Gretchen’s Top 10 Christmas Gifts for People with Parkinson’s

Back by popular demand is my top 10 gifts for people with Parkinson’s disease! The holidays can be stressful enough without having to try to figure out that perfect gift for a person with Parkinson’s.

Look no further! I have got you covered on some of 2018’s BEST ideas, in my humble opinion.

For help with daily activities

Weighted pens

HEAVY Super Big Fat Weighted Pen for Tremors and Parkinson's (Twin Pack). You can find these on Amazon.com. They help to control the hand by being weighted and big. Making handwriting more legible and easier to do for the person.

Liftware Steady Starter Kit

This is the awesome battery-operated spoon and fork that helps to counteract tremors so a person with Parkinson’s is able to keep their food on their utensils better and get the food to their mouth rather than on their lap!

Electric toothbrush

After struggling for years with a regular toothbrush and hurting my gums, I switched to an electric toothbrush and was amazed at the difference! Life is so much easier now! No more hurting gums and I get all my teeth clean!

Hobbies and games

E-reader for books

For those that love to read but have a hard time with books and turning pages. A lightweight electronic reader such as a Kindle can go a long way. Not only can your loved one increase size of text they can also listen to the words as well.

Digital picture frame

What better way to help your loved one stay up on the latest pictures of family and friends than with a digital picture frame. They range in price and some come with remote controls. They use SD/USB cards or USB sticks. I have seen some that will show up to 15,000 pictures! Change them out when you want! (Advice: Preload it for them! Less stress and anxiety!)

Puzzles

Those of us with Parkinson’s have a tendency to become rather apathetic. We need to find ways to keep not only our bodies but our minds active as well. Puzzles, Sudoku, arts and crafts items, memory skill games, all kinds of fun things we can keep our brains and our motor skills active with will help us.

Cooking and eating

Home shopping service

In most areas these days there are a couple of grocery delivery services, Shipt and Instacart are available in our area. This is a gift both a person with PD and their care partner will love!

It is as simple as downloading the app onto your smartphone or computer and selecting your groceries, paying for them and they will bring them to you and help you unpack them if needs be! Don’t worry they are licensed and bonded! We love it!

Meal delivery service

Go one step further and give the gift of some meals! There are several delivery services to choose from HomeChef, Plated, SunBasket, HelloFresh, BistroMD, just to name a few! They have plans they can tailor to any special dietary needs and you can choose from all kinds of wonderful meals.

All the food comes beautifully packed all your loved one has to do is follow the recipe and presto, they have a meal! It takes the stress off of them or their care partner having to do all the work. It also leaves them some energy left to do other things!

Experience gifts

Let’s face it, that once-a-month trip to the doctor is not my idea of a really exciting outing! Getting a massage... Now you are talking! Let your imagination take over, think about your loved one with Parkinson’s.

What is something that they would enjoy? Maybe with you! A mani/pedi, a sunset boat ride, or what about a fishing trip? The possibilities are endless. Even if it is a gift card for dinner out, or tickets to the theater.

If there is a Rock Steady Boxing group in their area, perhaps paying the dues for them to start that would be a way to get them up and going.

Quality time

The best gift you can give your loved one with Parkinson’s is time spent with you and the family. I realize we can sometimes be difficult to be around, but we ARE here! We still need our family and we love our grandchildren and we love spending time with our family.

Give us the gift of understanding; take the time to get to understand us and what is going on with us! The gift of listening to us instead of talking over us, when our voices become soft or slow.

Give us the gift of your company at the table while we finish our meal slowly because we take longer to eat or are afraid of choking on our food. The gift of understanding that we wear out a lot quicker than we used to in the past.

No matter how young or old we are, we still have Parkinson’s disease and it slows us down. Give us the gift of not walking so quickly but instead walk WITH us and talk to us. Most importantly, just give us the gift of being there for us!

“The Greatest Gift you can Give Someone is Your Time, You are Giving a Portion of your Life that You Will Never Get Back!”