Gift Ideas for Seniors and Nursing Home Residents

Choosing a gift for a nursing home resident can seem difficult, but these ideas are sure to please your loved one.

If you ask your senior what they want for a birthday or holiday, they'll likely tell you they have everything they need. But do they? 

What your loved one wants most is you spending time with them. Whether you're sharing a meal or clipping their nails, your presence reassures them that they are valued.

If you're not able to visit for whatever reason, consider these gifts that my family members appreciated when they lived in a skilled nursing home. 

Many facilities offer a guest meal for visitors. Sitting and sharing over a meal is true quality time. If guest meals aren't available where your relative lives, you can always bring a bag lunch or a takeout meal. Ask your senior what they might like from their favorite place.

These are some of the top 10 requested gifts:

1. Cotton socks, slippers, sweat suits, and clothing that's easy to get on and off. Avoid zippers and buttons that might be hard to unfasten.
2. Homemade cakes, cookies, candy, individual puddings, Ensure or Boost, sugar-free food items or fast-food favorites like milkshakes.
3. Gift certificates for the hair salon at the facility. Clean hair lifts the spirit.
4. Audio and video recordings of their favorite songs, movies, and TV shows.
5. Large print books, adult coloring books, or audio books.
6. Colored pencils, paint-by-number kits, yarn and craft supplies.
7. Office supplies like small tablets and ballpoint pens.
8. Board games like Scrabble, dominoes, jigsaw puzzles and crossword puzzle books.
9. Nail clippers and emery boards.
10. Bird feeders and seed to refill them.

Limited funds? Here are some cost free activities that you can do.

• Offer to comb or style your senior's hair.
• Give a hand or foot massage.
• Trim your senior's fingernails.
• Write a letter on their behalf. Stamp, address, and mail the letter.
• Read them a story.
• Sing their favorite song.
• Play a game together like Dominoes or card games. Work a puzzle together.
• Attend an activities session with the group.
• Join in on the stretching exercises.

Edible gifts like homemade cookies, cakes, candy, and pies are things that most residents enjoy getting. If your senior is on a restricted diet, you can customize your holiday baking to include sugar-free gifts.

If you're not a seasoned baker, choose other edible gifts like individual pudding cups, packages of peaches or pears, crackers with peanut butter or cheese, juice boxes, or wrapped candies that are easy to open.

Another welcome activity at any skilled nursing facility is the music from volunteers who perform for the residents. Sometimes they like to sing along, wave their arms, clap to the music,  nod their heads, or even get up and dance.

Personal care Items are often requested. Keep in mind that some people have allergies, so choose softly scented cologne, air fresheners, moisturizers, hand lotion, and disposable hand wipes.

Remember that caps and lids may be difficult to open. As my mother grot older, packaging became more difficult for her to manage. Items with pump dispensers or easy to open containers are a good choice.

You might need to open the box of tissues and start the first one out of the box. Tasks that are simple to youthful hands can become a nightmare for a senior who struggles with arthritis.

Hair Salon Gift Certificates

Most nursing home residents would enjoy a little pampering. A beauty salon certificate for services by the on-site cosmetologist is a blessing. Or, you can ask to use the beauty shop and give your senior a nice shampoo and gentle scalp massage. If neither of those options is available, arrange to take your loved one to a salon nearby.

Something to Keep their Mind Active

What do seniors do with their time? Many seniors enjoy looking outside. My 95-year-old aunt likes watching the birds that come and go outside her window. A bird identification book helps her know which kind of birds land on the feeder. Volunteers will usually refill the bird feeder as long as we provide the seed. 

Visiting Pets Associations

One of the best ways to provide comfort and a touch of home is to invite the Visiting Dog's Association to visit your family members. It is amazing to watch the expressions of joy when seniors make contact with a well-trained, friendly canine. Some groups bring horses to meet the residents.

Make sure to find out which residents are allergic to animals and make arrangements for medication or for them to be in another area of the building.

Volunteer to Serve As A Patient Advocate

Most facilities allow and encourage family members to attend resident wellness conferences. At these meetings, family members and patients discuss medication issues and the care your loved one is receiving. It can also bring out issues that may need attention either from the staff or from family members.

Your presence helps your loved one advocate for themselves and gives them confidence to speak out that otherwise might be lacking.

Gifts For All Occasions

It doesn't have to be a special occasion to bring a gift to your favorite senior. Whether it is a purchased present or a gift of your time and effort, your loved one will treasure these small tokens of your affection.

Look What I Found At The Thrift Store

Finding reusable items in second-hand stores is like going on a treasure hunt. Here are some of the things I've found over the years.

Digging through dusty bins can really pay off if you're looking for chairs, side tables, mirrors, kitchen gadgets, pots and pans, dishes, glassware, picture frames, art, tools, books and even clothes for a fraction of the original price. It's an economical way to decorate.

One of my favorite things to collect is American-made dinnerware. If you question buying used dishes, remember that when you eat at a restaurant, you're eating on dishes that have been used hundreds of times. With the right scrubbing, disinfectant and sanitation methods, they're good to go.

Cast iron skillets make great finds for cooking steaks, fried chicken, pork chops and more. Their durable construction makes the pan safe to use on the outdoor grill, over campfires or in the oven.

Look for the manufacturer's mark on the bottom for names like Wagner or Griswold.

The skillet I found was covered in years of baked-on grease. SOS pads, elbow grease and a light coating of oil made it look like new.

