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Gift ideas for parents


dancingmama
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My dad lives in Florida in the winter and we always send down a big basket from Harry and David filled with snack foods and desserts.

 

My FIL has dementia and enjoys watching old tv shows and movies, so we got him the Time Life dvd collection of Bob Hope Specials.

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I’m getting my mom The Cooking Gene by Michael Twitty that was recommended to me by Jane in NC.

 

I am getting my DMIL a gift certificate to an evening tasting at a small farm to table restaurant in her toe for her and a friend. She wants to go, but not alone, so we are getting her two tickets so she can take a friend.

 

My sisters and I are going to get my dad ear buds or pods or something so he can listen to music or pod casts or audio books while he walks. He has been taking a four mile walk three days a week while my mom is at exercise class. My older sister is researching these because Dad wears hearing aids, but not while he walks. We need to figure out which ear things will work best for him. (He has nerve damage from working on loud farm equipment when he was growing up.)

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I will either get them gift cards for dinner and movie out or some magazine subscriptions. I have a big family, my parents have a big family and my dh's mom has a big family---I don't have a lot of money that I can put towards individual gifts.

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Last year I gave my mom a light weight rechargeable vacuum. She hinted around for it, and she has loved it. I sent my dad some Landyager (sp?) jerky. His favorite, plus he also loves the vacuum. I always send a snack basket from Costco or Sams to my in laws.

 

This year I’m thinking of buying a few meals from Hello Fresh or something similar for my parents. I’d also like to frame up some photos from my dd’s wedding this summer (it was held in my parents’ adorable you pick berry farm) maybe a photo book would be better.

 

I will still send some sort of food basket for my husband’s parents. Boring, I know, but they don’t really do Christmas, so I don’t want to go over the top.

 

What I need help with is figuring out how to do Christmas with two married kids and their spouses!!

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Thanks for all the ideas. We have done the photo shoot in the last two years. Big hit!

I've done the food thing. My ILs liked it, my parents were ok with it.

I love the gift card true but unfortunately I can't afford something like that.

 

 

Please keep the ideas coming. After over twenty years of giving them gifts, I'm all out of ideas. Doesn't help we are just not as close as we used to be for a variety of reasons.

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My mom, I usually give cash. She is poor and can splurge or use it on bills, whatever makes the most sense at the time.

My In-laws, a gift basket from Costco or cash in a card to use towards their current vacation (they vacation for months per year).

 

For gifts, a few years back I sent my mom a package with a 'warm theme'. I find it much easier to buy gifts with a theme.

 

A new space heater with a remote control.  She was living alone and doesn't want to heat her large house all day, when it is just her.

A Fiesta ware coffee cup, flavored coffee

Lindt chocolates

Chenille robe (she was reminiscing about wanting one like she had when I was young)

A few pair of Smartwool socks in various thickness.

 

 

I also did a summer theme once for mother's day/her birthday.

I included an oscillating fan with remote control LOL

Cool shirt

Drink mixes and glasses

Chocolates

Salty snacks

 

Not a Christmas gift, but when my mom was caring for my dad before his death, I dropped off a care package. I couldn't be there to help her with the day to day, so I sent her lots of disposable items so she didn't have to do as much clean up, after caring for him all day.  She really, truely appreciated the items and the sentiment. She talked about it for years afterwards.   Some items were just normal items that were a nicer quality than she usually buys due to finances.  There were lots more items but a few were.

 

A new laundry basket which was a better design for her to carry than her current baskets

Disposable Washclothes. 

Thin towels and wash clothes, so she could use more to wash him/cover him after the bath, and not have an entire load of laundry.

Chinette paper plates, cups with lids, straws, plastic silverware

Lots of single serve snack foods and drinks.

Boost type drinks.

Chocolates.

Wine.

Books, magazines, books on tape for him.

Good quality paper towels.

Nice toilet paper LOL 

Edited by Tap
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We are getting my father-in-law a blood pressure monitor, a case of his favorite wine and the Black Dogs Project calendar. My mother-in-law will be getting new towels to coordinate with her bathroom and some of her hair products and/or a gift certificate to her hairdresser. She spends a lot of money on her hair!! We usually make them up a stocking with fun little odds and ends, too. 

