For my BFF's 40th Birthday I bought her 40 gifts. Each gift had a theme that came from a quote or saying that was all put together in a nifty little card/booklet. I worked so hard on this idea, it took me almost two months to collect my thoughts, create the book, and decide on and purchase all of the gifts.
Many of the gifts were small trinkets, a few of the gifts actually cost a bit of money and were nice gifts. All together the gifts cost $250 but what you buy and the budget you set is up to you. This idea would work well for a 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th or any other birthday! Since I put so much work and effort into this project I thought I would share it and hopefully it will be helpful to someone else looking for a special birthday present idea.
I presented the card/booklet with the gifts and she had to open the gifts as she read the card/booklet. Each quote had a number with a corresponding gift. Here is the file for the card/booklet so that you can use any of the wording that you like, hopefully you find this to be helpful. 
40th Birthday Card/Booklet Wording
Disclosure: The Federal Trade Commission requires that I let you know that if you click on and purchase from any of the Gift Idea links below, I might receive a small commission :)
40 Gifts for 40th Birthday (Gifts & Quotes)
Organizing, Numbering, and Wrapping the gifts took a couple of hours.
- Remember how excited you were when you turned 4 years old? You should be 10 times that excited! Let's Celebrate! -Anonymous
Gift Ideas: Champagne - Happy 11th Anniversary of your 29th Birthday! (Steel Anniversary) -Anonymous
Gift Ideas: Amco Rub Away Bar (This thing actually works!), Stainless Steel Jewelry, Stainless Steel Bowl Set - Youth is the gift of nature, but age is the work of art. -Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Gift Ideas: 40 Qualities about her (8.5x11) framed - Youthfulness is about how you live, not when you were born. -Karl Lagerfield
Gift Ideas: SanDisk Cruzer Flash Drive with all the pictures I used in her slideshow & a DVD w/Slideshow - Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional. -Chili Davis
Gift Ideas: Silly Straw Eyeglasses , Silly String , Gummy Boogers Candy - You are only as old as you feel. -Anonymous
Gift Ideas: Classic 80's Candy Mix - You are only old when you think you are old. -Anonymous
Gift Ideas: Mr. Potato Head LED Night Light - You don't stop laughing because you grow old, you grow old because you stop laughing. -Michael Pritchard
Gift Ideas: Chuckles & Wonka Laffy Taffy Candy - We get old too soon & smart too late. -Dutch Proverb
Gift Ideas: Giant Smarties Candy Rolls - At forty you still have a full deck, you just shuffle a little slower. -Anonymous
Gift Ideas: 1974 Trivia Playing Cards - The older the fiddle, the sweeter the tune. -Pope Paul VI
Gift Ideas: Fiddle Faddle - It's better to carry a tune than a grudge. -Cam (Modern Family)
Gift Ideas: Recorder , Symphony Candy Bar - Age is like underwear, it creeps up on you. -Funny Quotes
Gift Ideas: Thong Underwear - 40 Sucks -Anonymous
Gift Ideas: Giant Lollipop - At your age, you are going to need glasses. -Funny Quotes
Gift Ideas: Fabulous at 40 Wine Glass / Giant Wine Glass - Age and glasses of wine should never be counted. -Italian Proverb
Gift Ideas: Bottle of Wine, Wine of the Month Club Membership - 40 is when your body gives your brain a list of things it's not going to do anymore. -Anonymous
Gift Ideas: Note to Self: Jumbo Sticky Notes - 40 is the age that your brain goes from " you probably shouldn't say that" to "what the hell, let's see what happens" -Funny Quotes
Gift Ideas: Bigger Bitch & Shut the Hell Up Gum - Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the toy. -Funny Quotes
Gift Ideas: Fiber One Cereal, All Bran Cereal, Oatmeal - At 40 you are not old, you are classic. -Anonymous
Gift Ideas: Saturday Morning Cartoon Classics , Classic Rock CD, Any Classic Rock Band Keychain, T-Shirt, Etc. Classic Model Car (Maybe a Matchbox or Model Car of their First Car!) - 40...It's only a number. -Anonymous
Gift Ideas: .925 Sterling Silver "40th Birthday Cubic Zirconia Encrusted Barrel style " Charm Bead Compatible with Pandora Chamilia Kay Troll Bracelet - Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. -Jack Benny
Gift Ideas: Don't Sweat the Small Stuff Book - Age is not important, unless you are a cheese. -Helen Hayes
Gift Ideas: Cheese Balls - Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes. -Funny Quotes
Gift Ideas: Toilet Paper - The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you have been. -Madeleine L'Engle
Gift Ideas: Photo Book, Photo album filled with pictures, Picture collage, digital frame with Pictures - Just remember...it took 40 Years to look this good! -Anonymous
Gift Ideas: Compact Mirror - As you get older, remember that it's important to have a twinkle in your wrinkle. -Anonymous
