30 Funny 40th Birthday Gift Ideas! (2024)

If you have a loved one turning 40 soon and you already have a “bigger” gift planned but you still want to do something fun then you’ve come to the right place as today we’re going to give you thirty funny 40th birthday gift ideas. For those who love gag gifts, the ones that get a good chuckle and maybe even a good-natured eye roll, this is the gift guide for you. It’s always good to tease the people you love and a funny gift like these are exactly what you needed to add some spice for your plans to celebrate the milestone birthday.

And if you’re ever looking for an extra extra bonus gift then we’d recommend looking into GiftYa! GiftYa is an online marketplace of sorts that sells eGift cards. They have thousands of different vendors from well known retailers and restaurants, to online vendors & stores, subscription services, spas, hotels, and many more. You can completely customize this gift and make it “40th birthday” centric by adding a photo, video, and/or gift wrapping. Choose anywhere from $5 to $250 to put on the card and send it via text or email ASAP or on their actual birthday in just a few minutes with GiftYa.

For instance you can get them their extra extra like…

A Best Buy Gift Card

Upgrade their old pair of headphones with ones that don’t sound as crunchy!

Buy A Best Buy Gift Card

Before we get into the thirty funny 40th birthday gift list proper we’d figured we’d give you an idea to add on top of that gag gift and what better than a Best Buy gift card. Best Buy is the place to go for any tech-related needs. They’ve got Smartphones, TVs, state of the art appliances, wireless headphones, tablets, smart watches, computers, laptops, cords to replace your broken ones, battery packs, cameras, VR equipment, and more. Treat yourself to a new big tech product for your 40th birthday- it’s a special occasion might as well go all out right?

30 funny gag gifts that’ll make anyone let out a little chuckle

It’s okay to get silly sometimes, especially when celebrating your favorite person!

In no particular category or group, here’s our hilarious gift ideas:

“40” Random Things

You know those “what if” moments you get in your head, like “what if I were to pay for this entire meal in pennies?” This is kinda taking that same energy and applying it to this gift idea. Since 40 is such a milestone birthday, along with being a pretty great well-rounded number you can get them “forty” random things!

Get forty $1 bills and hide them throughout their home or put it all in one card. Or better yet, stick with your penny idea and get them forty pennies.
Are they always losing hair ties? No more as you can get them forty hair ties!
And sticking on that hair theme, get them forty packs of hair dye…you know, cause now they’ll start dyeing their grey hairs. Might as well go big and help them with their color…with forty boxes that is.
Forty coupons, you know as you get older the coupon shopping becomes more and more real. (Even though real couponers have been doing it since they started shopping on their own).
Get forty pieces of their favorite candies and wrap it up with a tie that says “40 Sucks” (cause candy, you gotta suck it to eat it- get it?). Or get them forty pieces of gum and have the wrap say “40 Blows” – there are a lot of potential puns here that’ll make for a funny gift.

Customizable Swag

You can print anything on anything nowadays and a funny hat, shirt, socks, and/or mug will definitely be a hit!

This Women I Am 39 Plus 1 Middle Finger For A 40 Th Birthday Classic T-Shirt from Redbubble user jamai27 for $27.23 comes in a load of different colors and has sizes from Small to 5XL. You can choose whether to have the message printed on the back or the front of the t-shirt too!

If they love memes of any kind they will surely recognize this meme. This 40th Birthday Card DiCaprio Meme Funny Greeting Card from Redbubble user NuSide for $3.93 is sure to get saved.

This Funny 40th Birthday Mug on Amazon for $15.99 will become their new regular drinking mug- that is until their next birthday at least. It’s simple, effective, and funny of course.

The “It Took Me 40 Years to Look This Good Hat” also on Amazon on sale for $8.99 is the exact new hat they’ve been looking to add to their wardrobe. They can wear it out with pride and if anyone asks they can tell them the story of how they got it.

Reading Glasses

Can’t go wrong with a pair of reading glasses, it’s a simple gift that may end up getting some use. Readers is a website with a bunch of reading glasses, pick the goofiest style or go with something they might end up loving or both!

