Anonymous wrote:Would he like a surprise party with friends and family?

What about a special trip instead? Any national parks he hasn't visited?

Would he like a surprise party with friends and family?

Is he into sports or arts? Go to a special game or concert.

Maybe go on a cruise with all the family. A nice ship.

I know that your mom thinks it might be challenging for folks to send videos, but what if the friends/family called and left voicemail messages that you put together into one long recording? That's extremely low tech and your dad could listen to it whenever he wanted to.

We had a professional photographer take a nice series of portraits of him and all of his kids and grandkids. It’s on all of our walls and is priceless.

Forget the present, at his age only memories matter and time spent together is priceless.
How about a trip or spécial week-end with his loved ones ?

Anonymous wrote:You can still go with the idea of sharing a favorite memory, but instead of making a video, ask friends and relatives to send a card or note to your father for his birthday. It’ll be nice for your father to get all the mail and read their good wishes. It’s minimal cost and we found most people were happy to do it for my family member.

My friend did this and had it bound into a book.

Photos with a caption about why that day/trip/event was special to you.

Plan a trip to a special place to spend time with him.

I like flipping the video idea into hand-written memories - that may be easier for your less tech savvy folks.

The NY Times front page book is pretty cool - I saved that for future reference.

We bought my parents a digital photo from for Christmas a few years back and like the previous poster, we can remotely add to it, which is great since they are in PA and my sister is in MD and I am in VA. We add photos of significant events withe the grandkids and they love seeing the updates on the frame rather than just emailing or texting them.

Have your mom handle and you go along with her suggestion.

My mom (83) lovees this frame. You can load at it with photos and continue to add remotely. You can invite others to contribute too.

https://tinyurl.com/4x5ckb5u

Uncommon Goods will create a book of every front page of the NYT from every birthday they have had. A real walk down memory lane. Get the magnifying glass as well.

https://www.uncommongoods.com/product/new-york-times-premium-custom-birthday-book

You can still go with the idea of sharing a favorite memory, but instead of making a video, ask friends and relatives to send a card or note to your father for his birthday. It’ll be nice for your father to get all the mail and read their good wishes. It’s minimal cost and we found most people were happy to do it for my family member.

My dad turns 80 early next year and we want to give him something special that is sentimental since he really has everything he wants from a material standpoint. Initially wanted to have friends share a favorite memory and turn it into a video but my mom doesn’t think their friends can “figure it out” (don’t ask). I also thought about making a special photo album but my mom has a million albums from everything so she doesn’t think that would be special enough.

Any other ideas for something that is special and doesn’t involve getting his friends to do anything?