Gift for care home resident

[Dreamerinme]

A local care home has their annual Christmas appeal for gifts for some of their residents. All the tags say is the room number and then whether male or female, so obviously I don’t know anything about the people.

Does anyone have any gift ideas please? I thought maybe one of those hyacinth bulb vases as they don’t need maintenance but look pretty, but as I don’t know what each person’s capabilities are I’m not sure if things like puzzle books (larger print?) would be useful or just useless?

Maybe fingerless gloves or a warm throw for the knees?

They do say no food gifts.

I would find it difficult as they specify no food gifts. As you say you have no idea of the person's abilities or likes/dislikes, but I suspect that if the nominated person gets something they don't like/can't use the staff will simply swap it with another resident. The hyacinth sounds a nice idea.

I would not bother with gloves/throws as the care home will provide throws, and I never saw anyone in my mother's care home with fingerless gloves. Her care homes was heated to about 25 degrees!

Nice toiletries set
Hand lotion
Nail varnish
Lipstick or lipbalms
Hat/scarf/gloves
Dressing gown
Slippers
Throw blanket
Xmas ornament
Bird feeder
Large print puzzle books
Puzzles
Canvas/framed print
Art and craft thing
Dvd or cd
Hot water bottle
Calender
Book
Low maintenance plant
Activity books
Adult colouring books and pens
Mug
Towels

Bird feeders that can attach to windows are fab

Shower gel
Chocolates
or a hamper to the whole home with nail varnishes, nail varnish remover, beauty pads, nail files.

Do you know what sort of care that care home focus on?? i.e mainly dementia? or other disabilities??
Are you able to ask the care home staff for a rough guidance?
for example you buy lovely plant and that resident might me allergic to it?? or you buy nice book and the person is blind.

Nice smelly shower gels, shampoos are always in high demand

no hot water bottles as it's health and safety risk

I used to work as a nurse in a nursing home. Things that the people I cared for liked as gifts included:

• Slipper socks (that are cosy but grippy on the bottom to prevent slips).
• Bone china mugs (several of my patients hated drinking out of the thick mugs that the home provided- choose one with a wide base so it’s less likely to get knocked over).
• Nice toiletries- including hand cream and lip balm. I’d choose something nice but not too scented as older skin is often more fragile (something like this: https://www.justmylook.com/products/aveeno-shower-essentials-hair-body-gift-set )
• Very low maintenance plants
• Magazines (Christmas editions were often a real hit- although these were usually bought by family/friends so it’s harder to choose when you don’t know much about the person). Crosswords/wordsearches/puzzle books were popular- and often end up in the communal area if the recipient wasn’t interested themselves.
• Maybe a charity donation where they get a letter or small gift in return (sponsoring an animal/child etc). I’d choose an uncontroversial charity if you do this.

It’s hard though when you don’t know what the person likes or is interested in! If it was me I’d probably go for slipper socks and the bath/shampoo set, it’s not very exciting but has the best chance of being suitable and useable for the person it’s going to.