60Th Bday Present for Mom

My 62 yr old MIL said the best present she got for Christmas was a Kindle. She can enlarge the words big enough toread and the books are cheap, even free sometimes.

If you can get a hold of pictures and home movies from her childhood and beyond, I would make a video for her. Kind of a "This Is Your Life" set to meaningful music and/or her favorite songs. The software is not too expensive ($80-$100) and it just takes some time. I made one for my dad's 75th birthday and he LOVED it! Now working on one for my mom's 70th :) Good luck!

If you have lots of pictures on your computer and a scanner, you could try what we did. For my MIL's 70th, we scanned old paper-pics of her childhood, her parents, my husband's childhood, our wedding, and our kids into one of those digital photo frames. This only took us about a half hour and she loved it so much she cried. She has it circulating through the pics in her living room and so proudly shows it to her guests. Here's one like we bought: http://www.amazon.com/Sony-DPF-D810-8-Inch-SVGA-LCD/dp/B#...

60 roses. Have it delivered where she can show it off.

Hi L.,

My 19 year old daughter gave me the book "Love You Forever" for Mother's Day. My Mom gave it to me on my 27th birthday when I was living 200 miles away and it meant so much to me. My copy got lost and my sweet girl gave it to me this morning. If you don't know it, go to the book store and read it...takes about 10 minutes. Silly little sweet story that I cried over this morning...

M.

Does she like to read? Have a favorite author or poet? Have a book dedicated in her name at her local library-call then and ask how, or search online. Have a star dedicated in her name-search online for how to go about this as well. Ask her to write a list of five (or whatever number you choose) things she would MOST LIKE to have. Then you select one or ALL of them, and plan to spend the day with her ( breakfast out, then go shopping, maybe a spa day, then for dinner hire a chef to come to the house to prepare her favorite meal) and give her one of the gifts at each birthaday destination! That would make her day an event!

If you live close enough, I would suggest doing something together with her if possible. The gift of a memory is the best!

Trip to a spa? When my mom turned 60 I had been traveling ALOT for work - & was single and childless so I took her on a trip with all the miles and hotel points I had accumulated. But for her 70th (in 2 years) - I'm thinking a spa day is all I can handle since I now have 3 kids and don't work.

For my mom's 70th birthday party, I threw a party. I also took a photo of her when she was a little girl and took it of over to a copy shop (someplace like Kinkos) and had them enlarge it and mount it onto a foam board. As guests were arriving for the party, I had everyone write a sweet sentiment to her on the margin of the board and sign it. The photo board was one of my gifts to my mom but definitely one of her favorites.

Hmmm... does she have any hobbies or special interests? Is there anything you remember that was extra special from your childhood that you could recreate for her. Tell us more about your mom and what you love about her so we can help come up with something fabulous! Also, what's the budget look like?

I like to try to find events that we can do together to create a memory. My Mom is a really big Paula Dean fan, so when she came to town on year, I got my Mom and I tickets. We've been to plays together. One year, my sister and I rented a boat for a 3hour boat trip with her and I and 4 of her friends.

If there is a trip she has always wanted to take, give her that. If the big dream trip is something you can't afford -- for instance, Paris, with a significant other along too -- find a more local option like a weekend at a good B&B with dinner at a nearby French restaurant. You may have to work with her (so it wouldn't be a surprise) to find an outing or short trip she really wants, but that would be better than planning and paying for one that she isn't 100 percent enthusiastic about. I would advise talking to her about it rather than trying to surprise her, if you give her a trip, however short. Some people love B&Bs; others don't like them and prefer hotels; some like to have every minute planned; others want to do nothing but spend time with a good book; etc. So find out what would really be a treat for her.

I am 61 - a party would be very nice as would be a spa day for the two of you....great memories and feeling great after....something I have always wanted.....she is lucky to have you!

If you and your family keep the greeting cards you receive, maybe you can make a scrapbook for her of the cards she gave you over the years? Or if she keeps cards given to her, you could make one out of the cards she's received?