My Dad's 50th Birthday Hamper | Men's Gift Ideas

So I've always found men much harder to buy for than woman, is this just me? Namely, I've always found my Dad hard to buy for. My Dad is the most unmaterialistic person I know (must be where I get it from, no?) and designer clothes, posh aftershave or expensive luxuries are mostly wasted on him. In fact, my Dad so rarely wants for things, that when he does, he usually buys them for himself. This means that he's got the good gear when it comes to walking, music and camping (his biggest hobbies) and doesn't leave me with a lot of scope to "push the boat out" for his 50th birthday.

Hence, the Man Hamper. The Manper, if you will. God bless Wilko for their unnecessarily large collection of random baskets, as I was able to pick this perfectly sized one for a mere £8.50 and proceed to fill it to the brim with manly goodies. I thought I'd share the finished product with you all, in case like me, you struggle with gift inspiration when it comes to the men in your life. I hope it sparks some great ides for you and you find it useful.

Books & DVDs. 
DVDs and books are great for male birthdays. My Dad is a bit of a reader and so this year I've stayed away from DVDs and have two books in his hamper instead. The first one I've gone with is "The Camping Cookbook" which is jam packed with great recipe ideas for when you're camping (something my Dad does a lot of) and starting to get a bit bored of the same old bacon sarnies and burnt sausages... The second one I picked up is The Jungle Book, my Dads absolute favourite Disney film - and one of his favourite films in general - I saw this copy in The Works and thought it had such beautiful cover art, and my Dad will totally appreciate the sentiment here.

Food and Snacks.

A nice easy one here. Why not stock up on his favourite foodie items, or better yet, food that reminds you of him. I've gone with Skittles and Starbursts not because my Dad adores them necessarily, but because we have a tradition of putting these particular sweets out at Christmas. I included random "manly chocolate" like a KitKat chunky, Mars bar, Snickers etc to bulk up the manly element (no Galaxy Ripple here!) and then included some crisps that you're always guaranteed to find at Dad's house and a bottle of Lea & Perrins to smother all over his cheese on toast! I also bought a 10 pack multipack of rainbow drops (another guilty pleasure) to scatter about the hamper and fill in any gaps.

Other Goodies.
Other little bits and pieces I went with included the fail-safe male birthday present of beer, (three whole bottles of it) two bottles of my Dads regular poisons and a third "wild card" for him to try out. Honestly, you can't go wrong with beer. Speaking of which, I also found a quirky little wooden post card with the Adams Ghostship logo printed on the front. I though this was a bit different and only around £2.50 so I popped that in there too. I included two mugs, one with Beach Huts all the way round it (my Dad loves Southwold and had a beautiful British Seaside wedding last year) and one with the brilliant Wallace & Gromit (Dad loves them and bares a striking resemblance to Wallace...) Other goodies included walking socks, razor blades, moisturizer and Olaf themed shower gel. Yep, Dad's a Frozen fan.

Final Ideas & Tips.
So my final tips when buying for boys are to keep it easy with guilty pleasures, or find out their hobbies and then try to think outside of the box. If they enjoy film, why not get them a cinema voucher so they can see a film you know they haven't already got on DVD. Or if they like cars, why not get them a subscription to a monthly car magazine? As for guilty pleasures, these are easy because people can enjoy them again and again. Are they partial to a packet of Pork Scratchings? Do they routinely munch on Maltesters? Family sized treat bags and a bottle of beer keep things nice and simple if you're just not sure.

Let me know your manly birthday ideas below - I could always use more. And as you've had a selfie of me and my Mum already, it only seems fair to include one of me and my Dad too! Here's a very blurry (unflattering) shot of us at Dad's gorgeous wedding last year. See what I mean about Wallace?