gift ideas for parents/ seniors

Want to brainstorm gift ideas for the senior crowd?

-My sis and I are giving mugs with a picture of us from a trip together. Always useful.
-I usually give a restaurant gift card.
-I have done several food baskets, put together from the grocery, themes like 'breakfast' or 'Italian"
-I bought a cute stained glass snail at Lowes last week, sort of a decorative large nightlight. They also had 'turtle' $25
-Books on audio.
-Got Dad college polo shirt from his alma mater (thanks hart for that idea)
-Secret weapon this year if I can pull it off- me and my kids to sing and record traditional hymns for Dad to listen to
-Fiction from the Christian bookstore, good for the lady who doesn't want to be mortified halfway thru the book.

We do a lot of homemade family things - like Great Grandmas Orange Slice Cake - it gives the older generation memories, will stir old stories, and will give the younger folk that dont have those ties a link into the family history. Keeps things alive that way... just what we do - :-)

Not sure if this is applicable but...last years gift to my folks was a sure fire hit....also VERY time consuming. Purchased a Kodak digital frame (did a search on reviews of the various types out there - this, by far, had the "best") http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=10521&pq-locale=en_US&_requestid=11884 I think Walmart had them the cheapest last year and you can find SD cards (it take various memory cards) cheaply this time of year. I scanned the best of all the OLD pics that they'd given me through the years i.e. their grandparents/parents when younger and of course pics of my folks when they were kids...then scanned old pics of my sis and I...then our kids and put them all on the memory card. They loved it!!! Sure I'll never be able to duplicate their faces with another gift...but it was good.

Chantell, I picked one of those up a couple of years ago, found it was hard to load wasn't happy with the picture and ended taking it back to the store. I think the idea was good as we always have so many more pictures on the computer than we ever print. I just think what we picked up wasn't a very good type. Can't remember which one it was but it was on sale a Kohl's with a very good price. Maybe that was why it had such a good price. LOL
Sally, I quite often give a diner or lunch date. Instead of just a gift card to a restaurant, it's more of a me and them time. Not a big crowd more of a one on one. Daddy and Daughter lunch, my Dad's hearing is getting worst and big groups get too noisy for him. I pick a quiet restaurant during a a slow period like late lunch or early supper when the restaurant wouldn't be so busy.

Holly - I'd heard that with many of the digital frame...sadly many of those "great buys" at Kohls aren't in the end...my sis had to return various electronics there due to same reason. I'll stick to buying clothes at Kohls - electronics at Best Buy or Wally World. The lunches and dinner - "night's out" have always been hits...great idea111

Sally--

Dah! Just found this Post! You know--I should check the M.A.F. more often to see if any one else has started a new Thread--instead of just, always, reading/responding to the ones I am "watching"!!!!! Tunnel vision--that's what it is!!!!

I have no more living parents to think about--but, I think a priceless gift would be for you to make a scrap book for them of all the "Baby and Children's" stuff YOU have hoarded since you were a child. All the Elementary School pictures, all the drawings your parents kept on the fridge (if you have them?)....Cards you have sent each other--small mementos from trips, etc....Giving them something like this NOW would be priceless--then you can always reclaim the scrap book after they pass on and give it to YOUR children.....then they can add to it--and give it to THEIR children! What a legacy!!!!!!

As people age--they live more and more in their past memories....yet, they do not always have anything saved from those days. They were too busy--never thought of it--wasn't important to them at the time, etc...

IF you did this kind of a scrap book--I bet you would see many a tear shed by anyone reminiscing through it--even yourself!

There was someone on Oprah last week that had done this. Everyone was in tears just watching it! Me too......

Gita

Best ever Christmas present for senior citizens - my brother several years ago got my parents tickets for a trip on one of those riverboats. I don't recall if it was on the Miss. or Ohio rivers but they had a blast. Kind of expensive, though.

For those on special diets, I like to put together gift baskets full of treats and goodies they wouldn't normally have that fit their diet. Or bake them some special goodies that fit their diet. This is really nice for someone who is diabetic and can't have sweets with sugar because they so seldom get homemade pies or cakes they can eat. Splenda is easy to use and doesn't lose its sweetness when you bake with it.

My mom loves anything handmade and I made her a crocheted Martha Stewart poncho with matching hat last year. She went nuts over it. As her eyesight has weakened, she isn't able to sew and do other handcrafts herself so handmade things are particularly appreciated. This year I'm making her a digital scrapbook with photos of the great-grandkids.

