Hi Moms! My great grandmother is turning 103, and I am trying to think of something clever to give her. She doesn't want gifts, but I want to do something meaningful... Any ideas?
Thank you everyone, for your creative ideas!!! Her birthday party was wonderful, and I had a lot of family fly in for the occasion. We took a picture of the hands of all the women in the family. There were five generations, from 103 to 2 years old. We put the picture framed on a box, and engraved with a nice message. Inside the box, my sisters and I started by writing down memories and special feelings we have for Grams on small pieces of paper, and encouraged the whole family to do so. She was very happy. Many of you had great ideas that I will keep in mind for the future. I expect she will be celebrating many more! -J.
If she has any bills pay them for her, a months worth of paid bills for an elderly person is a pot of gold. How about baking her favorite foods, or buying her grocerys for a month.. cleaning her space for a month or better yet make her coupons for once a week to visit her and bring lunch, older people would rather have company visiting than anything.
Happy Birthday !!
I can't imagine wanting or needing a gift at 103. I'd say, honor her request as far as that goes.
Do you or any of the other grandkids have young children? This might sound a like a big task but it's the first thing that came to me... find out her favorite all time songs and teach them to the kids. Nothing fancy but maybe a little bit of each song one afer the other, then finish off with a song from the heart just for Grandma - shoot, even "You are my sunshine" would be cute.
Please post after her party and let us know how it went, what you did, etc..
M.
how about a personalized quilt w/all the pics of family members? like a family tree. i cant think of the names of the companies that do it, but i HAVE seen it online before. you can just google 'family tree quilts' or 'personalized quilts'. rock on, great-grandma!
My grandfather is turning 100 this October and we are throwing him a party and I have been asking his guests to write a wonderful memory that they both shared and makin a scrapbook with all those writings and their photos, you could do that with your family. I am also putting together old and new photos and loading them onto a digital frame, since older people always say they don't have enough room, well at least in my experience. You can even set the frame to music from her era as the pictures scroll through and she wouldn't have to do anything but sit and enjoy! Good Luck!
May not be appropriate for some, but I find that the older we get, the less touch we get. Massage (if she's comfortable), manicure, pedicure from a loved one might be great. Or, some opportunity to be in close contact w/ animals is esp soothing. Every time my mom cuts my 94 year old grandfather's hair, he practically purrs.
Also, some legacy work might be meaningful: handprints w/ the entire family, collage of photos, mix of songs was a great suggestion from someone else, etc.
Writing a letter and letting her know what she has given to you is wonderful too because as we get older we feel we have less use. Helping her to reflect on how much she has given is a wonderful gift to her...
I work for hospice, can you tell: ) Let me know if you have any questions.
Jen
I really like Rochelle's idea! Are you having a celebration for her? You could write a poem and read it on her Birthday with all of the family gathered around. Get everyone to toast her and have each person share a fond memory.
I love Tavia's idea of having the city give her a certificate or the "Key". It would be even better if you can convince them to officially name that day for your great grandmother. I think it would also be great to create a movie from video news clips (or even just news articles )of great moments in history that she lived through. I think it would be amazing for everyone to really see how much life she had experienced throughout her 103 years. How amazing...since 1905! That's a lot of history! For the fun side of her history, you can do some boards that show the different clothing fashions throughout her lifetime. If you can find any pictures of her that fit that timeline...even better!
Hi,
something you said in your post struck me "She doesnt want gifts" So that should be respected but I too understand wanting to do something special..... so maybe find an old photo and have it framed that she can put next to her favorite place to sit..... something very simple very inexpensive but personal sentimental....
hope that helps..
B.
A great scrapbook with all of the years of memories! Even after she passes it will be something that will be with you and your family forever!!!! Happy Scrapping!!
How about a scrapbook/photoalbum of her family?
these are all great ideas! Can she still see well enough to read? Maybe you could give her her favorite book she read was a kid. E-bay has all kinds of antique books and stuff like that. Even if she cant read it, it would still be a nice keepsake for her.
"Take her back" meaning - find something that was "popular" when she was about 30...probably at an antique store, and give her something "popular" now.
Another idea - how about an iPod with some of her favorites? Big band music, gospel, anything!
You got plenty of good ideas! Just wanted to share that I like going on walgreens.com and using the photo section. You can upload pics and make all kinds of things. My fav is the photo collages. I gave my sons grandparents one last year for xmas of his first 12mths. Also made some for my uncle's services when he passed this last May. If the party has passed just also an idea for future events.
we threw a party for my grandmother when she turned 100 (she lived to be 103). She is German and we served German food and hired a german musician (dressed in Lederhosen) and had lots of family from all over in attendance. I also created photo collages of pictures throughout her liftime to display at the party. SHE LOVED IT.
