Need Birthday gift idea for 83 year old....

[TupperMom7]

My Mom is turning 83 this year. I have no idea what to get her for a gift. We live nearby and so do my siblings, so she has no one to write to so stationery is out. She has a calendar, a radio, CD player, digital photo frame, DVD player, TV, etc. She does not like candles and she just got flowers and candy for mother's day. She has enough clothes.

HELP!!!

 

[duma]

How about book of photos from Shutterfly? A gift card to Netflix?

 

[juliana_sd]

DVD's or CD's

Find a tea room and have all the girls (daughters/DIL/granddaughters) go to tea. My girlfriends and I love to do this.

Find her old photos, scan them, and make a book

 

[Plantlady]

For my grandparents' 70th anniversary, I had all of the family write their favorite memory of my grandparents.

I then bound it in a book.

They loved it.

They're hard to buy for. They have everything they want. So, I had to think outside the box.

 

[Magic Maker]

Does your Mom happen to be one of those little old ladies that gets her hair "done" like once a week? I get my Mom gift certificates to her hairdresser and she really likes that. She gets it washed, set on rollers and styled. My dad will say, "Your mother's gone to get her hair twisted."

 

[laurafergie]

Does she have a sweet tooth? I made my 86 yr old Grandmother some homemade fudge and put it in a pretty tin with yellow roses on it (her fav flower) and she loved it! Went on and on about it - Grandma is a pragmatic, midwestern German lady that does not get excited easily - so I knew I scored a hit!

 

[Stitches glitch]

I saw this really good segment on the morning show here for these memory books from snapfish. They had a sample and it seemed to be a really great gift. Here is a link if you want to watch the segment, if not you could just head over to snapfish and see what their website says about it. http://www.sonoranliving.com/content/makeit/artscrafts/story.aspx?content_id=39BE3F90-291E-4393-9625-19B63C105E04&gsa=true

 

[WendyisDarling]

A birdhouse or feeder set up with an unobstructed view from a window.

 

[AllesonWonderland]

How about a Journal Jar? Get a canning jar and fill it with little slips of paper with starter questions on it. She can pull one out and write when she feels like it. This would be a great way to log some wonderful family history stories that could be passed on down the road. Questions like:

Did you have a hide-out as a kid?
Did you ever wish you had more brothers or sisters? Why?
Where were you and what were you doing when man first walked on the moon?
Describe your first 'crush'.
Did you have a favorite TV show growing up? Or radio show?

That gives you an idea. We made this one year for my in-laws at Christmas. Here's a link with details and printable prompts.
http://organizedchristmas.com/adult-journal-jar

 

[Kellydelly]

Fruit of the month club? At that age most people only need food . How about a GC to her favorite restaurant? How about a weekend getaway somewhere with you?

 

[Dancemom03]

A mani/pedi? It sounded a bit off the first time I heard of it but older women, especially those with weight, diabetes or other health concerns are usually very pleased to be pampered and have a hard to reach grooming area look pretty too.

I also second the idea of the photo book. Can you get together with siblings, aunts and uncles, friends, ect and include some old pictures from when she was young, along with her wedding day, baby pics, ect?
My mom just came home from their annual family reunion for her dad's side of the family. Most of that generation is gone now, so not a lot of younger family members go anymore, but they still rent the country club and have it catered in memory of the organizer's mother.
This year marked the passing of my great-aunt. She didn't have any children but helped to raise her nephew. He'd had black photo/desk boxes (the kind that are made of cardboard with a lid and will hold a file folder but lay down, instead of standing up) labeled with each person's name and presented them. Inside each of the boxes was a specially chosen collection of photos from my aunt's collection of the recipients as children, their parents, parties, ect. Everybody's box had different photos inside so folks were sharing and reminescing all day long. It was a terrific way to remember her while seeing that the photos she'd cherished would continue to be enjoyed instead of sitting forgotten in a box. My mom said the photos from her childhood organized like that were the best thing she'd gotten in years...

