<p>somemom - that would be my FIL too!</p>
<p>for my grandpa’s 90th birthday, i got him a copy of his senior year high school yearbook that i found on ebay…a few months prior when i was showing him my senior pictures and my yearbook pose, he had mentioned how he never got a yearbook because it was the depression, and they couldn’t afford it. and he really wished he had one.</p>
<p>i searched and searched and finally found somebody selling one for $40. best $40 i ever spent.</p>
<p>it was an EXTREMELY lucky find, but he said it was the best present anybody had ever given him :)</p>
<p>Somemon - I am planning to get a digital photo frame for my parents 50th anniversary next month and was going to suggest this as a gift for OP’s mothers 80th birthday.</p>
<p>Hope my parents will enjoy it. Has anyone else given this gift to elderly people. I am also at a loss, except for this gift, as to what to give my parents as a gift.</p>
<p>Yeah, I thought it was a great gift and felt badly I had not thought of it first and appreciated her efforts to make sure my family showed up in some of the shots too. But, in two years, Grandpa NEVER turns it on- “why would I want to do that?”</p>
<p>puppylover - great story! What a perfect gift for your grandpa.</p>
<p>I got my aunt 80 lottery tickets for her 80th. Unfortunately, she didn’t win as much as I paid for them.</p>
<p>My MIL likes massages, so gift certificates for massages are appreciated.</p>
<p>My grandmother just loved her Netflix gift. I pay just under $10 a month for all the movies she can handle. So I second (or third) Netflix.</p>
<p>Thank you, everyone, for such thoughtful suggestions. What a resource this forum is! I think I might do a combo Netflix/wine thing. We don’t live near her and are only spending one night with her, so we won’t be able to do anything but go out to dinner (lucky for me, it happens to coincide with Parents’ Weekend at D’s college which is nearby).</p>
<p>A co-worker (yes, you heard right) turned 80 last week. As a surprise, everyone submitted 5 words that described him to a person who assembled a list of 80 descriptors, which we printed out on signs & hung around the office. He was really touched, and took the 80 signs home with him to show others.</p>
<p>perhaps you could do something similar - have friends & relatives submit 80 favorite memories. I’d bet she’d appreciate it more than anything you could buy.</p>
<p>MIL loved the lobster tails and premium steak surf and turf package her daughter had delivered for her and her twin sister from a company in Maine She loves to cook and go out to eat but would never spend that kind of money.</p>
<p>This wouldn’t work for my own mother though.</p>
<p>For my mom’s 80th my sister and I took her to Vancouver/ Victoria. She is about to turn 90 and we are taking her on a cruise.</p>
<p>I agree that having time together with family seems to be what most parents want. If you could afford a little spa getaway, or a weekend trip you can have the memories forever!</p>
<p>When “Grammy” turned 80, the kids and grandkids reserved a giant table at an Italian restaurant and enjoyed a delicious dinner. We previously arranged to have the restaurant serve a birthday that they allowed us to supply. After Grammy blew out the candles, her gift was given. Each grandchild (ages 7-40), wrote a short note, thought, or poem and read it to her. She loved it because it was truly a gift from the heart.</p>
<p>meant to type “birthday cake that we supplied”.</p>
<p>bela</p>
<p>I found a listing on an Internet site for:</p>
<p>1928 Chateau Haut Brion Pessac-Leognan</p>
<p>It is very, very expensive but it is your mother’s birth year. If interested, pm me and I’ll give you the link.</p>
<p>One year I gave my grandmother a box full of all kinds of greeting cards, with stamps. She loved to send out cards to everyone, but couldn’t get around and buy them easily. She loved it. They were funny and serious and for all occassions so she always had something to send. Maybe include a book filled with dates of friends and family’s birthdays, anniversarys etc.</p>
<p>A Memory Book - We got one for my mom’s 85th and asked her to write things that she wanted remembered about her. It has been filled with many things I knew - and a few things, including a long ago boyfriend, that I didn’t know.</p>