Do you have any photos of the two of you from the past? If so I would frame it and write a note about some of the special times you remember about her. Also, you could ask her if she would dicate to you some of the important/memorable things she remembers from her life she must be filled with stories try and get them down so you can pass them on to your family.I think a pedicure would also be great.
Maybe donate a gift to an organization that's important to her.
Write a letter for her explaining the situation to President Bush or President Clinton, whoever she likes better. she can get a letter from the white house with an official seal. its quite a thrill. My grandmother got one and she was estactic. just a suggestion.
Here's something that I did for my mom's 70th birthday party that may work for you. I took one of my mom's pictures from when she was a little girl and had it blown up on canvas, like a oil painting almost -- you can do this through shutterfly.com -- and had all the family members who attended her 70th birthday party sign it for her with a little annotation. She really got a kick out of this and everyone else enjoyed seeing a photo of Mom when she was a 5-year old.
Hi. My grandmother is now 98 years old. Here are a few things we have done in the past. We have had a mayor present her with a certificate from her city. This can even be a dignitary from the congressman in your region, supervisor, etc. You can contact your nearest Chamber of Commerce or the representative directly.
We have had a t-shirt made with all her grandchildren on them.
We once purchased a big card and contacted all her surviving children and asked them to give us special things that they liked about their mother. I found a picture of her deceased husband, and two pictures one of her daugthers and one of her sons and placed them strategically on the card. Then I put all their quotes throughtout the card and had it laminated. This was a favorite.
One year we interviewed my grandmother and asked her various questions. WE called it Lil Mamas' favorites. We as her her favorites things. Example: Food, Song, Hobby, Past time with husband, kids, etc. We took these things and typed it up into a word document and pasted her picture in it. We then took the document and had it laminated and put on a gator board. Fedex Kinkos does this. She loved it. Then we had smaller versions of the print out done and laminated them and distributed them to the rest of the family. That way they have an heirloom (scrapbook page) to keep in their family album to pass on to future generations.
Hope this helps.
Yeah she is turning 103. I can't wait till we get to do my grandmothers bday party. Email address is ____@____.com
Take care.
Maybe a timeline scrapbook...with photos and things from her era until now? My mother-in-law makes these and people love them! Congratulations - and make sure you take lots of pictures with the whole family - it will be fun to look at the many generations in one picture down the road!
Hi J.:
Depending on how much time you have before her birthday,a video of her life,from birth to present,would be awsome I've done these for all my family members,and they treasure them.If your short on time, you could get a photo of you and one of her, when she was around your age and have someone do a special photo,blending the two pics of you both on one.It turns out awsome,and she'd be thrilled to see how you see her.Hope she has a wonderful day.Bless her heart...103!
What about an arrangement from Edible Arrangements? They have a variety (it's all fresh fruit cut into various shapes) of arrangments and the presentation is beautiful. At her age, I'm sure she doesn't need any "stuff." This way she can eat the fruit and isn't left with a gift that she has to dust! Just go on line and type in Edible Arrangements to see what they have. Good luck and congrats to Gram!
I like the coupon book idea. She would call you for a ride somewhere, beauty shop and stuff
Wow!! that's a blessing. If she doesn't want gifts, then give her a party and video tape it. Have everyone comment like at weedings. Also video her giving the family some advice on her most important life's lesson. Watch it later at the end of the party. This will also make a good memory for all the family to enjoy.
!!HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMOTHER!!
Hi,
Maybe you can make her a "coupon book" that includes anything she may like or need - provided you have the time when she wants to redeem them. Include things like taking her to the hairdresser, giving her a foot massage, etc.
WOW! Congrats to your grandma - that's incredible!
A photo album with as many pictures as you can get your hands on from other family members covering as long a time span as possible would probably be the greatest gift you could give her. If you're not able to get a photo album's worth of pics, then you can buy one of those multiple pic frames that hold around 20 photos. Again, try to fill it with pics from a wide time range.
It would also be wonderful to get everyone in the family to write her a note tellilng about all the wonderful memories they have with her and how much they love her and put all the letters in a book, binder or album of some kind. She will read it at least 103 times!
Don't know if you live close by, but you could also give her a "coupon book" good for visits or taking her out to lunch or to the movies.
Good luck and best wishes to your family!
Gather all her photographs of her when she was young, her family and friends, and create a powerpoint slide with beautiful music.
