For one of my grandfather's milstone bdays, my parent and their siblings did a family genealogy and got it published in a very nice family album book, complete with family photos. That was very well received.

Stick with food. Send something to their house, get a restaurant gift certificate or take them out to dinner. That’s all we do for my FIL and my parents now. They don’t want experience gifts or stuff.

Anonymous wrote:Marcel's gift certificate and Kennedy Center tickets. Talk to him or his wife to pick out a show. Marcel's will put them in a black car to drive them to the show and then take them back to the restaurant for dessert.

This sounds awesome!

Anonymous wrote:Book of the month subscription box?

This.
Reader's digest has large print books. They pick ten best seller fiction books each year, condense them and print them into a two books in one deal. Then they mail out five "double" books each year. It's $20 a year.
https://partnersforsight.org/subscribe/

You could also order reader's digest magazine in large print.

I am 60 and I have started buying the large print reader's digest books when I see them at the thrift shops. I love them because I don't have to wear reading glasses when reading them.

Anonymous wrote:XDH downloaded a ton of songs, jazz, swing and more from the 1930s and 1940s to a CD (or you could do this to an iPhone). My mom loved it and at her 80th birthday party there were several old men standing around the speaker listening and talking about the music for at least an hour. (This isn’t why we’re divorced.)

Her 80th must have been a while ago. My mom is 79 and ‘her ‘ formative music was Elvis, Chuck Berry etc.

Expensive bottle of scotch or wine.

Anonymous wrote:No 80 year old wants an experience gift or most of these things.

My 80 year old parents are more than happy to receive gift certificate to a nice restaurant that they normally wouldn't go to or tickets to a play.

Book of the month subscription box?

Anonymous wrote:So many people want to give the elderly stuff that is tech related. Be careful of that.

Even the most tech-savvy seniors I know get easily frustrated the first time something doesn't work. Their troubleshooting skills for tech are almost non-existent.

Your great gift idea will be nothing more than a dust collector and source of frustration if they can't figure out how to use it.

This is a good point. I'm the one who got my MIL a kindle, but she already was a smartphone user and a basic computer/email user.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Enough with the experience gifts no one wants that you think you are being clever with. Call mom, ask for the favorite restaurant and get a gift certificate to that.

Yes, I’d do a restaurant and make a date to go together. Then the experience is spending time enjoying a lovely meal together.

Or, maybe something like an Audible subscription to listen to books, or a kindle if he doesn’t already have one. Kindles are great for the elderly because you can make the font whatever size you want.

Yep, I got my MIL a kindle and asked her to give me 10 titles of books she wanted to read and loaded it with that along with the Bible (for bible study). For her, the kindle is an experience gift. A lot of her friends also got kindles for bible study after she got one, lol.

So many people want to give the elderly stuff that is tech related. Be careful of that.

Even the most tech-savvy seniors I know get easily frustrated the first time something doesn't work. Their troubleshooting skills for tech are almost non-existent.

Your great gift idea will be nothing more than a dust collector and source of frustration if they can't figure out how to use it.

Will there be a party? That would be a nice gift to organize one.

XDH downloaded a ton of songs, jazz, swing and more from the 1930s and 1940s to a CD (or you could do this to an iPhone). My mom loved it and at her 80th birthday party there were several old men standing around the speaker listening and talking about the music for at least an hour. (This isn’t why we’re divorced.)

No 80 year old wants an experience gift or most of these things.

Escape Room? Theater tickets to the Shakespeare Thester?