Presents for oldies

Grandad’s perfect present

What should you get oldies for Christmas? Miranda Thomas has the answer

The problem with old people is they often seem to be equipped with everything they need already. What do you buy the generation that has everything?

What kind of present brings YOU the most pleasure when you open it? Something you would actually use, no doubt; something appealing, something you wouldn’t have thought to buy for yourself, or even thought of at all. Not ties, chocolates or soap.

With a bit of imagination it’s possible to buy Christmas presents that won’t be greeted with a weary sigh, a weak smile and a pained ‘Thank you, darling’.

No one thinks they’re old until they have one foot in the grave. But, well before that, there are many properly helpful gadgets and comforting luxuries we would all love.

Start with the obvious: items for comfort. With the fuel prices as high as they are, manufacturers have come up with a number of non-food products.

When popped in the microwave for a few minutes, they retain joyous heat for up to three hours, at almost no cost: soft, fluffy slippers or slipper boots; neck wraps; heat pads to strap around your midriff, or ones that just rest on your lap. All of these exist in many forms – the world’s your oyster.

Of course, some people don’t have a microwave. We were, after all, brought up in the dark ages when microwaves were considered frightening and bound to zap us with their evil rays.

But we all have plug sockets, and we’re very keen to thwart the smart meter’s revealing how very expensive our beloved blow heaters are. So you could buy a mini electric blanket or a fleecy electric throw – even one big enough for two of you on a sofa.

Obviously, there’s less moving around if you are fixed near a socket, but most of us spend hours in the same place anyway, watching TV or looking at our screens.

Other forms of comfort: cushions, of course. Not the scatter cushions beloved of M&S or every gift shop, but ones specially designed to ease aching backs, or to boost the height of your oldie’s favourite armchair, so they can get out of it with much less effort.

And remember those V-shaped maternity cushions? They are gloriously comfortable for anyone and everyone, and now come covered in fabrics far removed from the kind you find on a hospital ward.

Then there are posture cushions of all sizes and for all purposes – an aching neck or a sore back. Some are heated; some have removable pads to adjust for you perfectly.

Think about something your oldie might already use every day but could do with a luxury version of: a pill organiser bound in leather rather than garish blue plastic; a lap tray to eat a TV supper on in comfort (without twisting sideways), in a fabric they might actually like.

And remember what’s likely to be ropy by late mid-life, or even mid-midlife – eyesight, for example. Mine’s pretty dim already (and I’m only middle-aged). Daylight reading lights – particularly portable charging ones – can be a life-saver. As is the very cool, beautifully designed magnifying light that I use for anything fiddly, such as mending a plug or threading a needle.

I know all this only because it’s become my business – literally.

My lifelong friend Sophie Dowling was finding it increasingly frustrating as her elderly father’s house started to look more like a care home. ‘Not again,’ she thought, looking with dismay at her dad’s make-do fixes and white plastic grab rails.

Why isn’t there a place to buy the things you might want, or find you need, as soon as your youthful, I-cando-anything period has ended?

Why has no one even road-tested the products already out there – cheap or expensive, worthless or brilliant – and gathered the best of them in one place?

Sophie rang me, and we set up shop pretty speedily, during lockdown. Our late mothers had been great friends, and both were ill for long enough to come to hate the few products available that they needed and that actually worked.

And so Granny Gets a Grip was born, selling only those things we like, for oldies and anyone else who needs a bit of help – inclusive design for all ages. The best of these things are now an everyday part of our own lives. And we’re only nudging 60.

So think a bit about what to buy people who don’t really want more stuff, but may well need some things they don’t even know exist. You might end up enjoying shopping this Christmas.

You shouldn’t have: Steptoe & Son

Miranda Thomas co-founded Granny Gets a Grip, an online shop for people who need a level of physical support in and around the house