What have you bought for your Gran?

[EasyCompadre]

I'm completely out of ideas for presents to buy for my Gran for Christmas, she's 81 years old, doesn't go out very much, is almost deaf and hates wearing hearing aids (meaning CDs etc are no good!) and she has 9 children & 30+ grandchildren/great grandchildren, meaning there is very little she hasn't been bought over the years. She has a kindle, but I know of at least 2 other family members who have bought her vouchers so she can buy books, she has a little dog who is her whole world, and she (gran, not dog) loves the colour purple.

So tell me what you have bought for your gran, either this year or in previous years, that is a little bit different and my lovely gran may like.

[RedlipsAndSlippers]

Yes Easy there are loads available.
www.amazon.co.uk/Dear-Grandma-Journal-Lifetime-Journals/dp/1907048022/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1387458684&sr=8-12&keywords=life%20story%20journal&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21
That's one on amazon, there are some prettier ones about if you have some time to look though :)

[BlueChampagne]

Depending on budget, how about a digital photo frame?

[umiaisha]

I flatter her - actually she is 89..

[umiaisha]

Mine is 87, but very young for her age!

We have got her some Molton Brown goodies (handwash,lotion, shower gel and hand cream) and Cath Kidston teatowels.

[Floralnomad]

I don't have any grans but our mums are in their 70s and 80s and my son has got DHs mum a Clinique soap and for my mum a chanel No5 soap .

[FelineExtraStrongMincePie]

Indoor crocuses. My brother has bagsied the Countryfile calendar, which she loves.

[IHeartKingThistle]

My grandma is 91. She doesn't want anything. I have bought some pink rose battery fairy lights and I am going to kidnap her zimmer frame and pimp it.

[zipzap]

My favourite gran adored Chanel no 5 perfume - so usually mum would get her the perfume, and dsis and I would sort out soap/shower gel/talc between us. Very simple, same every year and she loved it, all the way through until she died at 97.

Oh and a year or so before she died, she had moved from where she lived to a home near mum, a couple of hundred miles so no local friends. I had been to one of those Xmas shopping evenings in a big department store and you got a free bear for every £100 you spent so I had a couple (it was a great I've to buy work clothes as everything was reduced and everyone was looking at presents or party wear!). I gave her a bear as well and she really took to it, maybe something like that?

[QuintessentialShadows]

RABBIT, not rabbi.

[QuintessentialShadows]

My mum is 79. I have bought her a very nice "cashmillion" (lol!!) jumper from M&S, and some clothes for her baby doll. It is great, I can always buy a new baby outfit in size 6 months, and she will be delighted. Not sure I can do this now, as apparently she cant work out how to put trousers on him anymore, and keep sticking them on his head so the poor doll looks like a rabbi!

[omama]

I got my nan Mary Berry autobiography this year but in last few years have bought garden centre vouchers, or a beauty treatment.

[Longleggedlovely]

My gran is 91, we've got her a family photo calendar, a Xmas pudding and a necklace.

We had the necklace made for her with a strong magnetic clasp on it. She always wore beautiful jewellery but due to arthritic hands she can't do the clasps up anymore which really upset her. We gave it to her early so she could wear it to her Xmas lunches etc and she was so pleased with it I don't think she's had it off!

[HappyAsEyeAm]

RSPB calendar and a brag book of photos of the whole family.

[HavantGuard]

I don't have one anymore.

How about one of these www.chelseadogs.com/luxury-personalised-pet-blankets in navy with the dog's name in purple?

[Hodorsbitch]

A3 sized photo calendar and a large silk orchid plant for her Birthday on Boxing Day

[Bedtime1]

I bought my husbands gran who is 92 a shawl. I was bought one last year .( They do fashionable ones now ) and I love it. I use it mainly in the house although you can use it outside. It's easy to just throw on round your shoulders when you feel a little chilly. I have a home office so I sometimes use it in there if chilly or in the lounge or just walking around, it's not as heavy as a blanket so easier to walk round. Blankets are heavier and great for knees etc not shoulders but then I have been known to put the shawl over my knees too haha. They do them in next and have a ruffle edge, seen them in wallis, also Matalan. I'm sure most stores have them.
I also got her some " posh" shortbread. Always a winner with the oldies.

[KatieScarlett2833]

Granny is 95. I have bought her the Peoples Friend annual and a quantity of American Tan tights. 44 Christmases on this earth have taught me to vary this routine at my peril.

[2gorgeousboys]

I came on here to suggest a bird table which is what I have bought for my grandparents who are both in their 80s. I'm going to wrap it up with a big ribbon and bow and DH will put it outside their living room window Christmas Eve night so that they see it when they open their curtains Christmas morning.

[lanbro]

How about a hamper with some luxury bits of food she wouldn't buy for herself? Often do this for my 85yo gran as she is so fussy hard to buy for!

[EasyCompadre]

Just remembered the hearing aid issue, so maybe not the 50s/60s CDs after all... Though she does love to tell me about the dances she used to go to 'as a girl' so if I found the right ones she may make an exception

[EasyCompadre]

Some great ideas here, thank you! I'm going to look into a bird table as she doesn't have one and it may encourage her outside a little more.

tinkertaylor which 50's/60's CDs did you buy? That could be a good idea too.

redlips would I just search for 'life story journal' to find one of those? I like the sound of that a lot!

[DeathMetalMum]

One a box of fudge from lakeland (which will probably all be eaten by the end of boxing day) . My other gran some biscuits for cheese from lakeland. They both have most things they need so difficult here too, but both gifts come in nice tins so a little keepsake if they want it.

[Beastofburden]

MIL very similar. She likes films with subtitles as she is deaf, so have got her Montalbano to letch over.

She can't eat many things but have got her crystallised fruit.

Previous years we and other relatives had success with a cashmere wrap, lovely and cosy and luxurious (joint present as expensive).

Crabtree and Evelyn have a nice Venetian Violet flower water, very purple and nostalgic but quite expensive, £45.

[RedlipsAndSlippers]

This year I've got her a puzzle and chipped in for a Rose bush she wanted.
Last year I got her a 'My life story' journal, it asks lots of questions about her family, childhood etc. and leaves pages for her to answer, she seemed really touched by that one, it got her reminiscing immediately :)

[tinkertaylor1]

My nan is 81 too she asked for songs from the 50/60s . I got her three CDs .

She said she didn't want smellys, slippers , nightys ect she had a life time of then in her wardrobe.

Ask her. What about a meal out just you Her? My dd is doing that for her.