Present idea for elderly lady with dementia?

[TidyOmlette]

DD’s school joins with the local nursing home to try and give gifts to the residents. They’re encouraged to make things like a story or a picture but I’m totally lost for ideas.

The lady she has been given is 84 with a small family who aren’t local. No allergies. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

My nana really loved her wheat heat bag, all warm and soft!

Handcream - my Mum has dementia and loves when i slowly massage a nice handcream into her beautiful hands

Something useful or nostalgic.
Older brands of toiletries or sweets.
Something luxury for wearing.
Even though they may have dementia they will still have likes/dislikes so it's hard to be specific.

My mil in law has dementia and a Christmas picture that is made with lots of different textiles would be good, something they can feel. That way if they are in the earlier stages of dementia they will enjoy a picture made by a child, if they are further along they will hopefully enjoy the different textures, colours etc...

A sewn Christmas decoration with scents inside, either Christmas ones or lavender.

We tend to give my mil pictures made by my ds and then her favourite food. She doesn't really recognise anyone or anything anymore but still enjoys food and having something in her lap to feel/fiddle with.

My MIL used to love teddy bears. We also made her a fiddle cloth which went down well - a piece of cloth with tassels, zips, buttons etc to have on her lap and keep her amused. Nowadays she’s quite bad so we just buy her chocolates that can be shared around.

Hand cream, sweets, soft toy, scarf, woolly socks.

A twiddle muff!

Sorry, just realised she has to make it. Will keep thinking!

Maybe find out what she did for work or where she came from originally and put together prompting pictures that would encourage conversations?

Something with textures to touch - a picture, a wheat/rice bag that can be heated or a soft toy

Google twiddle muffs - sure they're pretty easy to make.

I'm a paramedic, we have some on our ambos for our more difficult to manage patients. They really can help.

Hand cream, maybe one with a floral scent.

Hand towel & face cloth set.

Pretty scarf or shawl.

Second and thirding twiddle muff or fidget blanket! (Work in care homes)
If not then a pp mention of a textile picture is just perfect.
Unfortunately we are not allowed wheat bags as they can spontaneously combust.. and do so. :(
Anything home made is lovely tho. If they are musical maybe a cd of recordings?

Assuming your daughter has to make the gift herself i think homemade sweets/desserts would be lovely if she has no dietary restrictions.

Sorry I didn’t read the op well enough, if she has to make it then a fabric picture with texture and things to touch/mess with would be an idea.

How about some peppermint creams, quite easy to make.,

Once she had dementia past a certain stage, I have to say that my mother showed virtually no interest in presents, unless they were something to eat.

There’s often a change in taste buds with dementia, so that people prefer sweet things, even if they weren’t very keen before.

I think my DM would have liked a twiddle muff, but alas I didn’t find out about them in time. I’ve since made some for the local hospital, but you do need a good stash of different colours, not to mention time and basic knitting skills.

If anybody wants to make one, there’s a good pattern if you google Oxford University Hospitals Twiddle Muffs. All ‘twiddly bits’ must of course be stitched on very firmly.

Lots of great ideas. Thank you all 😀

Your child could make an edible treat, something like shortbread that can be taken round on the tea trolley and shared.
Record them making/ baking the food following the recipe, chatting about what they are doing. Then send the treats they’ve made and the video of them making it in together. They would really love this as visiting has stopped a lot are struggling, they always love to see children’s smiley faces.