Wondering what inexpensive gifts to get for senior citizens? These ideas will help you get the best gifts for senior citizens that are practical and enjoyable!
Sometimes it can be a struggle knowing what gifts to give your aging parents or grandparents. Especially if they’ve downsized to a smaller place to live or if they live in a facility of some kind.
Whether they live in a facility or at home, these inexpensive gifts for senior citizens will make their lives easier and safer. I’ve tried to keep this list no more than $25 price range.
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Practical Gifts for Seniors
- So you know your elderly loved one would prefer a practical gift but just don’t know what actually is practical? Practical varies from person to person, but basically something they can use to make their life easier.
- Some people just make a little basket with some books, a gift card, stationery, and pens or pencils. While this is a great gift, I hope to give you some “outside the basket” ideas that make for practical gifts.
Practical Inexpensive Gift Ideas for Senior Citizens
1. Grabber
A grabber is a great gift for any senior citizen. This one is 26 inches which in my experience is the ideal length for people to use sitting or standing.
This one has a thumb trigger which I like better than the full grip one. It has a magnet on the tip to pick up small dropped items. See that little knob sticking up on the end? That is for helping take off socks! Did you know you can use this to help get dressed and undressed? If not, your loved one may need Occupational Therapy to teach them how.
This one is lightweight and great for picking up clothes, shoes, socks, blankets from the floor. Just keep in mind if you do get one longer than this, they are more useful from standing. If your senior loved one has shoulder limitations, a longer one is difficult to use while sitting. 


2. Sock Aid
Do you notice that your senior loved one hardly ever wears socks anymore? This is one thing I have noticed in a lot of seniors. They stop wearing socks, even in the winter (and they are cold all the time).
And they wear slip-on or easy to put on shoes.
The reason for this is they have great difficulty bending or bringing their leg up high enough to get them on.
A sock aid is a great practical gift for them. This is the sock aid that is the easiest to use. AVOID the blue sock aid/shoe horn combo that you see advertised unless they only have a little difficulty with this job. Plus it’s more expensive. You have no idea how many seniors got this for a gift and it sits in the corner because it’s too complicated.


3. Non-slip Houseshoes
A good pair of non-slip houseshoes are a great gift idea for men and women. Getting styles that don’t have a heel are good for people that have trouble getting on shoes. This way in the middle of the night, they can just slip them on easily to get to the bathroom.


4. Jar Opener
Jars or lid openers are great inexpensive gifts for seniors. The kind that open many different types is great. You have no idea how many people I’ve seen in their homes ask me to open their bottle of water or soda for them.


Another one I like is this electric jar opener.


5. Long-handled Sponge
A long-handled sponge is great to prevent bending over to wash lower legs and feet. Bend this handle so the sponge will lie flat on thee shower floor to wash bottoms of feet. Can also be used to wash their back.



6. Stretchable Braided Mesh Back Scrubber
These braided mesh back scrubbers are stretchable and great for people with limited movement in their arms. The nice thing is, you can usually find them at Dollar Tree for a dollar. Or get this 3 pack from Amazon.

7. Back Lotion Applicator
More than just applying lotion to the back, use this handy tool to apply lotion to lower legs and feet.
I created this password tracker for myself after being so sick with this virus going around and worrying that my children or family would have no idea what all I had in my online life, but it has been a huge hit with senior citizens.
Have them keep track of important login information with this large size tracker. US letter size. Have them keep it in a safe place that you will have access to in the event of their death so you can get into everything they have online.