What to get an elderly parent?

[Lamb]

Okay, I'm stumped on what to get my dad for Christmas. I don't live close to him, so I can't drop on by and help him out (it's a 12 hour drive). He really has everything he needs and I asked about gift cards but he said he'd think about it.

What kinds of things have you given your elderly parents that turned out to be a great idea?

 

[tango]

I don't live anywhere near my dad so usually I just send him a Christmas card. When I lived closer I'd usually find some silly jokey presents that would make him laugh - he has everything he needs and if anything is trying to slowly get rid of stuff, so buying him more stuff to get rid of doesn't seem like anything other than an hindrance. Small funny stuff that's obviously about making him laugh is the sort of stuff he doesn't have to spend any thoughts on getting rid of later in the year.

If you're not sure about gift cards you can always try Federal Reserve Gift Cards. They come in a familiar shade of green and you can spend them anywhere you want. At least within the United States, although some foreign locations also accept them.

 

[Forgiven1]

We usually try to take a family photo of my family once a year. Some years I may make a framed 5x7 for her. Many times we work with my husband's sister snd jointly get her something as sis has a better handle on what MIL needs. Other times we send SIL money to take MIL out somewhere nice or to bring it to her apartment. When my son lived near her, we did the meal thing with him handling it.

MIL is 100 and also has everything so we stay away from trinkets and such. Sorry I am not much help here.

 

[Messy3]

Okay, I'm stumped on what to get my dad for Christmas. I don't live close to him, so I can't drop on by and help him out (it's a 12 hour drive). He really has everything he needs and I asked about gift cards but he said he'd think about it.

What kinds of things have you given your elderly parents that turned out to be a great idea?

A bunch of flowers or a plant, chocolate and my dad always loved to get tools when I was a kid and I just saw this in the store. Maybe he likes that? What an awesome present. Why didn't they sell that earlier?

 

[Jazzy]

Depending on his age, and physicality soap on a rope comes to mind. Nothing is worse, than not being able to grab the loose bar that fell because you can't bend comfortably to reach it. Which brings me to suggest one of the long handle grippers you can find on Amazon. Have you seen them? The box of cereal on top shelf, he can't reach on his own, but the gripper reached perfectly. Don't want him on that old step stool, now do we? The grippers come in different lengths.

 

[Lamb]

Thanks everyone!

 

[tango]

This is just one reason to avoid gift cards...

Police warn holiday shoppers about card draining: What to know about the gift card scam

A gift card scam called card draining is spanning California and other regions across the country. Here's what you need to know.

www.usatoday.com