The most meaningful Mother’s Day gifts for the mother or grandmother in your life don’t have to be bought in a store, but can be thoughtful gifts you give of yourself. Here are a few ideas for you to consider.
Picture Perfect
With so many senior women living alone at home or in a long-term care facility, some of the best Mother’s Day ideas can reconnect her with children and grandchildren. Since photos are a great way to create and recall fond memories, offer to take a picture of the two of you and frame it for her. Or bring a family photo album you can look through together, which can also be good mental and psychological stimulation for senior women suffering from memory loss. If your mom or grandmother has vision problems, put family pictures and videos on a tablet so she can enlarge the images to a size she can more easily see.
Smell the Roses
If your loved one is mobile but can’t drive, chances are she’d love a day trip with you and other family members. Give her a morning or afternoon of your time visiting a beautiful garden, shopping, enjoying a leisurely lunch, or just driving around to get out of her housebound environment.
Honey Do’s
Other Mother’s Day ideas that involve a gift of your time can involve preparing her favorite dish, cleaning her house, weeding her garden, or preparing her patio for summer so she can sit outside. You can also commit your time to accomplishing some household projects that will help her feel more safe and secure, such as installing grab bars or other safety features in her house, securing railings to any staircases, or investing in a medical alert system to ensure she has 24-7 access to help if she needs it.
Familiar Voices
Special Mother’s Day ideas for senior women also include the sound of familiar voices, especially if you live far away from your loved one or she has diminished mental or visual capacity. You could record yourself or her grandchildren reading some of her favorite poems, inspirational messages, or short stories. That way she can experience a “visit” with you as often as she likes.
Music, in particular, has been shown to have a profound effect on seniors with Alzheimer’s or dementia issues. If an elderly mother or grandmother loves a particular music genre, surprise her by putting together a CD of songs from her heyday that promise to bring back fond memories of good times.
When all is said and done, the Mother’s Day gifts that your senior mother or grandmother will cherish the most don’t have to be fancy or expensive, but can be gifts that came straight from your heart.
