<p>My mother is turning 80 and I am racking my brain for a nice gift for her. At this point, there isn’t much she needs (or that I haven’t given her already). She is artistic, enjoys traveling, loves good food and wine, and is a sports fan. It doesn’t have to be a stupendous gift, just a thoughtful and enjoyable one. Any suggestions? Also, I would appreciate suggestions for specific places to buy/order from, online or otherwise.</p>
<p>Does she watch a lot of sports on TV? This is off-the-wall, but maybe you could pay for an upgrade for her cable to get one of the extended sports packages. There are some beautiful travel “picture” books…Barnes and Noble just had a series of them on display—maybe you can get some from some of her favorite places? A subscription to a food/wine magazine? I gave my mother a subscription to Paula Deen’s magazine, and she was thrilled. Harry and David “fruit of the month” gifts are beautiful…my MIL got one as a gift at Christmas, and it is exciting for her to see what comes each month. Just a few thoughts at a time when I ought to be asleep…</p>
<p>How about taking her on an outing to a sporting event.</p>
<p>DS is taking his dad to the Redskins/Giants game as an early Christmas gift.</p>
<p>bela – I can so relate! Both my parents turned 80 this year. Neither of them needs anything. My mom would be thrilled with a donation to a worthy cause in her name; my dad, OTOH, is like a little kid and likes to “open” something. But, since my mom had a minor stroke several years ago, she’s not as agile as she once was, and suffers from short-term memory loss. (Hm-m-m, that actually applies to many of us, including me!) At any rate, my brothers and I frequently give gift certificates to local restaurants, gourmet meal deliveries, etc. Also, we finally had a family photo (parents, children, grandchildren) done – I say finally, since we had been talking about it for years.</p>
<p>My own mother loves pictures (albums, or family pic in a nice frame). My grandmother was one who said that she needed nothing. My mother used to make her baskets of the things she uses: brushes, hairspray, favorite lipstick, shampoos, etc. My mother also bought some more expensive gifts like a larger screen TV. Her parents enjoyed that TV for years, but would never had spent that money on themselves.</p>
<p>H just transferred all our VHS tapes to DVD. 50 DVDs in all. Including copies of old home movies that my in-laws and parents had taken, and VHS they had taken. Then he made back-up copies of all of them. Bought a zippered CD case to hold them. Will send them to his mother for her birthday next week (also 80). She will not only enjoy having DVDs of everything; she will also appreciate the position of being in charge of safeguarding the back-up copy.</p>
<p>I would think that time with you would be the nicest gift. Second the suggestion of taking her to a sporting event or to something like a museum special exhibition.</p>
<p>Last year we did a card shower for my mom’s 80th, and she absolutely loved it! We sent a letter to everyone we could think about that she would know, church friends, college friends, old girl scouts, old neighbors, etc. We asked them all to send her a card for her birthday. She got over 100 cards, and some other balloons and things. She was SO happy and it was the perfect gift.</p>
<p>A fleece throw from her favorite sports team? </p>
<p>We recently got my dad an iTunes gift card, complete with granchild help in its use, and that went over well. He’s not ready for an iPod yet but he loves being able to buy one song at a time and having them put on CD.</p>
<p>My 90-year-old aunt is a china painter and has done some really beautiful tiles. For her 90th birthday, I made digital photos of a couple of the tiles, sent them to stamps.com and had postage stamps made up for her with those images. She really enjoyed the gift, and I liked it because, like the suggestions from the other posters, it was different and not just something to sit hidden away in a drawer or on a shelf gathering dust.</p>
<p>You say your mom is artistic - maybe you could take a photo of a painting or drawing she has made and have it made into a stamp!</p>
<p>Get her a really fabulous bottle of wine, something she wouldn’t buy for herself. Get together a great spead of cheeses, crackers, fruit etc. that compliments that wine.</p>
<p>Have the wine for a special birthday tasting with people with whom she would want to share it. </p>
<p>Get out the best wine glasses preferrably some that have sentimental value (perhaps they belonged to her parents). Get a flower arrangement.</p>
<p>Do you live near your mother? I agree with Northstarmom. However, my mom (age 86) no longer has the stamina for the museum (and is too proud to use the available wheelchairs), so I usually take her to see a play or musical. It’s a chance to get out, it’s not too tiring, and we both have a good time.</p>
<p>I agree an outing would be wonderful for many people who no longer need anything…heck, my Ds were all with me this year for my bday, first time in years that had happened and I was very touched</p>
<p>For my mom’s 80th, we hired a limo and took her, dad, and bunch of family to some of the most important places in my mom’s past. I have to say it worked out beautifully, including seeing my parents walk down the aisle of the church where they were married. We went on to a dinner party at a nice restaurant with the family members who couldn’t take the limo trip. </p>
<p>For a gift, we had a nice big photo album with snap-in pages; I sent the pages out to each branch of the family beforehand to personalize, and then put them together in the book.</p>
<p>Got my 80+ mom and ipod loaded with her favorite music, a couple of movies and pictures from the whole family. She LOVES it.</p>
<p>We had a big surprise party for my mom’s 80th that was a huge success. I put together several CD’s with her favorite music. Then I made a “book” from Shutterfly with pictures of all her friends and family at the party and quotes about being 80, birthdays, family, etc. I also made a very short movie with some of the same pictures, set to music with funny lyrics. She was thrilled with everything.</p>
<p>How about a Netflix or Blockbuster subscription? We got this for my mom and for my father-in-law … they just love always having a movie to watch and not having to go out in the winter!</p>
<p>twinmom, this is why mother loves her copy machine, and fax machine! I think that Netflix is a great idea for some parents. My mother would not appreciate that, but she was thrilled to get my DH’s used copier (btw, this was not a BD present! If it were, LOL, she would not have been all that thrilled.)!</p>
<p>My SIL spent over $100 and many hours making a photo frame for the in laws, pictures going back 30 years, very thoughtful, well done, included our kids too…FIL never turns it on, waste of electricity :(</p>
<p>Does she have a computer and an internet provider? My 95-year-old great aunt loves sending and receiving email.</p>