Etydhv

I'm attending the thesis defense of one of my undergrad mentors this week. I owe almost everything about where I am today to him. I want to get him a gift, but I'm not sure what. He owns his own business, so a gift card seems pointless when he won't be short of money. I have never seen him eat or drink anything, EVER, so I'm not sure what kind of candy or food would be appropriate. He's a guy, so flowers are out.

We did have a shared love of a certain book series, but I already got him one of those for a Christmas gift and I feel like it might be weird to get another one again.

His thesis is something pretty abstract—even the name of the project has no real-world analogue. So a "cute" gift related to his thesis would be tough to come up with.

Also I'm a girl, if that matters, and I don't want to give him anything that would be creepy/weird/over-the-top with the gender difference taken into account.

A short (1-2 paragraph) hand written note on a card or postcard would be an appropriate gift.

I have mentored about a dozen undergraduates and I still have the thank you notes they sent to me on my pin board in my office. The notes are nice reminders about the impact I had on the students.

Actually, the thing that would be most appreciated - and valued - is a hand written letter on nice stationery giving congratulations and thanking him for his help in your own work.

Short, professional, sincere.

He will save it forever.

Ask him for advice about buying wine. If you actually get advice, use it to select a nice bottle for him. If demurs about the wine advice, make a gift to the university in his name. They'll send a nice card and won't mention the amount.

It is fairly typical for a student to give a thank you gift to their mentor when finishing. These gifts cause minor issues:

Is it ethical to accept small gifts from students?

Is it appropriate to buy a "thank you" gift for a PhD supervisor?

but you are not talking about a thank you gift, but rather more of a congratulations gift (e.g., like a wedding or baby gift). These are also awkward and the general advice is a group gift

Advisor's wife is having a baby, should we be getting him something?

Advisor getting married, should grad students chip in for gift?

Thinking about this in light of you having given a Christmas gift

Is it appropriate to give university lecturers Christmas cards?

makes me think this is all very weird. I would not want a congratulatory gift (especially one of any monetary value) from an individual student. If he is a mentor of a number of students, or works in a lab with other doctoral students, maybe you can take part in a group gift/card. I would avoid doing anything as an individual. This becomes especially true if you have not graduated yet.