 

[mrsklamc]

edible arrangement?

www.ediblearrangements.com

 

[audrabolster]

Does she live on her own? If not, we put money in my grandmothers account so she can get her hair done, etc.

I second the tea party idea though! So cute!

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

If she lives on her own, how about a day for your family to come over and do all the things she might have trouble with - weeding flowerbeds, painting trim, tightening loose doorknobs or cabinet knobs, whatever she might need. Top it off with a dinner you cook in her home so she can keep all the leftovers!

If she lives in assisted living/nursing home, how about a day out with a trip to see something that interests her (a museum, local historical site, a movie, etc.), followed by lunch or dinner out.

Another idea would be a coupon book from your whole family - windows washed, driving to the doctor or grocery store, having the grandkids wash her car if she has one, etc. You could customize it for her based on her living alone or in assisted care, whether or not she drives, etc.

 

[DVCajun]

A couple of ideas --

audio books;

if she enjoys drinking wine or liquor, you can get her favorite and actually have the bottle engraved at a jewelry store. I thought that was a cool idea.

 

[Stan's MaggieMouse]

My grandmother is also in her early 80s and the Christmas before last I made her a scrapbook. I had never made a scrapbook before but I decided that I was going to make a scrapbook of all of her great-grandchildren (at that time she had 10 and 2 on the way). I asked my sister and my 2 cousins to share photos of their children and my other sister let me take pictures of her pregnant belly and gave me an ultrasound picture. I didn't know much about scrapbooking, I don't have a cri-cut or punches and I don't care much for rub-ons but I loaded up on stickers from Michael's, AC Moore and the dollar store. I got stickers for all occasions, all seasons, new babies, graduations, you name it, there's a sticker for it.

My grandmother loves that book and last Christmas I just made a bunch of new pages to add to it of all the things that happened since the previous Christmas. Two new babies, summer vacations, the holidays, etc. I will probably continue to add to her scrapbook for the rest of her life. She always tells us not to buy for her, she doesn't need anything, she's "on the check out line", etc but she can't argue with pictures of her great-grandkids.

Maggie

 

[NotUrsula]

Good magnifiers, especially the kind that sit right on the surface of what you are reading. They tend to be pricey, so most oldsters won't buy them for themselves.

 

[lntsmom]

I used to get my aunts sweatshirts with my boys' photos on them. When they got in their 80's they (the aunts) were always cold, so they wore sweatshirts year round. Once I went to a place at the mall that took the photo and scanned it on. Another time I used the portrait studio we'd gone to. Other times I just had snapshots put on them.

Twice I got them shirts that had the boys' artwork on them.

They'd gotten to the age where they were unable to read (one due to dementia, the other due to macular degeneration) and were in nursing homes, so they didn't have room for pictures, knick-knacks, etc. I did get them candy, but learned quickly that if I gave them large boxes the staff would help themselves. They got more when I gave smaller boxes.

If your relative is still "with it" you might get her a personal cd player and some of her favorite music. One of my aunts loved the InkSpots and had a tape player, so I got her a tape of their music. She really enjoyed that.

My last thought is that if your relative enjoys pizza, you might arrange to have a small pizza delivered to her once or twice a month for the next year. One of my aunts missed fast food when shewent into the nursing home, so I tried to take her something (a milkshake, burgers, tacos, etc.) once a week.

 

[starann]

Once my grandmother turned 80 (and my grandfather died ) we realized any trinkets we gaver her would have to be cleaned out of her house when she passed away....knowing she had enough junk and trinkets we started getting her gift certificates for manicures (she had a wig, so hair gc were out), resturants (she LOVED the soup at McDonalds) and places like Walmart. She was ona fixed income when my Poppop died, and had to cut out a lot of extras, so this was a win win for everyone....she enjoyed her gifts, and we didnt have to clean up more crap when she died (it took us over a month to clean out her house)

HTH

 

[kat3668]

http://www.sendameal.com/view_all_meals:)