Tech-oriented gifts come in various shapes, sizes and price ranges.
Buying a birthday present for someone, especially a big event such as turning 50 years old, can be challenging. if you are shopping for a techie, one who enjoys and revels in all things related to technology, you have available options ranging from elaborate to silly. Choosing the right gift is based on your relationship with the person, your budget and the type of personality the birthday person has.
Low Tech
To give the gift of low tech to a techie is best done by using humor and invoking a sense of the past. This type of gift works best for the person who seemingly has everything available and is hard to shop for. Gift ideas include an original bag phone -- the precursor to today's smart phones and CRT televisions. These items are available used, through secondhand sources such as vintage stores, antique dealers and flea markets. Add a funny card about the birthday person's penchant for "antique" tech to round out the gift.
Modern Versions of Past Technology
Another way to celebrate a 50th birthday is by buying an updated version of an older-tech item. For example, if the person is a music lover, a digital turntable that resembles a record player yet plays MP3 recordings is a way to pay tribute to the past. Additional techie versions of items with historic appeal include metal detectors with LCD monitors in place of bar gauges, and barbeque tools with digital readouts and computer-embedded memory for recipe selection.
Movies and Music of the Past
Yet another 50th-birthday idea for a techie is to load an external hard drive with movies and music of the previous 50 years. Choose hit songs and blockbuster or influential movies to include in the collection. An external hard drive allows the techie to play the movies and music on an assortment of devices.
Gift Cards or Certificates
True techies have an assortment of gadgets and gizmos just laying in wait for more apps, games and programs to be loaded. One way to ensure the birthday honoree gets exactly what he wants it to give a gift card. An MP3-user might appreciate a gift card from a digital music store, a gamer might enjoy credits for live gaming action and an ebook or netbook reader might enjoy a gift card from an online bookstore.
Tags: gift card, birthday person, card from, external hard, external hard drive