It also suits the man who is hard to buy for precisely because he says he wants nothing. A collection asks nothing of him, needs no assembly, and does not sit around as clutter. He opens it, shares some, keeps the rest, and that is the whole transaction. For a certain kind of recipient, Irish chocolate maker that ease is exactly the appeal.

You can find out more via share bag chocolates.

One honest point that applies to any recipient. If he asks about ingredients or dietary suitability, point him to the published product information rather than reassuring him yourself.

If you want to lift it further, a personalised message or his name on the box turns a generic present into one addressed to him. Keep the message short and let the collection do the talking. Allow a little extra time for personalised print, and more in the run-up to Christmas when orders stack up.

What is inside should hold its own. Lily O'Brien's has handcrafted its chocolates in Newbridge, Co. Kildare since 1992, so the box is a genuine gift for the adults rather than a token wrapped around a name. That matters at an event where the parents are tired and the attention is all on the child.

The case for a hamper over a smaller gift is scale. A career of thirty or forty years is not marked by a modest box, and a hamper reads as the send-off such a stretch has earned. It arrives as an event, it gives the leaver something substantial to open at the desk or the gathering, and it shares around the team who came to say goodbye. That shared element matters, because a retirement is as much a moment for the people staying as for the person leaving.