100th birthday - gift suggestions please!

you said she has limited mobility so how about a luxury blanket or one of those lovely fleece heated blankets? would be nice for winter and save on bills! you could add a pillow too for extra comfort

For the record, the birthday has been and gone. She was thrilled with her throw, loved seeing my sister and I at the afternoon tea, and had a party that weekend (organised by my cousin) where she lives, and her other son, DIL, and GS’s x2 also attended plus lots of her friends. From the photos, she had a whale of a time!
Thanks all for responding

For DMs 100th she got chocolates, books and martini and a new pillow for her bed. She had a drawer full of throws. She loved long necklaces that just slipped over her head and new slippers. She refused to do the interview to make a book of her life as she hated looking back. We ordered afternoon tea to be delivered and she loved having the family all together. Friends joined in from America on Zoom.

In her circumstances what would please me most would be people ... loved ones around me. Why not ask the home if there is a room you could use to bring the family together and have each person bring a food item they have made themselves and also maybe something they have written or can sing/play.
At her age she does not need stuff!

Wow, a century! What an incredible milestone. Finding a gift for someone with limited mobility and eyesight presents a unique challenge, doesn't it? Let's brainstorm some beyond-floral options. Thinking about engagement, perhaps something auditory or tactile would be lovely. I remember when my grandmother, also with limited mobility, was bored stiff. Slope Game reminded me we tried large-print books on tape and she actually loved rediscovering old detective stories. We even got her a weighted blanket which she found incredibly comforting. Hope this helps sparking some ideas!

A ‘voucher’ for an outing or similar? At that age perhaps what she most wants is your company?

My dad and his partner lived until they were 92. They both said they didn't want "stuff", they wanted nice food as a present! I always used to take dad his favourite coffee and walnut cake which was always well received and believe me, he was hard to please!

A homemade book of vouchers. Little things you can do with her. Suggestions: coffee/ tea and cake, either take to her or go out, hand massage (check online for how to do), manicure and paint nails. Anything that you can do yourself. Most importantly this ensures visits and company.

A Smart speaker or a digital radio

NonnaW mentioning a special throw reminded me of when I was at primary school (middle of Mesozoic Era). Our teacher organised us each to draw a simple picture on a coloured felt square, and stitch the outline in white. She sewed them together as a cushion cover, and presented them to the headteacher to celebrate her recent milestone. I went back a few years later, the cushion was being used daily.
A special throw sounds perfect, daily use and personal.

I have a dear friend who was 90 recently. I carefully chose a lovely gift but she didn’t thank me and put it away hastily.
I later heard she had asked for no gifts at all but I didn’t know. She has stopped giving or receiving anything and when my special birthday came I didn’t even get a card. She’s trying to save the planet but I was very hurt.

Thank you all. Unfortunately anything involving photos is out as her sight really is bad now.
After consultation with my sisters, we have decided on a special throw she can put over her knees or on the bed, plus a cup and saucer (may even be the one mentioned above!), plus some chocolates. I may also arrange a cream tea to be sent to her after the event.
Thank you so much for all the responses, I never expected to get so many helpful answers

I'm still more than a decade away from my century, but even now, all I want as a birthday gift is to have my family around me. If they choose to shower me with flowers and toiletries, it's up to them, but those are not the gifts I will value most.
The idea of a newspaper for the day one was born, seems to me to miss the point as that would reflect only what happened on the previous day! If I were given such a present, it would report mainly the effect of Luftwaffe raids on the Clyde shipyards, whereas, the following day, the press would be all over an historic presidential election in the USA which happened on my birth-day.

As ever some great gift ideas from GN here that I’m tucking away for the future. I love the idea of personalised gift tokens in this situation, and presence not presents is a great saying. (I always feel for my DH whose son sends gifts via Amazon, and only lives 15 min drive away 😢.)

My mum was inundated with alcohol on her 90th - mostly champagne and Prosecco which she doesn’t drink - and none of the stuff she does drink (Cinzano and Tia Maria mostly). I would certainly say find out if she has a favourite tipple. And more flowers than we knew what to do with. Her skin is very sensitive now and she only uses olive oil soap. She does still have a favourite perfume - it’s VERY expensive so we club together to buy it! Again, I would say check first. Having so much stuff she didn’t know what to do with made her a bit anxious. She’s at her stage where ‘stuff’ is not always a blessing.
But she still does like anything good to eat, so a nice box of chocolates, biscuits or cake, jam and marmalade. She was eating her birthday cake for a week, which really helped prolong the pleasure. She won an hamper in a raffle a while ago, and really enjoyed the food treats in that. Also decent tea, coffee or premium soft drinks/fruit juices. And small amounts of fruit - especially grapes.
The other gifts that she really did enjoy were a couple of picture frames, and we had a nice time choosing things from her photo collection to put out where she could see them all the time.
More than anything, my mum likes time spent with her - I would say that the effort you’re making to see her on her birthday may be much of a gift as she will want. A token gift will be enough.

I really like the photo book suggestion, OP, I think this is what you should do. You might contact other relavites or maybe friends of hers to have as many pictures as possible. You can even make a Smartshow 3d slideshow with these pictures with a song that is meaningful to her.

If there are other relatives willing to participate, you can record a short video each, tell her all the nice things that come to mind, and then you'll join these video clips together (you can use online video editors or something free like Clipify) and send it to her via email.

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How about this lovely 100th birthday roses cup and saucer on Amazon It's beautiful
www.amazon.co.uk/100th-birthday-gift-Cup-Saucer/dp/B004A66TBE?smid=AD2EPX8OHQDQO&psc=1&ref_=fplfs&source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&tag=gransnetforum-21

If you go on the Etsy site theres some lovely gifts for 100th birthday.

A smallish hamper packed with nice food which she could rummage through. My daughter is blind and loves feeling the different packets/jars/whatever in a hamper.

I agree with Vito who suggested an audio book. If her eyesight is failing she may welcome being able to listen to a book especially if she has a favourite author.

My aunt spent her last birthday in a care home (age 97) and was upset about all the flowers she was sent. Her room was quite small and very hot so every surface was crowded with vases of wilting flowers and her eyesight was poor so she hardly dare move for fear of tipping something over. She was so well fed that she didnt eat any of the food or drink gifts. She also struggled with audio books. When I asked her what was her best present she said visits from family and friends and her daughter sitting holding her hand and reading her favourite book (Black Beauty) to her.

Lots of lovely ideas here, but if the lady has failing eyesight you need to take that into consideration and as one or two have suggested, maybe audio books - or even music which she likes, provided of course there is something on which to play the items! When my dear old dad’s eyesight failed him, he loved listening to his music and his “talking books”.

Does she have a favourite charity? I am sure she will be inundated with presents and maybe would be nice to donate some money to a worthwhile cause, you can usually get a card from the charity to say you have done this.

As the birthday lady has failing sight photos are not a very good idea! I think a pashmina is a great idea, or favourite foodie and drink treats.