gift ideas for a 90 year old birthday party

[Grumpy's Gal]

I need gift ideas for a lady who will be 90 this month. She lives by herself in her own house. She is very alert and "together" for her age. Any ideas are appreciated!!

 

[geetey]

My grandma is 90 and she also lives on her own. It is funny the things that make the biggest hit with her. She loves getting stamps or gift certificates. Especially to her hair salon (she gets her hair set each week) or the grocery because she will splurge on something she typically wouldn't buy. She doesn't *need* the money but I guess she is getting more penny pinch-ish as the years go by. Another big hit is a gc to a restaurant AND I take her there. She LOOOOOVES that!

I will post if I think of anything else.

 

[armywife]

My 80-something yr. old friend mentioned the best gifts she receives are taking her to lunch/dinner. She said she would much rather have the company & go somewhere than a gift. I know my grandparents love it when we take dinner to them and stay for awhile playing cards, etc.

 

[mrsboz]

I know that I used to buy for someone that was elderly and they loved getting. Gift certificates, movie passes, stamps and I used to buy them a variety of cards. They loved that. They are usually on a fixed income so they loved that they could send cards to people. I use to buy a bunch of thank you cards, birthday cards, thinking of you . .. any cards. I bought them at the 50% off store. They also liked a bottle of their favority liquor and some candy.

 

[Juliah]

I don't know if you know her--and her friends and family--well enough for this, but for my mother's 90th, I emailed family members asking them to each write down a few stories about my mom. We added some pictures and stickers and put them in a scrapbook for her. It wasn't a lot of work for any one person, and she just loved it.

 

[gr8ful4Him]

I'll definitely be paying attention to this thread. My grandma is turning 90 in August and also lives on her own. She gets around pretty good for being 90 I think...partly because she's just stubborn! lol
We live over 3 hours away (unfortunately), but take time to go visit when we can. She has quite a bit of "stuff", and I'd like to do something special for her....

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Last year my sister and I threw a large party for our mother's 90th birthday party. We had to have it (as a luncheon) in a hotel as there were 130 guests. This included relatives, friends, former employees or co-workers and even her hairdresser. Mom had to be involved to set up the seating chart as she was the only person who knew everyone.

We discouraged physical gifts, as she has been ridding herself of clutter over the last few years. However, a lot of people got up to speak about how she had affected their lives. She really liked that, and it helped to show people facets of her they did not know.

Actually, she had a gift for everyone who attended. Over a span of about six months my brother-in-law (who was in Public Relations) and one of his son's (who is a newspaper editor) conducted and recorded interviews with her for several hours once a week, and the following week would give her kind of a transcript. This was made into a paperback book of almost 200 pages and John had about 150 printed up for distribution.

 

[missypie]

Pedicure gift certificates.

 

[missypie]

Last year my sister and I threw a large party for our mother's 90th birthday party. We had to have it (as a luncheon) in a hotel as there were 130 guests. This included relatives, friends, former employees or co-workers and even her hairdresser. Mom had to be involved to set up the seating chart as she was the only person who knew everyone.

We discouraged physical gifts, as she has been ridding herself of clutter over the last few years. However, a lot of people got up to speak about how she had affected their lives. She really liked that, and it helped to show people facets of her they did not know.

Actually, she had a gift for everyone who attended. Over a span of about six months my brother-in-law (who was in Public Relations) and one of his son's (who is a newspaper editor) conducted and recorded interviews with her for several hours once a week, and the following week would give her kind of a transcript. This was made into a paperback book of almost 200 pages and John had about 150 printed up for distribution.

My parents wrote their "memoirs" and gave them to us for Christmas a few years ago. It was the only gift I've ever received that actually brought tears to my eyes. If someone could help the birthday girl write her memoirs, everyone would love it. My parents' were mostly 1-4 pages "vignettes" of specific events or people...it's not too intimidating to write a few short paragraphs.

Another related idea...for ther 50th anniv., my parents typed up the results of their geneology research and gave it to us. It was fascinating. If someone could pick the 90 year old's brain about the departed realtives, everyone would appreciate that.