Mother's Day Gifts for an Elderly Mom

There are a few gifts that an elderly mother will find especial pleasure in on Mother's Day.

Giving cash may seem tacky but you can't argue with its flexibility and utility. Kids celebrating birthdays and high school graduates have been getting cards with cash in them for years. The special circumstances of elderly parents makes the idea imminently practical. But let me take this one step further by referring to my recent experience. My sister, Kat, recently said that she had talked about it with my 80-year-old mom who indicated she would rather have the cash than Mother's Day flowers and the like. Mom's in it for the money. Kat understood where she was coming from but didn't know how my brother and other sister would take it. She wanted to run it by me first. I thought it was a great idea, immensely practical. Mom is a bit frail and lives in an assisted-living apartment, she doesn't have a lot of room for extras, she has a limited amount of savings, and having the cash equivalent of flowers would help her preserve her savings while still allowing her to shop for whatever she wants and needs. It's a win-win situation. I gave Kat a check to get the ball rolling and plan on sending her cash for Mother's Day in a nice card. Hopefully, my brother and other sister will sign on to the idea too. But that raises the point that this can be an immensely delicate issue. An elderly mother may feel slighted by the idea of substituting cash for a gift like flowers (Christmas and birthday is a little different, perhaps). Everyone is different. The point is, you must discuss the issue with your mother and see how she feels about the idea.

Gift cards are one step removed from cash. Again, very flexible, especially if you already know your mother's favorite places to shop. This is becoming such a well-accepted gift item that it may be easier than offering cash.

Gift baskets are an inexpensive but visually impressive gift due to the variety of items your giftee can look forward to trying. The beauty is that you can concentrate on consumables so that in the long run, the gift will be used up and it won't take up any additional permanent space. The container can itself be something practical such as a purse or it can be a simple basket from Goodwill or the dollar store which can be eventually discarded by giving it back to the Goodwill What kind of consumables are we talking about? As implied, food is a possibility. But not just favorite snacks. Also soap assortments, fragrance samples, or cremes and lotions. You can go for a lot of small items, with at least one largish, dominant item to give it the right look. You can even pick up some clear cellophane from the gift shop or Walmart and wrap the entire basket.