Gift Ideas: Body Glitter / Shimmer Lotion - Today is the oldest you have ever been and the youngest you will ever be again. -Eleanor Roosevelt
Gift Ideas: Things to Do Now That You're...40 Book - Life is not always a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well. -Jack London
Gift Ideas: Deck of Playing Cards - The first 40 years are just practice. Now it starts for real. -Funny Quotes
Gift Ideas: Mountain Dew Kickstart - You can't turn back the clock, but you can wind it up again! -Bonnie Prudden
Gift Ideas: Clock / Watch - No matter what your age, you are never too old to learn. - Unknown
Gift Ideas: 101 Things You Need To Know. . . And Some You Don't! Book - You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. -Anonymous
Gift Ideas: 40th Birthday Shot Glass Necklace - You are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream. -Les Brown
Gift Ideas: Princess Book, Dream Eye Mask, Sugar Daddy & Ring Pop - There is no such thing as too late. That's why they invented death. -Funny Quotes
Gift Ideas: No Regrets: 101 Fabulous Things to Do Before You're Too Old, Married, or Pregnant - Don't take life too seriously, it's not permanent. -Funny Quotes
Gift Ideas: 6" Long X 2" Wide X 1" Thick Large Novelty Pencil Eraser "For Really Big Mistakes", Temporary Tattoos - When all else fails, dip it in chocolate. It'll be fine. Chocolate makes everything better. -Anonymous
Gift Ideas: Lindt Gourmet Truffles Gift Box - Believe that everyone else your age is an adult whereas you are merely in disguise. -Margaret Atwood
Gift Ideas: Classic Disguise Groucho Marx Style Nose/Glasses/Mustache Christmas Tree Ornament - Friendship isn't a big thing, it's a million little things. -Anonymous
Gift Ideas: Confetti - When it hurts to look back and you're scared to look ahead, you can always look beside you and I will be there. -Anonymous
Gift Ideas: Forever Friends on Heart w/ Clear Swarovski Pave " Charm Bead Compatible with Pandora Chamilia Kay Troll Bracelet Charm
Download this list: 40 Gifts for 40th Birthday List
Extra Quotes/Sayings About Birthdays & Aging
Me & the BFF at her party after tossing back a few drinks.
If you like one of these better, or if you need more here are some ideas below that I was tossing around but did not end up using myself.
- It's never too late to be what you might have been. -George Eliot
- You are never too old. Unfortunately, you are always too young to know it. -Robert Braul
- Life is short. Smile while you still have teeth. -Anonymous
- 40 is when you are old enough to know better but still young enough to do it. -Anonymous
- As you get older, you don't get wiser, you get irritable. -Anonymous
- Dreaming is a form of planning. -Anonymous
- Don't think of yourself as being 40, think of yourself as 18 with 22 years experience. -Anonymous
- The question isn't who is going to let me, it's who is going to stop me. -Anonymous
- Forty is not that old...if you're a tree. -Anonymous
- Not 40, $39.95 + Tax. -Anonymous
- Whether you like aging or not, it is the only way to have old friends. -Anonymous
- Our age is simply the number of years the world has been enjoying us! -Anonymous
- Life begins at forty - W.B. Pitkin
- Age is a very high price to pay for maturity. - Tom Stoppard
- We don't understand life any better at forty than at twenty, but we know it and admit it. - Jules Renard
- We turn not older with years but newer every day. -Emily Dickinson
- And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years -Abraham Lincoln
- Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You. -Dr. Seuss
- Our birthdays are feathers in the broad wing of time. -Jean Paul Richter
- Every year on your birthday, you get a chance to start new. -Sammy Hagar
- Don’t just count your years, make your years count. -Ernest Meyers
- We are always the same age inside -Gertrude Stein
- The golden age is before us, not behind us. -William Shakespeare
- The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate -Oprah Winfrey
- The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it. -Jean-Paul Satre
- You were born an original. Don’t die a copy. -John Mason
- It is not how old you are, but how you are old. -Marie Dressler
- May you live all the days of your life. -Jonathan Swift
- As you grow up, make sure you have more dreams than memories, more opportunities than chances, more hard work than luck and more friends than acquaintances. - Unknown
- Youth has no age. -Pablo Picasso
- Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. -Samuel Ullman
- Everyone is the age of their heart. -Guatemalan Proverb
- One year older means one year better. -Unknown
- You are only young once, but you can be immature for a lifetime. -John P. Grier
- At 40, I realize that I was built for comfort, not speed. -Author Unknown
Too involved? Here is a simple idea for 40 Gifts for a 40th Birthday!