Gift advice for the involuntarily homebound
December 15, 2015 7:07 AM Subscribe
I want to give an ultra-thoughtful gift to a formally healthy and work-focused family member who suffered a stroke. He is only 38 but he can’t currently leave his home due to extreme vertigo.
He is also on the fodmaps diet – so most gifty food is out. He can’t look down to do things like puzzles and it’s hard for him to follow extended spoken information. Obviously I want to avoid gifts like robes and slippers that might emphasize my relative’s housebound-ness, but I don’t want to send anything that will underline what my relative can no longer do. He used to love tennis, model trains, and complicated lego sets. On days he is feeling well he does some amateur wall-street type trading (I know nothing about how this works and what sorts of related gifts might be appropriate). Thoughts? Many Thanks!
He is also on the fodmaps diet – so most gifty food is out. He can’t look down to do things like puzzles and it’s hard for him to follow extended spoken information. Obviously I want to avoid gifts like robes and slippers that might emphasize my relative’s housebound-ness, but I don’t want to send anything that will underline what my relative can no longer do. He used to love tennis, model trains, and complicated lego sets. On days he is feeling well he does some amateur wall-street type trading (I know nothing about how this works and what sorts of related gifts might be appropriate). Thoughts? Many Thanks!
Most small 3-D puzzles can be held as you assemble them rather than placed on a table. They also tend to have diagrammed instructions rather than written instructions, and they may hit the same place as Lego kits.
Some examples:
Happy Cube (ignore the photos of children, the hard ones are still interesting for adults)
Flat-pack 3d wooden puzzles (they have tons of these at Michael's and Target currently has them in the Spot's Corner section)
Laser-cut metal puzzles (note that these are the most detailed/unforgiving)
Origami books and paper might also be an option if you include a book shelf of some sort so he can do the folding in mid-air. (Although not everyone is able to fold in the air, so YMMV.)
posted by pie ninja at 7:30 AM on December 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
Some examples:
Happy Cube (ignore the photos of children, the hard ones are still interesting for adults)
Flat-pack 3d wooden puzzles (they have tons of these at Michael's and Target currently has them in the Spot's Corner section)
Laser-cut metal puzzles (note that these are the most detailed/unforgiving)
Origami books and paper might also be an option if you include a book shelf of some sort so he can do the folding in mid-air. (Although not everyone is able to fold in the air, so YMMV.)
posted by pie ninja at 7:30 AM on December 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
Plasticine modeling clay. Adult coloring books. Architectural wooden building blocks.
How long ago was the stroke? If it's just a matter of weeks and he's otherwise healthy he may well regain a lot of his functioning.
posted by mareli at 8:12 AM on December 15, 2015
How long ago was the stroke? If it's just a matter of weeks and he's otherwise healthy he may well regain a lot of his functioning.
posted by mareli at 8:12 AM on December 15, 2015
Does his trading entail reading the business press? How about an online gift subscription to, say, The Economist or the Financial Times?
posted by Short Attention Sp at 8:24 AM on December 15, 2015
posted by Short Attention Sp at 8:24 AM on December 15, 2015
How's his reading? Does he have a kindle? (Large print is much easier to read when you're having difficulty concentrating.)
Could you buy him ebooks? Amazon lets you give them as a gift if you have your recipient's email address.
posted by Year of meteors at 8:36 AM on December 15, 2015 [2 favorites]
Could you buy him ebooks? Amazon lets you give them as a gift if you have your recipient's email address.
posted by Year of meteors at 8:36 AM on December 15, 2015 [2 favorites]
When I was debilitated by vertigo after surgery, I spent a lot of time listening to audiobooks. So an Audible subscription, perhaps?
posted by suelac at 11:21 AM on December 15, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by suelac at 11:21 AM on December 15, 2015 [2 favorites]
I'll second Kindle ebooks. Encourage your family member to start an Amazon wishlist. and to go wild with it. (If that's difficult, perhaps he could dictate his picks to someone.)
A reading gift is an absolute delight.
posted by BostonTerrier at 4:32 PM on December 15, 2015
A reading gift is an absolute delight.
posted by BostonTerrier at 4:32 PM on December 15, 2015
One of the worst things about being housebound is how your world mentally shrinks. Anything that can keep him mentally occupied can help with the sense of cabin fever that you get. I really liked playing SimCity when I was largely housebound and watching TV and movies (I am not normally a big TV watcher).
Depending upon his interests, I would go for things like music, intellectually stimulating TV shows, and games he can play. Or anything that might help him stay more connected to the outside world. The Internet was a godsend when I was largely housebound. Maybe a cheap tablet with some games on it would help him stay more connected and keep him occupied. Tablets are the best thing for some situations. Unlike a laptop, you can write a draft email and hit "send" while offline and it will go through when you are online again. It is lightweight and can play videos and so on.
Maybe a box edition of some favorite TV show or a subscription to some streaming service, if you think that won't make his vertigo worse.
Another thing that helped save my sanity, not so much when I was merely largely housebound but more when I was mostly bedridden, was having lots of different sheets and other bedding so that I could change the look of my bed where I spent almost all my time. I also eventually covered the bare wall that I had been staring at for months and had come to loathe. So don't underestimate the value of some kind of home décor thing, like a few different styles and colors of bathroom towel sets, that can help change up the look of the place and make it feel less suffocating without much effort.
posted by Michele in California at 2:24 PM on December 16, 2015
Depending upon his interests, I would go for things like music, intellectually stimulating TV shows, and games he can play. Or anything that might help him stay more connected to the outside world. The Internet was a godsend when I was largely housebound. Maybe a cheap tablet with some games on it would help him stay more connected and keep him occupied. Tablets are the best thing for some situations. Unlike a laptop, you can write a draft email and hit "send" while offline and it will go through when you are online again. It is lightweight and can play videos and so on.
Maybe a box edition of some favorite TV show or a subscription to some streaming service, if you think that won't make his vertigo worse.
Another thing that helped save my sanity, not so much when I was merely largely housebound but more when I was mostly bedridden, was having lots of different sheets and other bedding so that I could change the look of my bed where I spent almost all my time. I also eventually covered the bare wall that I had been staring at for months and had come to loathe. So don't underestimate the value of some kind of home décor thing, like a few different styles and colors of bathroom towel sets, that can help change up the look of the place and make it feel less suffocating without much effort.
posted by Michele in California at 2:24 PM on December 16, 2015
The World's Largest Crossword Puzzle.
posted by The Almighty Mommy Goddess at 6:07 AM on December 21, 2015
posted by The Almighty Mommy Goddess at 6:07 AM on December 21, 2015
Response by poster: Thanks everyone for the great ideas. We ended up giving a gift card to L.L. Bean to help with the purchase of a new casual wardrobe for my family member.
posted by songs_about_rainbows at 12:39 PM on January 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by songs_about_rainbows at 12:39 PM on January 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
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An echo/alexa would probably also be appreciated - he can listen to audio books if he's up for it, get stock prices and such without having to look at a screen, and also listen to music.
posted by snaw at 7:28 AM on December 15, 2015 [2 favorites]