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My mom, I usually give cash. She is poor and can splurge or use it on bills, whatever makes the most sense at the time.

My In-laws, a gift basket from Costco or cash in a card to use towards their current vacation (they vacation for months per year).

 

For gifts, a few years back I sent my mom a package with a 'warm theme'. I find it much easier to buy gifts with a theme.

 

A new space heater with a remote control. She was living alone and doesn't want to heat her large house all day, when it is just her.

A Fiesta ware coffee cup, flavored coffee

Lindt chocolates

Chenille robe (she was reminiscing about wanting one like she had when I was young)

A few pair of Smartwool socks in various thickness.

 

 

I also did a summer theme once for mother's day/her birthday.

I included an oscillating fan with remote control LOL

Cool shirt

Drink mixes and glasses

Chocolates

Salty snacks

 

Not a Christmas gift, but when my mom was caring for my dad before his death, I dropped off a care package. I couldn't be there to help her with the day to day, so I sent her lots of disposable items so she didn't have to do as much clean up, after caring for him all day. She really, truely appreciated the items and the sentiment. She talked about it for years afterwards. Some items were just normal items that were a nicer quality than she usually buys due to finances. There were lots more items but a few were.

 

A new laundry basket which was a better design for her to carry than her current baskets

Disposable Washclothes.

Thin towels and wash clothes, so she could use more to wash him/cover him after the bath, and not have an entire load of laundry.

Chinette paper plates, cups with lids, straws, plastic silverware

Lots of single serve snack foods and drinks.

Boost type drinks.

Chocolates.

Wine.

Books, magazines, books on tape for him.

Good quality paper towels.

Nice toilet paper LOL

I just want to say that your gifts sound so incredibly sweet and thoughtful.

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I have done the Shutterfly Dance - photo books (including ones using materials I gleaned from my time on Ancestry.com - I found enough to make mom a book  on the life of her mom and one on her dad and his folks, my dad got a book  on his time in the Air Force stationed in Japan during Korean War, etc), calendars with family shots, grandkid-adorned fleece throws, etc.  Made mom a photo-adorned pillow for Mother's Day...and turns out she needs one with labels as she is forgetting what name goes with each face :-(. 

 

The family-history books have as much typed in text by moi as old photos, and I am not above snitching photos off the internet that fit the time period.  Thanks to Google and old censuses I can find the childhood houses and take photos of them as they look now, also there are old surveys of a lot of the country - and Sanborn insurance maps for cities and towns - and you can get images of where an old family farm or neighborhood was to include in a photo book.  It is a lot of creative fun, and makes a neat family heirloom.  I ignore all the Shutterfly templates and go into Advanced Editing and totally create my own books.  Plus watch for offers in your email box...and offers for free photo books often pop up in my snailmail bills from Kohls and others.  Helps cut the cost.

 

Last year my sister and sister-in-law shared the cost of one of those electronic photo frames and I filled it with hundreds of shots, both us, grandkids, and old family shots of mom's beloved grandparents, etc.   

Edited by JFSinIL
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We gave my inlaws a barn quilt for their barn a couple years ago. We had it done, but you could totally paint it yourself if that’s something your parents or inlaws would enjoy.

 

I usually make my dad toffee and peanut brittle. They are treats he has always liked but never gets. He is very particular about the things he buys for his hobbies and there is no way I would know what he currently wants/needs. He doesn’t watch tv and he likes a very narrow selection of books.

Edited by Rach
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I gave my IL a fancy photo frame when they were having a couples photo shoot.  It remains unfilled & un-hung, behind the door of the spare room where we sleep when we visit.  The next year I gave them a multi-picture frame filled with photos of our kids to go on the wall of grandkid photos.  It shares space with the unfilled picture frame.

 

Now we get them Home Depot gift cards or restaurant gift cards or movie passes.

 

Amber in SJ

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We gave my inlaws a barn quilt for their barn a couple years ago. We had it done, but you could totally paint it yourself if that’s something your parents or inlaws would enjoy.

 

I usually make my dad toffee and peanut brittle. They are treats he has always liked but never gets. He is very particular about the things he buys for his hobbies and there is no way I would know what he currently wants/needs. He doesn’t watch tv and he likes a very narrow selection of books.

 

The barn quilt is a great idea!  My parents have a little barn on their property!!

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