An 80th birthday is a massive milestone in anyone’s life. Looking back on the last 80 years, so much has happened, and the person you are celebrating will have experienced more than we know!
So what do you get a woman who has seen fashion change time and time again and has watched as technology has boomed? We have some thoughtful ideas that can help you show this person how much you care about them.
Whether they are your mother, your grandmother, your neighbor, or your friend, the ideas we want to share will be loved.
Browse through our ideas, and see if anything pops out as a contender.
A specific 80th jewelry suggestion might be sending red flags to your brain, but slow down! We aren’t showing you a necklace with a massive and chunky “I’m 80” welded to it. At a certain age, we don’t like to show off our number to strangers.
Instead, this elegant design shows eight delicate rings looped around each other in an almost Celtic design. The 8 rings represent 8 decades, which is why it is specifically designed for people reaching their 80th year.
The delicate sterling silver bands are graceful and dignified, which is perfect for anyone who enjoys fashion with a meaning.
Although the stereotype suggests that anyone over the age of 70 cannot work an electronic device, we all know that older people are just as tech-savvy as the younger generations. If your 80-year-old friend is one of these people, then don’t ignore the power of gadgets!
As we all get older, cleaning can become more than a chore. It can be a daily reminder that your body is aging and that you cannot move as you once did. To give a thoughtful present to geeky granny, we suggest gifting her an iRobot Roomba.
These robotic vacuum cleaners work on a smartphone, a smart device (like an Alexa), or even just by pressing a button. You can put them on a timer and have them clean up the floor on a daily basis. They are great at collecting human hair, pet hair and can clean carpets as well as hard floors.
Once it has finished its scheduled cleaning process, the iRobot Roomba will take itself back to its charging station without hassle. All you have to think about is emptying its container every couple of days.
The iRobot Roomba is a really thoughtful idea for any person who is struggling with vacuum cleaning and understands how to use technology. Although the setup and use of the product are easy, we wouldn’t suggest this gift if your 80-year-old loved one isn’t at least a little comfortable with technology.
Here we have another technology-based present, but it isn’t as fiddly as a robotic vacuum cleaner. Instead, this item tracker works in the same way as a remote control for a TV, but it’s even easier.
Instead of having hundreds of buttons to learn, there are 4 color-coded buttons. Each button connects to one tracking device.
You can put the device on your keychain, tuck it into your wallet, hang it on your glasses or put it in your medicine holder. Honestly, you can attach these trackers to anything that makes sense to you.
Then, if you lose the item, you pull out the remote control and press the colored button, which relates to the tracker. For example, the green button matches the green tracker. The tracker will then make noise and flash a light, so you can easily find your keys!
This thoughtful gift can be a helpful and funny present to anyone who is constantly losing their stuff.
Not all of our present ideas will be based around technology, but a digital photo frame is another easy device that will be loved by your birthday girl.
Digital photo frames allow you to have hundreds of photos being slowly displayed while only taking up the room of one. The Pix-Star version connects to apps and the cloud, which means that other people can frame a photo just by clicking on the image and pressing send.
To set up the device, you can send over as many photos as you want before gifting the present. That way, when it’s time to unwrap, your mother/grandmother/friend/neighbor doesn’t have to do anything but plug in the frame.
As the years go by, you can send more and more photos to the frame without having to be in the same area. You can live miles away and ping her some pictures from your adventures that day.
This gift idea is the perfect way to stay connected without taking up tons of space.
80 years of living means that your birthday girl will have 80 years of stories in her. “The Story of a Lifetime” book is the opportunity for her to write them all down.
Like a notebook, most of the pages are left with just lines ready to be filled, but the difference comes from the wonderful prompts that will make your friend reminisce about their history.
With chapters on Independence, Military, and Changing Beliefs And Values, there is so much for your friend to think back on. It is the perfect way to bring back memories and share them for decades to come.
There are two ways in which you can use these gifts. You can open up some of the pages and write in your own memories about her and the time you have shared.
This could be in the Parenting section, the Teenage Years section, or in the Love and Marriage section, whatever makes sense to you. In these chapters, you can share your view on this magnificent woman and retell stories that might have been long forgotten.
The second way to give this gift is without adding anything to the pages at all. Instead, she can fill in all of her stories and tell you about them once she has written them. With every visit, a new chapter could be filled in, and you both can share in the amazing life of your friend.
However you want to give this book, it will become a treasured item filled with beautiful memories.
Once upon a time, rocking chairs were considered the best seat around, but they have fallen out of fashion in the modern world. Just because we might not think they are useful doesn’t mean that the older generations have dismissed their comfort.
Gifting your friend this fabric-padded rocking chair would be like handing her a piece of loved furniture from the past while at the same time adding a level of comfort to her life.
This particular chair by Avawing is specially designed for the elderly, which means that the backrest supports the entire back and not just the base. The rocking element also means that it is easy to get into and get out of without hurting your knees.
Seeing someone step away from their favorite hobby can be heartbreaking. If your friend no longer wants to garden because their knees cannot handle the constant ups and downs, then it might be time to suggest a Garden Kneeler Seat.
This thoughtful gift not only protects your knees as you plant more flowers, but it can also be turned into a seat so that you can complete the activity in a more comfortable position.
There are handles on the sides to give you more balance, and all this extra space means that you can attach a bag to the side to carry your equipment.
The seat is padded with foam to make it comfortable, but it is covered with waterproof materials, so you don’t have to worry about cleaning it. All of these additions might make it seem heavy, but the foldable stool is designed to be light so that it can be moved around the garden with ease.
When you get older, temperature becomes a mystery. You are often too cold, but as soon as you start moving around, everything becomes too hot. Gardening in the summer sun can make even the coldest states feel like a desert.
All you need to do is soak the towel in some cold water for around 1 minute, then wring it dry and snap the material. After that, it will hold the cold for much longer than a regular towel and without making you wet. It will even keep this cool temperature for up to 3 hours!
With a cooling towel in her bag, your friend can go out in the sun without worrying about heatstroke.
As the family gets bigger, it might be difficult for anyone to remember each family member’s birthday. To make sure no one gets left out, you can give your friend a helpful and beautiful birthday reminder calendar.
They come with 100 wooden discs that you can write on. All you need to do is write down the person’s name and the day they were born. Then you hang their token on the hanger, which says the month.
As the family grows, you can easily move these tokens around to include everyone.
If your 80 year old friend loves to read in bed, we suggest getting them a warm book light. Unlike most other book lights, a warm LED version will produce light that doesn’t hurt your eyes.
The more natural-looking creation is closer to a firelight than an electric light bulb which is why our eyes can handle the brightness.
Vekkia’s book lights can be attached to the book you are reading and come with two heads. These two heads can be moved and positioned with ease, as their necks are made from mobile wiring.
This means you don’t have to adjust the light every time you move on to the next page. Instead, you only need to unclip the light once you need to turn a page.
Summary
All of these ideas will show your 80-year-old friend or family member that you love them, know them, and understand their individual needs. No one wants another “Live, Laugh, Love” poster, so stay away from the cliches, and look for a gift that reminds you of your friend.
Even if these gifts don’t make the cut for you, use them as inspiration for a gift that does.
Think about your friend’s hobbies, their memories, and their needs. It could be that they used to work in a circus, so a ticket to see the local productions could be the perfect gift. Think about your friend and use this page as guidance.
