What to Get My Grandma for Her 80Th Birthday?

I can't tell if you live near her or if you need to travel for the party? If you live near her why don't you take her out for a meal and just spend time with her? Maybe a nice lunch out for just the two of you?

what about offering her dinner one night - take everything to her place - let her play with the kids while you cook and then all sit down together, my great aunt is 90 and this is what we do for her as she has everything she could possibly need - I think it means more to her to have the time together then a present

My Granny-in-law still loves to send mail. She actually has a hobby of making cards from old ones and they are quite lovely in fact!

So we buy her alot of stamps for various holidays. She also loves to read (about places mostly, like Ireland, and those big coffee table type picture books are spendy!), so unless we know a specific title..she IS great about lists at Christmas...we do bookstore certificates..or certificates to the Archivers/scrapbooking stores as she uses those things in her card making hobby and does not have the spare money in her tight old gal budget for them.

My hubbys other Grammy who is passed now, lived in a nursing home, very happily for years, but had no space. She loved magazines of all sorts. Readers Digest, TV Guide, all sorts of entertainment garbage stuff..LOL, news ones, etc. So we all would do large print subscriptions for her various gift giving days. She loved them!

Good luck and have a great party!

When a person gets to a certain age, they really do not need nor want any things. I promise. They are always trying to get rid of things.

I agree with including her in more of the things you do with your children.

Take her to a museum to see art or a special display . Take her to see some fabulous gardens.

Offer to help her go through and organize her old photos. Ask her instead to sit with you one day while she tells you the family history... Record her or video her telling these stories.

I am the person that people call to clean out houses once someone has passed away. The amount of stuff, never used is amazing and heartbreaking. Wasted money, and it was just taking up space.

do you have a dinner theater nearby you? i know for my mil's 80th a friend got her two tickets for the theater so she and a friend could go and watch a play and have a nice dinner together!!!

For my Baba's 85th, I got one of those video picture frames, uploaded hundreds of pictures of all the family,new and old (thank goodness a friend loaned me a scanner) and gave it to her. She cried! She now watches that instead of TV!
I also gave her "a Date day" every month. I pick her up, take her for lunch, wherever she wants to go and we just hang out for the day.

Out of the box a bit, but when my grandma turned 80, we bought her one of those digital weather stations. I found one with larger print. Five years later and she still talks about that thing. She likes being able to check the temp and weather before she leaves the house. It wasn't expensive, not another knick knack and she uses it almost daily. This is similar to what I got my MeeMaw http://www.amazon.com/AcuRite-Digital-Wireless-Thermomete...

WHen my other grandmother turned 80, I got her a lap table (some people call them lap desks, lap trays or bed desks). The kind with wooden pockets for storage on the sides. She uses it to sit comfortably while she does her bills and writes letters. This one was not one that folds up. My grandmother has parkinson's and I didn't want her to pinch herself with too many moving parts. I used a 20% off coupon from bed bath and beyond to save even more money.

Well, not to sound harsh, but she's 80, what does she really need, ya know! I would go ahead with a picture, that sounds cute and grandmas always love that. In addition to that I might get her a nice bouquet of flowers or small houseplant and that's it. She probably really doesn't want anything or need anything so I'd let it go. The only other thing would be a meal like you suggested but instead of a gift card tell her that she can pick a day in the next month and you and the kids will pick her up and take her to lunch at a fun place. THat would be a birthday present plus outing all in one!

Oh I was going to add that if you feel confident shopping for her you could get her a nice blouse or something. My husband's grandmother was in her 90s and lived in a nursing home. She liked to have nice clothes to go to dinner in and on her fixed income and limited mobility she couldn't really get them for herself so I would often get her clothes for Christmas but she was easy to shop for!

I bought a photo puzzle for my husband's grandmother's 90th birthday. Took a favorite picture of the kids and made it into a puzzle. Maybe a favorite picture of the kids, or group family picture, or her baby picture if there is one.

There are many web sites that do this, but here is an example:

http://www.portraitpuzzles.com/?gclid=CKSS0_2x3bACFcHPKgo...

I would help to know if she has anhy hobbies or special interests. Does she sew or crochet or knit ect? Does she like crossword puzzels or word find books.
You could plan a day trip for her maybe take your family and her and go to a zoo, park, museum..... Take a picnic lunch and your camera --- then give her a framed photo of all of you enjoying your time together.

Yes, as the relatives get older, they don't need more things. We've experienced this with my parents and aunts. I think the most precious gift they can receive from us are demonstrations of love and statements of their meaning to us. How about a little scrapbook with photos of times you and your kids have spent with her, maybe with captions from you or the kids about something they enjoyed about those occasions? You could leave a blank page for some photos from the joint party. Anyway, enjoy the time with your elders and make sure your kids do too!

A box of assorted greeting cards and some stamps.
Bird feeder and bird seed?

a photo book of her life any pics yo can find of her growing up all the way through grandkids?

I think a really thoughtful gift would be time. A full day with you. You can make your own gift certificate awarding her a day with you. Make her lunch and sit with her and chat. Its really something you will always have to remember.

Hey, put the great grandkids to work - a big art project for great grandma! Cut and paste pics, draw pictures, glue stuff, write ton of random things: about what you remember about grandma, how do you feel about being 80 one day, what she means to you guys, funny things, jokes, anything. The process may be something you and your kids may enjoy and remember too...

I think a family picture or even the picture of the kids if fine as a family gift from all of you.

Make sure its in a nice frame and wrapped pretty :)

You could put together a photo book from the whole family. Grandparents LOVE those things! You can make a nice one for about $20 on Shutterfly I think.

I love the family-picture idea. Besides that, you could write her a poem or sing her a song. Some people, when they get older, don't want any more cluttery things (pictures of the family are not clutter!), and they don't need the standard bath-salts-and-neck-scarf gifts that old people so frequently get. So if you're creative, give her something of yourself. Give her a memory! I like the ideas you already have been given, too.

I think the photo is great. I had this problem when my grandma turned 80 too! We were having a party for her as well, so instead of a gift to give at the party I took her shopping a couple weeks before and let her pick out an outfit to wear to the party. If your budget is tight maybe you could offer to take her shopping for a nice shirt or summer dress to wear. It was a nice way for us to spend time together as well!

I haven't read your responses, so forgive me if this is a repeat. For my husband's grandmother's 90th, I gave her a beautiful photo album. We took lots of pictures at the party and then I took the photo album back home with me and filled it with pictures from the party. It didn't cost much and she absolutely loved it. At that age, it's hard to get them anything they need. You could also include older pictures from her if you can get your hands on some.

I agree with what others have said, if she doesn't want anything, then don't 'buy' her anything. Instead, what about making or buying her favorite treat? Like, something she doesn't get on a regular basis. Maybe she likes cookies or something? If you can't make it, then go to a bakery. Then, package it up really nice, like in a tin or basket... wrap it with ribbon. When I worked full time, some of my coworkers would make cookies and wrap them up all pretty and give them as gifts and I actually liked that much better than an item I didn't want or couldn't use.