Print Out Certificates

If you really want to lean into the whole “hey look you’re 40, that’s OLD” thing then you can print out a few things that’ll bring the joke home:

Print out an AARP Membership Application- cause they are the American Association of Retired Persons – don’t worry the recipient will understand the joke.
Print out local Retirement Home brochures. It’s silly and will definitely bring out that eye roll you're looking for.
Since newspapers are harder to come by these days you can print out a newspaper and hand them their reading glasses along with it to really bring the picture home.
Funny 40th Birthday Safety Signs from Homemade Gifts Made Easy have these printable designs that you might like, here’s our favorite:

A Series of Books

Books are great and there are so many out there that bring out the funnies including these ones that are perfect for this occasion:

To help them understand Gen Z better we have: “Decoding Gen-Z Slang: Your Guide to Learning, Understanding, and Speaking the Gen-Z Vernacular” for $11.99 at Bookstore N More. A great gift for a teenager/young adult to give them.
Point out where they’ve come from with a book talking all about the year they were born- (in this case we are writing this in 2024 so we’d be getting them a book from 1984, but if you happen upon this in the future, pick the next year up). “A Year to Remember 1984 Where History Comes Alive for Time Traveler: Explore the Past, Relive Events, and Celebrate Nostalgia with This Unique Book” by Wisdom Zones Publishing & Momo Hill from Amazon for $12.79 on Paperback.
“What You Don't Know About Turning 40: A Funny Birthday Quiz” by Bill Dodds & Steve Mark on Amazon for $8.74 on Amazon is a great grown-up version of a Dr. Suess book!

“Prank” Gifts

Funny harmless prank gifts are always a joy for some people and these will be sure to delight the recipient:

This Prank Toilet Paper from Amazon for $9.99 has the “Holy *Poop Emoji* You’re 40!” on every sheet. It’s stupid and funny for those with their child-like humor still kicking in.
The Funny Happy Birthday Candle also from Amazon for $16.99 has the typical “Bath & Body Works” logo on it but instead of saying Bath & Body Works it says “Back & Body Hurts” along with a Happy Birthday sticker.
The Skeleteen Old Man Inflatable Cane from Amazon for $5.98 is the perfect gag gift for a 40th.
“40 Something Vouchers For Her 40th Birthday Joke Gag Gift 10 Funny Coupons” from Dazzling Costumes for $4.95 includes ten funny vouchers for turning 40.
Get them a BRAND NEW CAR!!! (But in reality it’s a toy car like this KiNSMART BMW M8 Competition Coupe Red 5" 1:36 Scale Die Cast Metal Model Toy Car w/Pullback Action- which just from the name alone sounds like a pretty cool brand new car). You can get it for $8.24 on Amazon.

Creative “Make Your Own” Gifts

You may have to pull out your markers, paints, paper, scissors, and all other crafting supplies for these next few gift ideas:

An “Anti-Aging” Pill Box but in actuality it’s a package of mints, just replace the label with a piece of paper and add your own designs with inside jokes to give it a more personal touch.
Ask all their closest family members and friends and have them draw a portrait of the special birthday person, it’s silly fun that will definitely lead to a lot of laughs round the table.
Making your own card at home is a time honored tradition and you can add a funny joke about them turning 40 in the card but if you’re having trouble, Homemade Gifts Made Easy collected a bunch of 40th Birthday Jokes and One-liners- (you can see the full list here), these are a few of our favorites from that list:

“Don't let aging get you down. It's too hard to get up again.”
“You know you're getting old when you can't walk past a bathroom without thinking, "I may as well pee while I'm here."”
“The best part of being over forty, is that you did most your stupid stuff before the internet. “
‘Birthdays are nature's way of telling us to eat more cake.”
“Don't worry, they are not grey hairs, they are wisdom highlights. You just happen to be extremely wise.”

Silly Board Games

You can have a lot of fun with a board game, especially the ones that are designed to invoke laughs and lead to memories that’ll be looked back on with even more laughs. Here’s a few board games that we liked:

UpRoar! The Card Game of Silly Sounds from Amazon for $9.89 is the game for making a fool of yourself in the best possible way: with funny noises!
and 28. Apples to Apples is the safe for work version of Cards Against Humanity- another game similar to this one that’s not so safe for work, but if that’s the vibe then you can definitely get Cards Against Humanity (for $29.99 on Target online). With both of these card games you’ll need to get creative and make hilarious match-ups. Get the Apples to Apples Party Box by Mattel for $16.99 from Kohl’s.

29. Telestrations is described to be the “Broken Picture Telephone” and with your skillful artistry you’ll be sure to make art creations worthy of going on the fridge. Get Telestrations for $18.49 at Target.

30. Herd Mentality: The Udderly Hilarious Board Game on sale for $21.99 on Amazon is all about thinking like your friends and family members, the odd one out is the one who loses- think like the herd and win the game!

And there you have it! Those are thirty funny 40th birthday gift ideas for you. Give this along with a gift from the heart and you’ll have the perfect birthday party to look back on.

See even more with our related blog post: 10 Last-Minute DIY Gag Gifts Anyone Can Pull Off