That's a very thoughtful gift though it might end up being less useful than intended, especially for the cost. I ran through Amazon and snagged some stuff that I think might be good substitutions. I know gift ideas can be difficult so I listed out a bunch of stuff I personally use, even if the total price exceeded the item that you had originally mentioned.
(Insaniac's suggestion of a portable lamp is excellent, though I don't have any suggestions for the price, make, and model.)
I was pretty much exactly where you are about a month ago. instructions. I didn't have any tools for building or painting, so I bought brushes, primer, paint, and hobby tools on Amazon. I also recommend looking on eBay for cheaper models. If you get a set with just the bases and sprues, you can find a copy of the build instructions here
I started with Vallejo game color intro set, and it was great. Gives you a good color palette and the price is on point. I still use many of the colors 3-4 years later.
No you would not use acrylic paint to paint a house...but the kit is also...literally acrylic paint 🤣. But yes the difference is the colors are premixed. There are other mini paint kits that don't cost this much..such as vallejo as was suggested by a veteran painter here....
Here is an example..but something something something a fool and his money..
Citadel and Vallejo are the top 2 brands for that style of miniature painting. Citadel are commonly used on tutorial videos, so a lot of newer painters start with these because it’s easy to find the right colours if they follow said tutorials. They have a huge range of really excellent colours. They have some great special effects paint, like blood, rust, gemstones. Their blood in particular is the best on the market. Link:
https://www.games-workshop.com/en-FI/Technical-Blood-for-the-Blood-God-2019
Vallejo on the other hand are a bit cheaper and have nicer bottles, so if your husband isn’t watching YouTube tutorials, then I would recommend a kit of that. They do great full colour range kits. There’s 2 ranges, Vallejo model color and Vallejo game color. Both are great for D&D minis, game color is more vibrant, model color more pastel. Here’s an example of a set of them:
Lastly, you never get good metallic paints as part of a paint set. There’s a ton of options for metallic paint, but some of them are awful. Vallejo Metal Color range is really top notch, so I would get at least one for generic sword/armor. Here’s a link to that range
https://acrylicosvallejo.com/en/category/hobby/metal-color-en/
Hope that helps!
I think the tools are overpriced and not worth the "value add" there.
I'd suggest
Vallejo 16 color set
Generic flush cutter for the sprues
10-pack of brushes
Cheap Hobby Knife with extra blades
All in, you're slightly cheaper than the Citadel box, have the same tools, but more brushes and more paint. The extra brushes for your basing, your drybrush, your layer and detail.
This pretty much matches what I use on a daily basis. I do have other brushes, and a wider paint library, but I could do most of my stuff with that kit, for most of my minis, to this day.