Gifts for 85 y.o. FiL with dementia

[Anonymous]

Have gotten some great suggestions in this forum over the years, including the picture frame which can be uploaded remotely so hoping for more!

FiL has dementia and not able to concentrate so books, even audible ones, are out as he is not able to pay attention. He is able to play some board games, ones that he has played for years, but not any new ones. Movies, streaming shows are also out as he is not able to concentrate. Sad as he watched a lot of sports.

He walks with his aide every day, sometimes twice, using a walker. He also works out at a gym with a FT 1-2x/week. That's about it for activities.

Love any ideas!

[Anonymous]

A flowering plant.

A coffee table book where he can just look at the pictures without following a narrative, maybe something from his hometown or a place that's beautiful.

A nice cashmere lap blanket.

[Anonymous]

Are you getting him a gift just to get him a gift, or are you looking for things to improve his quality of life as he progresses through dementia?

[Anonymous]

A photo book -- like a Shutterfly one -- made up of photos from people and places in his life.

Like if he was a big baseball fan you could have photos of him going to the games and then some stock photos of ball parks etc.

Or if he grew up in Boston, pics of him and his family and then some general Boston photos.

We did this with my mom and she looked at that book over and over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you getting him a gift just to get him a gift, or are you looking for things to improve his quality of life as he progresses through dementia?

I am in search of a gift to mark the occasion, ideally one that may bring him some joy, even fleeting, over the course of the day.

I thought that was obvious from my OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A photo book -- like a Shutterfly one -- made up of photos from people and places in his life.

Like if he was a big baseball fan you could have photos of him going to the games and then some stock photos of ball parks etc.

Or if he grew up in Boston, pics of him and his family and then some general Boston photos.

We did this with my mom and she looked at that book over and over.

He has a lot of Shutterfly books as my MiL is the maven of Shutterfly. She makes them in duplicates so her grand/kids have one and they have one. If not for that, would do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A flowering plant.

A coffee table book where he can just look at the pictures without following a narrative, maybe something from his hometown or a place that's beautiful.

A nice cashmere lap blanket.

Thanks - great suggestions.

[Anonymous]

Music. My grandfather liked listening to music/songs from the 40s and 50s in his last few years. Create a playlist of his favorite music or however he can access music.

[Anonymous]

Music for sure.

Old man food. My grandpa loved sardines, horseradish, a nice dark rye bread, basically anything you can think of that's stereotypically old man food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Music for sure.

Old man food. My grandpa loved sardines, horseradish, a nice dark rye bread, basically anything you can think of that's stereotypically old man food.

Oh and premium orange juice. Basically anything he liked to eat that was even sort of healthy, we got him. Older people sometimes don't have as sensitive taste buds, so strong flavors are good.

[Anonymous]

Give him music (top 40 hits) from when he was about ages 2-25.

[Anonymous]

The Laurence Welk Show on DVD-- you don't need to follow a plot for that, it's just a variety show with a lot of music and dancing.

See if he has any favorite restaurants, and get it delivered. Some restaurants will sell you partly-cooked food that you bake at home, like lasagna or whatever. My grandparents loved when I would pick up traditional Italian cookies from an old-fashioned bakery, it was a whole ritual with a cup of coffee and the nice little plates, untying the string and opening the box and seeing the variety of cookies. You don't need to have memory to enjoy some delightful cookies.

[Anonymous]

My mom loves answering machine messages. Sometimes I call when I know she's not there, just so that I can leave a message, because she's excited when she has one. Then she can play the message as many times as she wants. It's so easy to do and it makes her happy.

I recently got myself a foot cream called Kerasal that cures those cracks in your heels and it's a god-send. I immediately got some for my dad too. Foot care and comfort is so important.

[Anonymous]

Things that bring back those old memories he can access. He already has photo books, but you could take a favorite memory and put it on a pillow or a fridge magnet or a lightweight hanging plaque.

If he is a huge sports fan or in love with his college, get something that would make him smile with that. Just make sure you know what he still remembers so all you trigger is a smile.

[Anonymous]

A cashmere or merino sweater. Old people get chilly easily.