80 presents for 80th birthday...help!

[tessiegirl]

My nan is shortly turning 80 and I wanted to try and come up with 80 presents for her
Is it possible?!
Presents can be small and cheap to some which can be more expensive...
Can anyone please help with ideas?

Barbara well luckily I only buy gifts I know that the receiver will like and want. I would never buy 'random' stuff for someone. That is pointless and wasteful.
I wouldn't do something like this for my Dad because I know he wouldn't really want it. I might do it for my mum or mother in law because I think they would find it a nice gesture.

@LoosingTheChristmasBattle

I did something similar for my mum but rather than 70 presents, I did 70 memories. I asked her friends and family to write down their favourite memories and put them all in envelopes, she had such a lovely time opening them all and re-living the memories, she still goes through the bundle now.

This is so amazing. You could do this and 80 roses.l, which would be much better than balloons.

I could not buy 80 things that I want or need at this point, never mind someone else.

I must be greedy then because I can easily think of 80 things I would like right now

I think 80 presents may be too overwhelming for someone that age - where will she put them all? I think a couple of more expensive thoughtful things is so much better than 80 pieces of tat.

'tat'
I hate that word.
Why do people use it.
Why do people buy this mysterious 'tat' if it's so awful.

Give her 80 quid in a card and some flowers

@Ilovemaisie

Barbara well luckily I only buy gifts I know that the receiver will like and want. I would never buy 'random' stuff for someone. That is pointless and wasteful. I wouldn't do something like this for my Dad because I know he wouldn't really want it. I might do it for my mum or mother in law because I think they would find it a nice gesture.

But when you're talking about 80 gifts, you can't possibly know they'll all be wanted and welcomed? A large proportion will be unwanted and useless, which is what makes it tat.

That list from BluntlySpoken actually includes random bits? 🤣
Random bits aren't a carefully curated collection of what you think granny would want, they're pointless fillers to make up the numbers.
Tat.

Greyhound if you actually read some of my earlier posts I suggested themed gifts that would add up to 80. So one gift might contain several items. For example my book suggestion is 8 books but it would be presented as 1 gift.
I have yet to find food, drink, toiletries, books and items for interests and hobbies "unwanted and useless".
If you are buying "useless" presents then you obviously aren't very good a present buying.

I agree (agreed) that your book suggestion is terrific, maisie
I don't buy useless presents because I've never bought 80 for anyone.

@Ilovemaisie

I must be greedy then because I can easily think of 80 things I would like right now

I can't think of eight!

But I'm 52, I buy whatever I want anyway. My mum is 80, she doesn't want or need anything. I struggled at Christmas.

She reads loads but uses the library so I have no idea what she has read or what she wants to read. I bought her some books last year due to the library being closed for lockdown. But I asked her what she wanted. She would not want 80 real books in her house having read them. She'd read them and give them away. Some of the books I got for her I bought hardback specifically so she could donate them to the library when she'd read them. If it wasn't for lockdown she would be aghast at this waste of money.

I'm hard to buy for myself, because I neither want nor need anything. I'm happy with flowers, or a nice meal.

Asked dh, he’s says he would be happy with 80 bars of bog standard Dove soap when he’s 80.
Thinks that would last him until he dies 🤣

Oh dear Caspian my phone post preview caution off after bog, so I was expecting 80 bog roll, and did wonder about the bar thing.

Cut off, not caution.

Buying things in multiples of eight also feels thoughtless to me. If it must be a numbers game then why not just get eight really nice things? I'd rather have, for example, one £50 bath oil that I'd rarely buy myself than 8 of the ones I walk past in Tesco every week.

It just feels like it's more about the giver than the receiver. Giver has decided they want to buy 80 gifts, so 80 gifts they will buy!

Why not buy a lovely thing and donate £80.00 to a charity that nan likes.

HelpMeh see that's where you and me are different. I would be horrified by a 50 quid bath oil. I would look at it with resentment as all my brain would be thinking of how much more I could have for £50 !!
VanGogh do you really have every single thing you ever wanted in life? You really can't think of 8 things that you would use and get enjoyment out of? What do you do with your life? Interests? Hobbies? You must do and like things surely?

