• Find the perfect gift for a 50-year-old.birthday image by Albert Lozano from Fotolia.com
  
  Americans grow happier as they grow older, according to sociologist Yang Yang, who discusses her research in the November-December 2009 issue of the "University of Chicago Magazine." With happiness improving by up to 5 percent every decade, that's all the more reason to celebrate turning 50, with a special gift to mark the occasion. Whatever gift you choose, include a note on the birthday card explaining why your relationship with the recipient makes you happier. That might be the best present of all.
  
  

50 Different Things

• Make your own CD with 50 of the birthday girl's favorite songs on it. Buy 50 lottery tickets, and include your 50 suggestions on how to spend the winnings. Create a bouquet of 50 roses or other flowers, or put together a gift package of a gardening book, shovel, trowel, gardening gloves and 50 packages of seeds. Give him a certificate for a 50-minute massage or a 50-minute session with a personal trainer. Choose five magazines that put out 10 issues a year, and buy a one-year subscription to each one.
  
  

Experiences

• For the art lover, give tickets or a museum membership along with a gift certificate to lunch at a nearby restaurant. Buy tickets to the local professional hockey or baseball team for the sports enthusiast--or, for the music lover, tickets to an upcoming concert of his favorite band, along with a greatest hits CD. Sign both of you up for an extension course at the local college. For the gourmet, many specialty food stores offer cooking classes at reasonable prices.
  
  

Personalized Gifts

• For the frequent traveler, purchase a leather travel wallet that holds passports and airline tickets. Have it monogrammed with his initials. Buy a sterling silver frame, insert a special picture of you both and have it engraved with the date of the 50th birthday. Buy a gold charm of a birthday cake that can be worn either on a necklace or a bracelet, and have it engraved with the date. Have a small blank leather journal embossed with the celebrant's initials, and include a note about recording the events of the next 50 years.