what did you buy for 80th birthday gift?

[NotRainingToday]

Looking for inspiration, granddad's 80th birthday coming up.

A photo album of lots of old photos and newer ones with them and our family and their grandchildren. Absolutely thrilled

For my mum's 80th in August I got her a heated blanket as her present, but also arranged for dinner with me, my uncle and his partner who she sees a lot of. We had a lovely evening and she really enjoyed getting out and spending time together. Flowers and a cake also went down well.

I spent the weekend with her and we just had a lovely time looking at old family photos and chatting. As others have mentioned, time is precious and you never know how long we have.

We bought my grandparents a digital photo frame for their anniversary. They love it, we can upload photos to it via an app. When my nan was in hospital the photo frame went with!

A hardback book of family photographs (blurb)
RHS membership

A.smart TV. Makes life much nicer for my dad who likes to view YouTube and The Guardian on his big screen. It also came with a classical music channel subscription, which he adores.

Family came from far and wide and we had a meal out at the races. A chance to dress up and get together after covid and though some had doubts mum was thrilled and so happy to be surrounded by those who love her. Mum loved having all her DC, SDC and grandchildren there, something that doesn’t happen often due to distances.
We also presented her with a memories book. Full of photos including lots from her childhood I got from her brother and she loved going through those and telling us about her childhood. Everyone wrote or drew a picture in the book about their memories and happy times with GM/DM/DSM.

Re the iPad query from a PP. My mum uses hers daily too. She reads the newspaper online, keeps up with her hobby groups and family via email, zoom and Facebook etc. She also has a kindle and gets through books on that at a rate of knots (she’s always been a book worm). She’s not that tech savvy so we had to set it up and load things on for her etc but it’s always close at hand and used daily.

Got my Dad a short break including a zip line ride. If grandad is fit and healthy surely he would like what he always used to like.

A family get together at a posh restaurant, a slideshow of family photos played and a big photo book that included pictures of every family member from g-grandparents to the newborns. That was the main gift, I used a special photo restoration program on the oldest photos to fix them a bit and my dad jumped through hoops to get the printing and the cover done nicely, but my grandma loved the book so much!

PIL had a 'party' each birthday, so we paid for a sizeable professionally made cake to cut and share, decorated relative to their interests.
Absolutely nothing they wanted. They don't drink or eat out, and house already massively cluttered already so v difficult.

What kind of 80yr old?
At 80 my DF was erecting platforms to pain the side of the house.
At 90 he was still chopping wood for exercise during lockdown.

paint the house!

We paid for a hot air balloon trip for my dad's 80th. He said hed always wanted to do one. Sadly he never got to go. (It was cancelled 3 times due to high winds)

Well all 80 year olds aren't the same 😂

I have no idea what I will get DF for his approaching 80th. He doesn’t want more stuff. He doesn’t like family gatherings or (the horror!) surprise parties. If we take him out for expensive meals he complains everything is overpriced (even when we pay, and he hates other people paying for him). He doesn’t have any hobbies.

He might let me buy him a coffee at a cheap cafe, if I promise not to bring his grandchildren (although the quiet one is tolerated).

I wish I could find something that would make him happy.