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?

Chardonnay Huh! Food things get eaten and are then gone. Toiletries are used and are then gone. Seeds are sown and grown. Books are read and passed on. That's hardly 'fucking the environment'.

Unless she's very energetic she'll get really fed up opening all that tat! An '80' helium filled balloon, 80 photos in an album, an '80' candle on a cake.

"when I turn 80 I would be well disappointed with receiving some 'memories' and nothing else for my gifts"

This is a gift from one person. Two if her mum goes halves. It's not her only gift!

Now imagine all of her children/grandchildren/friends do this. If just a couple more have the same idea she'd have 240 gifts from just 3 people. That's insane, overwhelming and unnecessary.

Who wants 8 fudges for their big birthday 😂

You don’t seem grasp the difference between the 5 bits you are listing and the 80 or 50 or whatever will be the final number.
Whatever, enjoy.

denver I ate 2 Cadbury Fudge bars yesterday. They are teeny tiny. Literally two bites and the bar is gone. 8 would hardly last any time. I like fudge. I hope I still like it at 80.
The OP never said this was just from her. I would assume this is the 'family' present.

A CD with 80 songs, the best selling one from each year of her life?

The memory book is a great idea

@tessiegirl

I'm not sure how many times different posters can say the same thing! I get it...the majority think its a terrible idea... Anyway, moving on...my thread wasn't asking for opinions whether it sounds a good idea... My thread was asking for present ideas. So please, stop saying the same thing!

You’re not listening to people, who are all probably a lot older than you. This is fun when you’re 20 or 30. Not so much when you’re older, will have limited resources or mobility, possibly disabled, shattered all the time and so forth.

The memories suggestion sound like a far better and more well thought out idea rather than buying a ton of tat to put in landfill. Most 80 yo ladies don’t need new stuff as they have a plethora of things they’ve had decades. They don’t want to try new shower gels, cosmetic products or foods.

Oh, this explains something. There's a branch of my extended family, where every now and then someone will message me saying "so and so's 30th birthday coming up, could you let me know any favourite memories?" and it's puzzled me a bit. I've got to admit I usually freeze up a bit and don't reply, I feel a bit bad now.

Hi OP
If you do go with the 80 presents idea I’d include lots of items that she can ‘use up’ like small wrapped chocolates, hand cream, hamper type items like jam or filter coffee, small bunches of different flowers she can put together, individual pairs of nice socks, her favourite magazine/ puzzle book, seeds for the garden) rather than 80 things along the lines of photo frames or vases.

I’d also check what she wants as if there’s a special larger item she mentions she’d really like you could include vouchers towards this as part of the presents maybe wrapping them up in in separate envelopes with £5/10 in each one and a clue as it what it’s for in each envelope. You could also do one present as a photo album and another ten presents could be your favourite pictures of you together for her to put in it.

I hope your man had a lovely birthday and am sure she will be happy you are thinking of her and going to so much effort with the gift - just be mindful of what previous posters mentioned about giving her too many things she hasn’t asked for to fill up her house so do get the heads up on what she may like and try and reflect that.

*nan has

Chardonnay I suggested 8 originally because the granny is turning 80. I then said 5 because I was thinking about my sister being 50.
My idea wouldn't really be 80 different presents that will fill the granny's house up. But groups of items that would total up to 80. 8 tiny chocolate aren't going to overflow the food cupboards. 8 packets of seeds could be stuck in the envelope with the card.
And I assume (apologies OP if I am wrong) this would be the 'family' present from everyone.

When my mum was 80 we paid for a party. Put a load of money behind the bar, decorated a venue with balloons etc
Invited all her friends and family and got her pissed . She LOVED it.
All her gifts were of the flowers, booze, chocolate variety.

Most 80 yo ladies don’t need new stuff as they have a plethora of things they’ve had decades. They don’t want to try new shower gels, cosmetic products or foods

^^ This, 80 times over

Most 40+ YO old ladies don't want or need stuff or even to try new things. Most people by then will have decided what they like and stick with that.

In fact, just about everyone, given the choice of 80 things chosen by someone else, whether from the pound shop or Harrods, would happily have something like an £80 M&S voucher instead.

If someone gave me 80 things of anything, 80% of it would end up in the charity shop before the end of the week. Most people would do the same. On a recent thread about 'what's your fantasy life' nearly everyone wanted a clutter free home and to eat and drink food of their choosing in accordance with their own schedule. Having 80 things of anything imposed on them by others is almost certainly going to induce a 'sigh, 80 pieces of mental load to deal with'.

@Chicchicchicchiclana

She won't want 80 presents, don't do it.

I agree 100% with this. Please don’t do it, as people get older they want less stuff, not more. As a pp said, just one really decent present would be much better.

And I can guarantee that, if you give her 80 things, whether she lives to 81 or 101, you'll find half of them in her cupboards when she passes, unless she's a determind declutterer.

Mummyoflittledragon my mother in law is 83 tomorrow and she loves going to shops and buying a different shower gel to try out and she goes through craft stuff and books at a cracking pace so always needs more.
I feel sorry for all these grannies on here who apparently never get any treats or new stuff.

My thread was asking for present ideas. So please, stop saying the same thing! hmm

There is a good reason everybody is saying the same thing.

Aren't you just going to end up with a load of pointless tat? Why not one big present, or do something for charity - 80 meals for underprivileged children or the like.

Haha. I hadn't RTFT. Cancel the cheque

Further to my last post I had a LOT of silly gifts given me when I retired.
I honestly could have cried, well over £100 spent on useless tat.
I know posters will think I’m being ungrateful but honestly, it was exhausting opening all the presents and trying to sound enthusiastic about each one!

ilovemaisie
Who said the grannies never get anything new or treats? My grandparents are long since dead. But I tend to buy one thing for parents as they like quality, not quantity. They have the money to buy whatever they want and things I buy most certainly are well chosen gifts and not something they’d buy themselves.

Not everyone Chardonnay some of us are trying to put a bit of fun into birthdays...
Has someone suggested "going out for a nice meal" yet? That's always one. Utterly boring. Yawn.

If you stick with the 80 things I'd do a food hamper. In my experience 80 year olds don't want loads of possessions. You could do nice cakes, biscuits etc but also through in some retro things like spam and evaporated milk etc. Honestly though, I'd get a flower subscription so she gets fresh flowers delivered every month.

You asked if it was possible, logistically yes. Sounds like an awful idea though. The memories ideas is lovely.

"And I assume (apologies OP if I am wrong) this would be the 'family' present from everyone."

@Ilovemaisie well just RTFT. OP said it's from her and then said she'd be going halves with her mum. So it's not her only present.

You seem to be missing the point. On your 80th it's something of an achievement, it's a huge milestone. Nobody wants 8 packets of seeds or 8 fudge bars. Or 8 bubble baths.

Imagine it, "happy 80th nan, 8 decades you've lived through, amazing. Now crack on, open this overwhelming pile of gifts I've lugged into your living room. Then you can have a fudge, get your gardening gloves on, plant some seeds, run a bath....and look, I got you a new bag for life" 😂

She'll be bloody knackered. A "this is your life" style memory and photo book for her to sit and reminisce, some flowers and a day out with slap up lunch is much much nicer at 80.