The sweatshirts and other things from their college are always appreciated. Most don't know how to order online. I got Joyce one from her college several years ago and she was thrilled. She had never had one before. Many colleges didn't sell things like that when back when they were in school. If they didn't go to college, you might try finding one for their high school since some schools are selling sweatshirts and things with the school logo now too.

Another great gift is to go to an antique shop and find a real calendar from their birth year. Laws Auction in Manassas used to have a shop that carried oodles of them. They're not hard to find.

I've found as my mom has gotten older, what she doesn't want is more doodads and collectibles, more things. She'd rather have something she can eat or wear or something that brings back memories. One year, I got a friend who was an antique dealer to find a tobacco knife to give her. She grew up on a tobacco farm and this was what they used to harvest the tobacco. She really liked that too.

The only thing I know my Mom will actually use (and I'm smiling here because she's amassed a closet full of unused gifts) is a gift card for her favorite restaurant. She and her friend meet there about once every two weeks. They are 86 and 87 and the only friends living from their old crowd, so each visit is a precious day out that affirms that they are still independent and vital women. My nephew gave Mom a telephone calling card, a gift he meant as a financial relief, but she didn't know how to use it, so after carrying it around in her wallet for about a year, she threw it away. Make sure your loved one understands what it is you're giving them and how to use it.

A small gift but my dad will probably like.
The biggest white plant labels I could find, are eight inch ones from Pinetree, If not big enough, I'll make from painted wood some way. Plus an indelible marker. And I will pre write some "okra" "chard" "save for Sally " LOL yes I will

Sally, When the older folks are much older it seems the only thing they look forward to are outings. My mom used to love to go anywhere with her cronies. I used to buy her two tickets to the local little theathre group's season. She loved being able to call a friend and invite her to go. I also used to give her movie tickets and she'd do the same with them.

There was an older fella from her church who often did nice things for her. I bought him tickets to the Phillies. He loved taking his grandson.
I also gave my mother 2 tickets to see Tony Bennet. She was in heaven.

Mom was a movie fan. Over the years I gave her complete collections of old films from her favorite stars. Also, I started big band and jazz, Sinatra and Elvis CD collections for her. She loved listening to all of the music from her era.

Pam, that's a great point about making sure they know how to use your gift.

Stormy, the tickets are a great idea too. Here's a thought - the senior center where my mom lives does monthly bus trips for seniors. My mom loves those trips. They go to DC to various museums, come up here to the valley at least once a year, even to Pennsylvania and other nearby states. One of her favorites is the yearly Mosby tour. An expert on Mosby rides on the bus and tells them stories about these Civil War guerillas as they tour around relevant sites.

Anyway, might want to check your local senior center to see if they do anything similar.

Hart, Great idea about the senior centers.

My mom always loves sugar free treats(cookies or candy)
when she lived alone she really appreciated meals. so she didn't have to cook.
this is one I used she said the food was great
http://www.homebistro.com/?gclid=CNbMm7yFtJcCFQIyxwodb2uKiQ

Jen, Walmart, at least the ones with groceries, has a huge selection of sugar free candy. One whole section of their candy aisle is sugar free items. They have sugar free versions of the Russell Stover and Whitman boxed chocolates too.

I used to pick up a basket in their crafts department and then load it up with sugar free candy for a friend, now deceased, who was diabetic. His eyes would light up with he saw all those goodies.

Even the regular Wally Worlds carry those....I pick them up for dad...so glad they have them available....

Chantell, did you know they have sugar free Tastee Cake snack cakes and there's a whole section of diabetic foods, cookies and so forth, in the grocery aisles too?

Ohhh....feeling a goodie basket comin' on again.

If you want to be real fancy, they have the colored cellophane for covering the basket back in crafts too.

Oh mercy...ya mean I've got to be creative too???? Sheesh! LOL They're getting the dang family portraits - isn't that enough? ^_^

Jen, Those meals look great. I know that my mother would have really appreciated getting one of them.

I had a funny event today. My 83 year old sailing buddy called today and told me that her son called her and said that he found the perfect Christmas gift for her. He wanted to buy her an adult tricycle.

This woman swims 50 laps every morning, rode her bike to and from her Radiation and Chemo treatments for 12 weeks and only stopped skiing 5 years ago because her grandson's great dane took her for a walk and caused her to break her ankle.

Now her son did this because last summer her and a young friend (age 74) went on a bicycle trip through the Florida Keys and the bike she was riding wasn't the right size for her and she lost control of it and fell and broke her shoulder.

She was horrified and insulted at his idea and told her son that she certainly wasn't old enough for one of them. After much laughing together, I told her to call her son back and tell him to keep it in mind for her 90th Birthday!!