hours; you put in these long days,
Now its time for you to smile, to dance, to be at rest
Thank you, we are already missing you. We wish you a happy retirement.
Here is to wishing you all the best.
You are the world’s greatest friend and colleague.

A Kindred Retirement for a Life Long Friend:
The years have flown by.
Some have been good. Some have been trying,
Some years have been impossible.
However, I could always count on one thing.
That is your smiling face,
Your kindred spirit lifted me on friendship wings.
Your unflinching friendship kept me afloat when life seemed destined to sink my heart.
So now, the day of your retirement is upon us, All I can say is that I wish you all the best.
You have been here for me all these years. You have been my rock, my true north.
You were always my friend in the trenches.
What more can I say then you and your work made me a better person.
So now, as you move on with this next step in your life,
Always know that you will have a friend in me.
Here is to wishing you all the best in the years to come.
My kindred friend, a good rest is well deserved.

Retirement wishes for a parent
Mom you raised me to always place value in a hard days work.
You raised me to always value the dollar, and what it means.
Everyday you put in long hours, Sleepless nights, and worrisome afternoons,
Just to make sure I had what I needed, and what I wanted.
Now its time for you to take a break,
To stretch your arms out wide,
Breathe in life, and enjoy all the success and honors you have achieved.
Nevertheless, you should always know one thing,
You can never retire from being the greatest mom in the world.
You were always there for me, now its time for me to be there for you.

GIFT BASKET THEMES

1. Golf Lovers Basket

It may be a bit cliché but a large majority of retired men intend to play a lot of golf and a golf driving range gift certificate or golf course membership would fit perfectly in a gift basket. It can be a center piece of a golf themed gift basket which could include golf gloves, tees, balls, shoes, and any other golf related item you can think of. here’s a couple of funny gift ideas, you can get the DVD Dwarf on Golf or all used products in the basket before giving the real basket.

2. Exercise or Fitness Theme

Many people say they want to exercise more but the eight do not have the time or they don’t want to spend the money. If you think your retiree would be interested in a gym membership you can center a gift basket on a gym gift card and take those excuses away. You can include weight lifting gloves, exercise clothes, protein and nutritional bars, vitamins, head bands, and other like gym going products. Again, for a laugh you can personalize a T-shirt, towel, a big supply of sports cream for all the aches and pains, make a funny exercise tutorial or whatever else you can think of that would be funny.

If a gym membership is not ideal but you think the person would want to exercise you can still do a gift basket but gear it more towards exercises that can be done at home. Include some exercise videos (P90X or Turbo Jam for example), exercise bands, weighted aerobics gloves, yoga mat, exercise cloths, different fitness drinks and foods, small weights, roller blades, running shoes, and so on. The combination’s or themes are truly endless. Again, for fun you can include a funny videos, exercise for dummies manual, a funny list of do’s and don’ts, and a funny list of motivational quotes.

3. Day Spa Theme

For the person that needs to relax and be taken cared of send them to a spa for a day so they can get that much needed massage, acupuncture treatment, and aroma therapy. The basket can include some soft nature music, candles, lotions and oils, massaging tools, foot soaker, facial creams, and anything else that will go along with the theme. The mockery that can be created with this can get crude in a hurry, but having funny labels on the lotions, creative titles of manuals, hair waxing products, toe jam cures, and so on. Like I said this one could get funny so have fun with it.

4. Sports and Recreational Themes

A lot of people are fanatical about a specific sport, so you can do a football themed gift basket including tickets to a game, or for a tennis player buy a racket. Where I live people are nuts for the Ohio State Buckeyes so buying a golf bag with Brutus the Buckeye on the side, or football jersey with his or her name on the back would go a long way. To get a laugh buy something that is totally irrelevant to the sport like ping pong ball for a golfer or soccer ball for a basketball fan. A big gag is making a basket of a rival sports teams products, but keep it inexpensive because most of it will never see the light of day.

All these ideas can be perfect for a women or mens gift. If you are looking for bigger items like elliptical machines, treadmills, or other gym equipment go to EllipticalMachinMan.com to see some reviews and lists of different products. I hope you have fun with your retiree’s gifts and can use some of the themes provided to get a great idea.

In stepping down from the service that a veteran has endured and enjoyed, a military retirement gift is going to be one of the best reminders of his life’s service to the protection of his state.

Retirement gifts could be generically crafted as mementos such as blankets, pillows, mugs, plaques, guns, and maybe even watches and fountain pens, each with a personalized engraving of the name, designation and rank of the retiree. However, there is also the option of making the retirement gift more specific. What make retirement gifts colorful in this career are the varied branches of the armed forces.

Each specific armed forces branch has its own specialized brand of military service and has its own way of distinguishing itself from the others. The type of retirement gifts would also be different in each branch as it would denote the uniqueness of that branch’s military tradition.

The Different Branches

There are basically four basic fields for the armed forces such as the Marines, Navy, Air Force, and the Army. These denote specific specializations for Amphibious, Sea, Air, and Land operations. Within these, more specialized and specific sub branches are made for a higher level of combat operations such as Green Berets, Snipers, Rangers, Airborne, Navy SEALs, and the like. Each of these categories boast its own identity as being the best among the best, and each veteran coming from each of these fields would definitely want something not less than what is best as they retire from active duty.

Retirement gifts for Navy retirees would have more of a Navy Feel to the souvenir if the object or thing would be about Boats, Gunships, or any part that would relate to these. The same goes for Air Force retirees, which would most appropriately be related to airplanes, bombs, a propeller, or the like. As for the ground forces, miniature scaled models of tanks, jeep, artillery, or guns make up most of the given retirement gifts.

What makes all these different branches come together though is a common gift given to all retiring personnel. This specific retirement gift not only holds all the information on the identity of such a retiree but also is imbibed with the honor and prestige of being in the armed forces itself known as a military ring.

This ring may just be an ordinary flashy piece of jewelry worn by people, but for the military, this is one of the most honor-distinguishing object other than a medal and formal recognition. This not only makes as a perfect retirement gift, but also a very valuable one in terms of being brought anywhere with the retiree.

Military again is based on honor and discipline, and until such time that a military man has already served his country, he would most definitely want to continue his pride and prestige in being part of the military workforce, with a military retirement gift such as a ring or a memorabilia.