Christmas gift for Dad with Alzheimer's

[NutellaEllaElla]

He's not really able to properly read books anymore, though i think he pretends/ reads books without remembering what's going on.

He shouldn't drink alcohol due to his meds.

These were the main things I got him for xmas for years wtf do I do now? He doesn't care about plants, used to do sport, God this is HARD!

Also, is it possible to have a light hearted thread about Dementia? I hope so.

Would he flick through a magazine, even if he's not taking much in?
If he likes cars or something the pictures might be fun to look at, even if he can't read the text.

I'll be honest when my grandma was moved to a home due to her dementia, Christmas gifts would end up being personal care items, soap, deodorant, talc, as they seemed to go missing frequently.
Along with new night dresses and cardigans with buttons big enough for her to manage.

We couldn't even get her tea and biscuits as she'd forget she'd opened them.

I buy my DM a cosy dressing gown, a nice looking but easy to put on jumper and some framed family photos. The photos are her favourite present, I had lots printed from 50 years ago and she loved them.
My mum also can’t read anymore, or sit still really, or relax, any hobbies are unfortunately a no no.

Does he live at home still?
Nice, well fitting slippers.
Music - this can be really powerful and packed with memories for people who have dementia.

New clothes.
Nice toiletries

A coffee table type book, with pictures, on a topic he is interested in eg wildlife, birds, history , trains etc.

A radio or music of some form.

If he likes to 'read' then I'd get him some books maybe ones with lots of photos of a subject he was interested in. A monthly magazine subscription might be something he could flick through and enjoy - cars, gardens or whatever.

I'm in the same position, I was going to focus on nice food!

Don’t get an Alexa, we tried this and it was a disaster, my DM thought it was talking to her and really made her hallucinate.

Another thing that might work is a 'lift the flap for music' player - you load it up with digital music and then it just shuffles when they lift the flap, no access to anything else or controls. I bought one for my mum and she ignored it, but I gave it to my colleague for her dad and he loved it

Yes he still lives at home. Good ideas, I did wonder about music but didn't know how could make it work so I'll look into that.

Food. Favorite foods. Especially things that can be consumed in small portions. A favorite candy from child. The cookies your mom always made at Christmas. His favorite steak dinner. Bacon of the month club.

Get him his favorite things as long as they don’t make him immediately worse, like mixing alcohol with his meds

This is the simple music player