80 yr birthday

[windycanyon]

So here's the story. My mom is turning 80 in a couple weeks. She really needs NOTHING of material value. My dad left her very comfortably though quickly in late Feb... I've been back to MI 2x this year, but this is my 7 days a week busy time in my work (self employed) here so can't travel again. She just bought herself an Ipad, so that idea is shattered. I have 3 older bros (all married) who live near her, so they are having a family dinner and such, but does anyone have any brillliant ideas for a gift??? Flowers, meh.... don't know she really wants anything like that even, esp after just losing dad. I'm hoping one of the photos from dads' memorial /celebration turned out that could be enlarged and framed. That's my only thought right now... I hate being 2000miles away right now.

[janedoe]

That's a really good idea. A future visit would also be a good one. I'm sure she would love to see you when you can.

[silverfz]

I know u work 7 days but u should facetime on that iPad every day for a few minutes perhaps. Asking mom his she is every morning might make her feel better. I live half way across the world from my mom and do this at least 4-5 times a week. Just a good morning or hey what did u do for dinner tonight. I am sort of moving away from special days to random days to do stuff .plus its cheaper ....

[smartrock]

If you have a good stock of family photos and/or if your siblings will help you out here, you could make a photobook through Shutterfly or one of the other photobook places. I made one for my Dad that pretty much covered his whole life because he had a type of non-Alzheimer's dementia, and he loved to page through the book and see his own parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, pics from his own wedding, our family and our dogs, you know, his whole life. You certainly wouldn't need to do her entire life, but a photobook filled with curated photos of some significant family gatherings or random candids even, all gathered in one place might be something she would appreciate and it's easy enough to take places to share with her friends. Your Mom sounds like she's in better shape than my Dad was but my own mother now pages through the book and likes to show off her family to her LOL (little old lady) friends.

My own parents' stacks of photos were either randomly put into a box or the bottom drawer of their dining room china cabinet, not in any convenient order. Sorting through and picking the photos to use was a bit time consuming. I had to sort through photos and scan many of them for inclusion. You might be able to figure out a way to just photograph the old photos with your phone or a digital camera so they're easier to upload to Shutterfly or wherever. I didn't think of that when I did this 8 or 9 years ago.

[Blackboy98]

I think the perfect gift would be a personnel massage-deep and slow. My Mother(92) lives with me (66) and I give her a back rub massage every Sat. morning. I think older people want 'hands on' contact with other people to let them know they are still useful and valuable in life.

[windycanyon]

I know u work 7 days but u should facetime on that iPad every day for a few minutes perhaps. Asking mom his she is every morning might make her feel better. I live half way across the world from my mom and do this at least 4-5 times a week. Just a good morning or hey what did u do for dinner tonight. I am sort of moving away from special days to random days to do stuff .plus its cheaper ....

It'll be a learning curve for a bit w/ the ipad, but hoping maybe she can get on FB (that'll be a stretch I'm thinking) where we could do that basically there. I am still in the dinosaur age as it applies to cell phones-- refuse to take the step to a smart one!

[Jollymolly]

Maybe create a family album for her to have on the I pad? My aunt had a hard cover book made for my uncles 70th it was awesome. Just some ideas

[Snowshoe]

No ideas but Happy Birthday to your Mum.

[windycanyon]

I'm hoping my brothers and SILs can teach her how to store photos I send so she can have a slide show on her ipad. She does know how to delete now (which is a good thing after I had to clean ~5000 emails off of my dad's AOL account while there!), but that's about it!!! LOL.

Maybe I can get away to FL this winter sometime when she's down there. It's a real pita to get from WA to W. FL and hate to say, I've not even been to the new (15 yrs old now??) home. Did I mention it sucks being this far away at times like this???

[barry581]

How about one of those electronic picture frames that runs through the pics loaded on it??? Once it's loaded it should pretty easy to use.