What do I get my 101 grandmother for her upcoming birthday?

A small flip picture album, something you can put in a couple dozen new and old pictures for her to look through.

And maybe something you can find about what happened 101 years ago on her birthday.

Or an electronic picture frame that you can put a zillion pictures on. She can just watch it like tv. Every so often you can load up a new USB stick with new pictures and mail it to her. The staff can set it up for her.

Audio books and a player?

I would also suggest audio books, and if there is a way that you can make recordings, your own stories, just funny anecdotes from your life, memories you share with her, stuff like that.

I would make a point to visit, with a voice recorder with a big memory card, and record every story she can bear to tell.

Then I’d transcribe them, and have a bound book made, so the whole family can keep her stories.

We had planned on doing that for my husband’s grandfather, but he passed away before we could make it happen.

A good box of candies.
If she can’t eat them, she can certainly enjoy passing them out.
Better yet, bake her a batch of really good cookies.

Exactly what @seek said. You will never get this chance again and will kick yourself if you don’t.

Somebody to help her make out a will.

Why would you say that @reijinni? Not really funny if it was a joke.

Haha. I keep seeing Gramma 101 like it’s a beginning college course.

When Mom turned some milestone year, I sent an e-mail to family members asking them to send back X number of memories of her. They were then cut and pasted to a Word document, printed out, folded, and put into a crystal candy bowl with a lid. Mom loved it. She often dipped into the dish to re-read one.

Will you guys do that for me when I turn 100? Print off fluther questions and put them in a candy bowl???

@MooCows , Does your grandmother have a television in her room? A phone?

Spend a day with her – entire family..

@Dutchess_III , estate planning, if it hadn’t already occurred.

@reijinni I don’t even know what to say. I’m speechless at the crassness.

Discuss the issue with the staff. Sometimes they have some great ideas about how to help.

A soft blanket for winter, a basket with healthy edible goods? But as our rainmaker above suggests, the best would be to spend quite a bit of time with her. For you it may be difficult but it would mean the world to her. Has she got a little radio by the way?

Did or does she like old movies? What about a portable DVD player (they’re really cheap now) and some movies she might have seen and loved (on half.com you can find just about any old DVD and they’re really cheap).

My mom loved that as she aged. She couldn’t follow and didn’t even care about the plots anymore but she loved revisiting her favorite long-gone actors and actresses from gentler times.

A nurse aid helps her shower 3 times a week and I was thinking
a new fluffy towel with her name embroidered on it might be
something she would enjoy. I also love the idea of the small
photo flip book of pictures and a can of my homemade cookies
she could enjoy sharing! How does this sound?

@Dutchess III _Will you guys do that for me when I turn 100?

I’d be glad to do it for you, but you’d have to do it for me first!

@MooCows Sounds good.

@MooCows That seems like a great idea.

Dalmatian puppies.

^^ Ha ha!

I suggested a batch if homemade cookies, @MooCows, and was roundly ignored.
I’d ask the staff about the personalized towel – if everyone had one, it would be a nightmare.

My aunt was borderline diabetic, and I would send her a box of Sugar Free Karl Bissinger’s chocolates are they are absolutely undetectable from the real thing. She claimed to have friends that were on sugar-restricted diets that stopped in just for a piece of candy. I’m sure that’s not completely accurate, but it was a sweet thought, @MooCows.
Anyway, that was the origin of my OP. If you can’t give her something that she really needs, give her something she can have the pleasure of sharing. Delicious cookies are great, too! At around the same time Mrs. Field’s were all the rage in shopping malls. When I went to St. Louis I’d get her a dozen cookies and “sneak them in”. I’m sure most were shared as a rare treat, and the few she ate didn’t hurt her – she lived the longest out of 7 siblings.
My aunt was a great cook in her day and always enjoyed being on the forefront of food trends.

I want cookies.

What she would love most of all would be a “Whataburger” hamburger!
These are in Texas I believe and there is not many around anymore.
She eats very little but does go to every meal. Last year I had a friend
take her some flowers and her “Whataburger” hamburger. She ate 3
bites and still goes on about how good it was! Too bad they don’t deliver
and my friend has moved away. I talked to her today and cried because
she loves me so much and would like to see me. We sell our all natural
meats at the farmer’s mkts and this is THE busiest time of year so I need
to be here but I told her this Fall I could maybe visit. I pray I do get the chance
to hug her before she turns into the angel that she is and goes home.

Contact Whataburger.

If they care a hoot about PR, your grandmother will get her burger!

Thank you for the Whataburger site! I will be in touch
with them soon and will let you know what happens!
There is a big possibility that the local newspaper in
Garland, Texas will be at her 101 birthday so Whataburger
could get some free publicity! Maybe they will feed my
grandmother and the staff! That would be TERRIFIC!

That is just awesome!

I’m certain it would go national, @MooCows, if Whataburger came through.
It’s exactly the “Corporation Loves Centenarian” story the media eats up.
:-)
As long as it isn’t too much for Granny.

Well I’m about to get a Whopper Jr.delivered to me, in bed, in the Ozarks. I haven’t had a Whopper Jr. In forever!

I didn’t know Whataburger is in New Mexico! It’s only about 4 hours from me! That’s a destination road trip if I ever saw one!

It worked…..called Whataburger home office at 1–800-6burger
and they directed me to the nearest restaurant near my grandmother!
I talked to the manager there and SHE will deliver my grandmother
her burger on her birthday Monday and take pictures for me too!
Hugs to you ibstubro for the recommendation and that fact that
this is going to happen! KUDOS to Texas and WHATABURGERS!

That will be so fun for her!

Another reason to love Whataburger!

Whoop, whoop!
That’s so cool. Be sure you call the Garland newspaper. There’s still a chance the AP could pick it up, or that it would go viral. Whataburger and your 101 grandmother deserve the attention, @MooCows.
:-)

I’d contact the newspaper and try to get email with the feature editor. They could have the article written by the time of her birthday.
Maybe even get Fluther a little plug. ;-)

Fluther will definitely get some credit if/when this goes down
as planned. Yes, growing up in Garland myself will help i believe.
On to call/email the editor of the paper. All this has put a big smile
on my face and I hope it does for Marie too at 101!

Slow and steady, @MooCows.

I’m curious @MooCows…why are your sentences arranged so that they look like a poem, instead of using the entire line up? Are you doing that or is it the phone?