Maybe my attitude is slightly different because I am a collector. I collect things I have interests in - I go to collectors fairs and car boot sales (at least I did back in the pre covid days). That's my hobby and interest. That's me. I don't drink alcohol or enjoy a meal out. I wouldn't be that fussed to go to a spa or theatre trip. I don't like jewellery or designer clothes. I like to collect things and enjoy the history and background of them.
That's why I can easily think of 80 things I would like. I really really hope I am still like this when I am 80 because then I will be a very happy old lady indeed.

I'd be equally horrified by a 50 quid bath oil or 50 quids worth of cheaper bath oil that would take me months or years to use.

You really can't think of 8 things that you would use and get enjoyment out of? What do you do with your life? Interests? Hobbies? You must do and like things surely

Well I could think of 8 things I wanted, we all probably could, but I don't want other people choosing the things that I have to wear, eat, read, drink, decorate my home with, wash with etc etc. If someone buys me something, it means that I have to have something that's not right for me, and I've been denied making my own choice of things I use. I'd honestly rather have nothing. And I see no benefit at all of telling people to 'buy me X item from Y shop' because once I've chosen what I want, I might as well buy it.

I only read on kindle and buy books when they're on offer. I do like coffee table books and cook books, but only I know what I've already got and what I'd like to buy. For hobby equipment and gadgets, I want to research which item suits me and find it at the best price. For gin, I just get what I want to try when I see it on offer and always have a cupboard full of it.

Too many people think they've got it right when they think 'Barbara likes gin, I'll get her that' but inexplicably they feel they have to buy the most out there 'interesting' flavour they see when in reality I hate all those and like gin that is gin flavoured, or maybe citrus. Not strawberry, not elderflower, not rhubarb, thank you very much.

I did a pot with 70 bulbs in for my Aunt when it was her 70th - big pot planted with different levels of bulbs so they would go on for a while.

@denverRegina

A pair of tights Driftwood A bag for life Shoe laces Insoles Pencil from a stately home Craft bling 5 packets of seeds 5 bubble baths

Are you lot fucking deranged? 🤣

VanGogh do you really have every single thing you ever wanted in life? You really can't think of 8 things that you would use and get enjoyment out of? What do you do with your life? Interests? Hobbies? You must do and like things surely?

Pretty much. I walk, read, go to the theatre, go to the cinema, go on weekends away, go to festivals, go out for meals. But noone can give me that.
You can't buy me something for walking because I like what I like and you don't know what that is. I'd like a new rucksack, but I'd hate it if anyone else bought it because I have some preferences they won't know about - there's nothing wrong with my current one, it just hasn't got the functionality I'd prefer.

£50 bath oil useless as I hate baths. But I do like expensive candles and have my eye on a £55 Jo Loves one. Noone would buy me that for the reason you state - people think it's a waste. But it's what I like. And I can afford it and will buy it soon (I've just bought three other new candles too).

I know I'm impossible to buy for. So the idea of 80 gifts is ridiculous. Same for my 80yo mum. She'd be horrified.

That sounds like a fabulously thoughtful gift, alloverthecarpetagain.

I thought vaguely of doing something similar with chickens (in a hen house, not a pot!) - but suspect the number would be too large for a novice.

@Ilovemaisie

Maybe my attitude is slightly different because I am a collector. I collect things I have interests in - I go to collectors fairs and car boot sales (at least I did back in the pre covid days). That's my hobby and interest. That's me. I don't drink alcohol or enjoy a meal out. I wouldn't be that fussed to go to a spa or theatre trip. I don't like jewellery or designer clothes. I like to collect things and enjoy the history and background of them. That's why I can easily think of 80 things I would like. I really really hope I am still like this when I am 80 because then I will be a very happy old lady indeed.

So can't you see that 1. you enjoy browsing collectors fairs for whatever thing it is that you collect, and someone buying you these things denies you the opportunity to indulge in that sort of activity?

1. Unless you tell people what you have and what you don't have, people don't know what to buy you to avoid duplicates.

1. You may argue that if someone else buys you the thing that you collect, you've saved money by not having to buy it yourself, but you're just trapping yourself in a cycle of gift giving and if someone is buying you a thing, you'll feel obliged to buy them a gift on their birthday anyway so you don't benefit financially from the transaction.

Much simpler for adults to choose and buy their own possessions and just exchange token cards and gifts on birthdays, Christmas etc.