It happens every year about this time. We start thinking about creative and thoughtful gifts for our older family members and friends and just can’t get any help. Search on Amazon for senior citizen gift ideas and you’ll be overwhelmed by lots of frankly inappropriate selections.
So what is the magic secret to avoiding the same old flowers, scarves and socks? Let’s look at a few options that we have given to our parents and grandparents that have really gone down well.
Thoughtfully practical
As we get older, everyday tasks become harder. You don’t want to see Grandpa taking out the trash on a winter night holding trash in one hand and a flashlight in the other. The thoughtful solution might be a lighted baseball cap with LEDs to light his way, freeing one hand for stability.
Is Mom having trouble reaching the cat dishes because she has trouble bending? What about a reaching device that is not just useful, but will have everyone in the family playing with it.
Anyone in the family having bathroom issues? A $2,000+ Japanese talking robotic toilet would be great, but did you know that there are several low-cost options for retrofitting automatic toilet seats to your bathroom?
Thoughtfully beautiful
Practical is great, but there are times that a simply beautiful gift is more appropriate. Even here, though, it pays to be sensitive to the challenges of aging.
My Mom has been suffering from arthritis recently, and her ability to fasten buttons and clasps has diminished significantly. So my last gift to her was a set of 30 inch gold and silver chains that she could slip over her head without doing the clasp. We also swapped a few of her pendants from her older chains so that she could wear her favorite pieces all over again.
Thoughtfully personalized
No, we don’t mean a cup with “World’s greatest Dad” on it. We’ve had great success with thoughtfully personalizing gifts, particularly using today’s technology.
Do you know anything that gets older members of the family to reminisce more than music from their “golden age”? One of our favorite recommendations for anyone looking for the perfect senior gift is an MP3 player.
Yes, we know that your parents and grandparents can barely get to grips with the TV remote (ours, too). That’s where the personalization comes in. You add the music beforehand and keep adding to their collection over time. We bought Dad 3 CDs of 50s classics and loaded them on the MP3 player so all he has to do is press play and stop (and on his player that’s the same button).
So this year stay away from the same old tired gifts and get something for your favorite senior citizen that is thoughtfully practical, beautiful or personalized.
Uma Eklund is dedicated to providing products and gifts that allow seniors to enjoy life to the full. Uma researches and selects products to recommend based on her own experience with finding and buying the best gifts for senior citizens. If you would like more gift ideas for senior citizens please visit our website at http://www.thoughtfulseniorgifts.com.
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