Second-hand stores are great place to find vintage items as people who are downsizing donate their excess household items. Goodwill, Salvation Army, Donation Station, Friends of Strays, and Junior League stores can yield treasures from dusty attics, barns, storage units and leftovers from estate sales.

Antique stores usually have a bargain area where slow-moving items are marked down. Pawn shops and flea markets have jewelry, guitars, clocks, kitchenware, appliances, tools patio furniture and more.

This Rookwood vase from 1904 is signed by its designer, KVH, for Katherine Van Horne. It's marked with the manufacturer's stamp and a Roman numeral on the bottom for the year. Vases like this can sell for hundreds to collectors. I found this one at a garage sale.

Keep an eye out for multiple-family garage sales where people are trying to get rid of grandma's "dusty old things." You never know what you might find.

Vintage Oak Washstand from the late 1800s

If you want to learn more about the history of vintage items, auctions are good places to start. An experienced auctioneer tells a story about the items to build interest from the crowd.

Auctions

1. Arrive early and check out the items for sale. 
2. Bring a magnifying glass and a flashlight to inspect hard-to-see areas. 
3. Items are sold as is and where is. 
4. Any defects are the buyer's responsibility.
5. Find out how much the auction charges for a buyer's premium. Sometimes it's ten-percent added to the winning bid amount.

Bidders are assigned a buyer's number to be used when bidding. When the bidding gets intense over an item, the price tends to go up.

Don't worry that you'll end up buying something accidentally. If there's a question of intent, the auctioneer usually asks, "Are you waving at someone or bidding?" You'll know if you've bought something when they yell, "SOLD!"

How Much Is It Worth?

Finding values is easy with an internet search. For years, collector series books were the only source for values. They're still a great source of manufacturer's history of where certain patterns originated. Remember, an item is only worth what the market will bear.

When you check eBay for an item's worth, sign in and look at the "sold" listings. Just because someone sets a sale price doesn't mean people will buy it for that much.

Hull coffee mug in tangerine (rare) color with a matching coffee server.

Knowing what to buy is as important as knowing what not to buy. Here are some things best left at the store.

Things To Avoid When Shopping at Second Hand Stores

1. Intimate clothing, like socks, panties, bras or swimsuits, unless tagged with original manufacturer's tags and in "new" unworn condition. Always launder before using.
2. Cloth covered furniture with odors or stains are best left behind. (Crime TV makes me suspicious of red stains.) 
3. If it smells funny or has mold or water damage, think twice before buying it.
4. Avoid books or paintings that smell of mold or mildew unless they have historical value or are family heirlooms. In that case professional restoration may be required.
5. Pass on porous items like wooden spoons, wooden bowls, non-washable fabrics or other items that can't be immersed in a cleaning solution and disinfected thoroughly.
6. Consumables like make-up, body lotion, perfume, edibles and other vintage food items are likely beyond their best-use date and aren't safe to eat or use. Perfume bottles can be cleaned but the contents will likely smell strong.
7. Kitchen appliances need to be tested. Some items like mixers, toasters and lamps are safer if they're rewired.
8. Shoes are questionable unless they show little or no wear. They can be of value as theater props or decorations.
9. Some baby car seats and cribs have been recalled due to dangerous or unsafe outcomes. Check for any recalls.
10. Some old items were made with paints that contained lead or radioactive materials, like illuminated clock faces painted with radium. Avoid these.
11. If an item just doesn't feel right when you pick it up or holding it makes the hair on your neck stand up, leave it behind.

Use your good judgement on used items.

Good luck in your search for vintage items. I hope you find the treasure of a lifetime!

Burgundy Lace Dishes from the 40s

Solomon Lithograph from the 40s

Marigold Carnival Tumblers from the 60s

Hull Mirror Brown Oven Proof Dishes USA

Oven Baked Salmon in 20 Minutes

 

Fresh Baked Salmon with Iceberg Lettuce, Tomatoes, and Berries

Fresh salmon is easy to make and cleanup is a snap. This oven meal is quick, nutritious and economical.

Whether you're on a budget or just looking for something new to fix for dinner, this meal is easy to prepare, requires little clean-up effort, and is economical. One fresh salmon fillet can easily make three main dish entrees for around $15.00.

Add veggies, bread, and a green salad, and you're ready to eat in 25 minutes.

If you've looked at the price for a nice salmon meal at a restaurant lately, you'll be amazed that you can prepare this meal for less than half of the cost. Clean-up is made easy when you line your baking pan with aluminum foil and bake this delicious salmon in your own oven.

Here's how to do it:

• Select fresh salmon from your favorite grocery store. I always find good choices at Aldi where they have ocean raised (not farm raised) filets.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
• Use kitchen shears to cut the fish into 4 ounce portions.
• Place on a foil-lined cookie sheet skin side down.
• Season with onion salt, pepper, powdered garlic and a tablespoon of butter.

• Bake for 20 minutes or until the fish flakes with a fork
• Separate the skin from the filet using a flat spatula and a fork.
• Leaving the skin on the foil, transfer the filet to a plate or the top of a salad.

Served hot or cold, this economical meal is easy and delicious.

Refrigerate unused filets in a covered container. The next day, in a bowl, use two forks to flake the fish.

• Add a tablespoon of mayonnaise
• Add a teaspoon of pickle relish
• Add a chopped boiled egg (optional)
• Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Use this as a salad topper or on a sandwich. Delicious!