christmas

[cat64]

mum is 77 and is having her first christmas in her care home....she has mid stage vascular dementia.

what on earth do you buy?

she has all her own things in her room, is really stroppy about new clothes and at the moment even refusing to wash that often so no smellies! She has photos and plants. I have bought chocolate ..her favourite thing in the world!!..but need inspiration for other gifts so come on people any brilliant ideas???

I

 

[Mal2]

How about Jig saws ? Large pieces or even normal size pieces, but smallerl jig saws. paint by numbers, or the adult colouring books and felt tips? Doesn't matter if she can't do them all, something to keep her occupied..

 

[Selinacroft]

Does mum like animals?- maybe a realistic stuffed animal, or a decorative cushion.

 

[alyfen]

Furry throw for her bed?

 

[Lawson58]

Last year SIL gave OH a teddy bear for Christmas which I thought was a bit strange but he takes it to bed with him every night.

 

[DeborahBlythe]

Some of the things I gave my mum for Christmas, or her birthday, which was in early December:

Nice blouses
Nice dress
Nice cardigan
Necklace (but it got stolen from her room)
Amaryllis bulb
Crocus bulbs
Hyacinth bulbs in water
Flowers
Chocolates
Paintbox and paper as she used , in retirement to enjoy painting, but she thought the gift 'childish'.

 

[Chemmy]

I've just bought a very soft cuddly velour scarf for my MIL as I think she'll appreciate it when sitting outside in the wheelchair in the Spring. We bought her a cuddly wrap for round her shoulders a couple of years ago and she's found that very useful, although she was a bit bemused by it at the time.

 

[carol-j]

When my mum was in the late dementia stage I bought her a baby doll and she loved it.

 

[JoMo]

how about a nice photo frame with a picture of her with family members.

 

[la lucia]

There's a wonderful series of picture books specifically designed for people with dementia by Emma Rose Sparrow.

They are beautiful photographs themed around a single colour and each one has a single line of text. There's no mention of the word dementia in any part of the book.

There's also some ok jigsaw puzzles specially designed for people with dementia.

How about a box of 'bits and pieces' for rummaging and 'sorting' - maybe a box with compartments?

When my mother gets really restless (which means I will cop it sooner or later ), I empty out the button box on a table knowing that she will always feel she has to 'sort it out'.....

 

[ElizabethAnn]

Mum & Dad (both with dementia) use bean bag style lap trays - I've been buying ones that you can put your own photographs in... so far they've gone down very well...

There are plenty on the market - try "Photo Lap Tray" in google or use the link below for a variety on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8...targid=kwd-29577684693&ref=pd_sl_1u80asourc_b

Mum is still enchanted by flowers and jewelry - a rather good silk flower arrangement has been a good talking point (although Mum does think they're real) and we frequently buy a bunch of inexpensive in season flowers from the supermarket - which are always well appreciated and give us an easy distraction topic (when needed)

As for jewelry, it does tend to get "put somewhere safe" (never to be seen again) in her own home, so I buy inexpensive items from the charity shop. The fact that they are second hand has never been noticed/mentioned.

My sister bought a beautiful wild bird jigsaw, it's only got about 20 large pieces - and we leave it out, with a couple of pieces undone... with help, Mum can put them in (again and again)

A few years ago we bought Mum & Dad a bird feeding station, which is easily visible from where they sit in the lounge - this has given a lot of entertainment, but of course it does need filling up regularly to keep the birds visiting.

Another very successful present for Mum, was an electric foot warmer.

Chocolates (soft ones) and a bottle of Harveys Bristol Cream go down well too...

regards, Elizabeth.

I have to confess, we're running out of ideas... so I'm watching this thread carefully

 

[chellebowen]

I brought for my mum one year a Lava lamp.

I know that sounds really silly but she used to love watching all the colours and bright up her room.

FAILING THAT - its always nice to get slipper socks, PJ's or chocolates

Hope you think of something and I am sure whatever it is she will LOVE IT

 

[creativesarah]

Have you thought of making her a memory book
for more info and help there is an article on how to do it on my website
creativesarah.weebly.com
If I can help you at all feel free to pm me

 

[Animus]

There's a wonderful series of picture books specifically designed for people with dementia by Emma Rose Sparrow.

They are beautiful photographs themed around a single colour and each one has a single line of text. There's no mention of the word dementia in any part of the book.

There's also some ok jigsaw puzzles specially designed for people with dementia.

How about a box of 'bits and pieces' for rummaging and 'sorting' - maybe a box with compartments?

When my mother gets really restless (which means I will cop it sooner or later ), I empty out the button box on a table knowing that she will always feel she has to 'sort it out'.....

Hello, thank you for this post, which I thought gave some interesting ideas. I recently purchased "The Sandy Shoreline" by Emma Rose Sparrow as a Christmas present for a person with fairly advanced dementia. This book is designed for people with dementia, but I wanted to share that I have found that this particular book had a lot of text, and is more suitable for people with earlier stage dementia. Perhaps she has another range of picture books too with fewer words.

I have also found a series of picture books by Helen Bate (also available on Amazon), but I haven't tried these out as yet.